Bulletin - United States National Museum - si-pddr - Smithsonian ...

234 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
Ordinarily they circled about high overhead, where it was impossible
to reach them, and when they did descend to lower altitudes it was
necessary usually to take a snapshot at them overhead as they dashed
past little openings in the tree tops. Under these circumstances con-
siderable time and ammunition Avere expended before one was finally
secured. The birds spent much time in circling high in air, but descended
at intervals to flash past dead stubs in which I supposed
they would nest later. Often they flew about in trios and frequently
were seen in pairs. Their wing motion was extremely rapid, and
when sufficient momentum had been gained they scaled rapidly along
with set wings. During cold, rainy weather a few appeared about
the lagoon at Kilometer 110, perhaps driven in here by unfavorable
feeding grounds in other regions. Their usual call note was a low
chu chu chu chu^ followed by a rattling chipper. On September 30,
on the Cerro Lorito, I found them circling about a little clearing, in
which there were one or two dead trees. The Anguete Indians called
this species mee tset tse he.
The skin preserved, an adult female, measures as follows: Wing,
127.5; tail, 37; exposed culmen, 4; tarsus, 11.5 mm. Swifts of this
genus have been recorded seldom from Paraguay, while the names
under which they are given are so involved that it is difficult to place
them. My specimens have been identified in accordance with Hellmayr's
treatment of the South American forms of Chaetura"
Order PASSERIFORMES
Family DENDROCOLAPTIDAE
DENDROCOLAPTES PICUMNUS Liditenstcin
Dendrocolaptes Picvmnns Lichtenstein, Abh. Kon. Akad. Wiss. Berlin for
1818-19 (pub. 1820), p. 202. (Brazil.)
An adult female shot in heavy forest on the Cerro Lorito opposite
Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay, was the only one seen. This specimen
has fine shaft streaks of whitish on the feathers of the back, a char-
acter that, according to Hellmayr, is one that differentiates D. picv/mnus
from the closely allied D. intermedius Berlepsch. The latter
species is said also to have the head browner and back more reddish
brown. Hellmayr^* has recorded D. picumnus from Bernalcue,
Paraguay, and there are other less definite records for Paraguay.
My specimen was secured as it clung to the base of a tree above a
large colony of ants, on which it fed eagerly, hopping and sidling
" Verb. Ornith. Ges. Bayern, vol. 8, 1908, p. 145.
"Abh. Kon. Bayerischen Akad. Wiss., II Kl., vol. 22, 1906, p. 632.