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BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PAKAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 241
DRYMORNIS BRIDGESH (Eyton)
JVtMJco hridgesii Eyton, Jardii>e's contrib. Orn., 1849 (pub. 1850), p. 130,
p. 38. (Bolivia.)
Near Victorica, Pampa, Bridge's wood hewer was fairly common
from December 23 to 29, 1920, so that two males (one prepared as a
skeleton) were taken December 23 and a female on December 24.
The}' were found in little flocks of four or five in open forest where
they fed on the ground where it vras more or less free from undergrowth,
often in company with Pseudoseisiira lophotes. Wlien
startled they flew away with undulating flight to alight on some
tree trunk, up which they climbed until they came to rest on a sloping
limb. Their ordinary call was a loud ivhee whee whee^ to which
they added a chattering note when excited. Though they climbed
readily, they seemed to prefer to rest on a sloping limb of good size
and in such situations frequently ran along the branches instead of
hitching about with the aid of the tail. A bird with a broken wing
ran along on the ground as rapidly and easily as a plover or a lark,
so that I had considerable difficulty in capturing it.
A few were recorded near Tapia, Tucuman, from April T to 13,
1921, but none were taken.
A male, secured December 23, had the base of the mandible ecru
drab : rest of bill black ; iris natal brown ; tarsus and toes dull black.
SITTASOMUS SYLVIELLUS CHAPADENSIS (Ridgway)
Sittasotnus cha pa densis Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 14, 1891, p.
509. (Chapada, Matto Grosso, Brazil.)
Five specimens of Sittasonius sylvieUus from three rather widely
separated localities offer some variation in color, but, until better
series of skins are available, may be referred to the subspecies
chapadensis. A male and a female shot west of Puerto Pinasco, the
male at Kilometer 25, September 1, and the female at Kilometer 80,
September 15, are slightly grayer, less yellowish both above and
below than two females taken at Las Palmas, Chaco, on July 15. An
adult male secured April IT, 1921, at an altitude of nearly 1,700
meters on the Sierra San Xavier, above Tafi Viejo, Tucuman, is
much more yellowish than those last mentioned, especially on th.i
lower breast and abdomen, while the bill appears larger and heavier.
The three seem to represent phases that may eventually be recog-
nized as subspecies. Hellmayr ^^ refers skins from Tucuman to
chapadensis and considers this to range in Goyaz and Matto Grosso,
Brazil, eastern Bolivia. Paraguay (Colonia Risso). and northern
Argentina (Jujuy. Salta, and Tucuman).
'•Nov. Zool., vol. 1.5, June, 1908, p. 64.