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

BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 245
and tail were prominent in flight. The bird taken was in active
pui-suit of some insect over the rocks. The specimen is in partial
molt on the head.
FURNARIUS RUFUS RUFUS (Gmelin)
Merops rufus Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 1, 1788, p. 465. (Buenos
Aires.
)
The typical form of the ovenbird, characterized by large size
(wing 96.3-104 mm. in a series of 16 specimens), and by general
grayish tone in color, ranges from the Province of Buenos Aires
north into Uruguay and in Argentina as far as the Chaco. It was
recorded and collected as the following points
Berazategui, Buenos Aires, June 29, 1920 (adult female taken) ;
Santa Fe, Santa Fe, July 4; Dolores, Buenos Aires, October 21;
Lavalle, Buenos Aires, October 23 to November 15 (two adult
males, shot October 30) ; Lavalle to Santo Domingo, Buenos Aires,
November 16; Montevideo, Uruguay, January 9 to 16, 1921 (in
parks and outskirts of the city) ; La Paloma, Uruguay, January 23
San Vicente, Uruguay, January 25 to 31 (two immature males, shot
January 26, and one adult male, January 29) ; Lazcano, Uruguay,
February 3 to 9 (immature female, taken February 6) ; Eio Negro,
Uruguay, February 14 to 19 (immature male, shot February 15) ;
and Guamini, Buenos Aires, March 6 and 7 (a male taken March 6).
Specimens from Uruguay are very slightly darker than those
from Buenos Aires, but are the same size as birds from near the
type-locality. During summer the plumage of this bird through
wear, becomes considerably lighter, especially on the underparts,
than when it is in fresh winter feather.
Through the pampas of Buenos Aires the ovenbird is restricted
to the neighborhood of scattered groves of trees, and as these are
usually located about houses the bird is one of the most domestic
and beloved of Argentine birds. It is recorded south to Bahia
Blanca, but in western Buenos Aires it is rare so that I was inter-
ested in obtaining it at Guamini. Though groves of tala, coro-
nillo, and other trees Avere common near the Rio de la Plata in
the early settlement of the Province of Buenos Aires, tremendous
expanses of open plain were wholly without cover for birds that
sought the shelter of trees. With the settlement of the country,
eucalyptus were introduced and, with native species of trees, were
planted in groves about the estancia houses, so that now one is
seldom out of sight of them in crossing the pampa. As this has
increased the shelter available, the effect must have been to increase
the numbers of certain birds, among them the present species. It
was interesting to note their occurrence in scattered tree clumps
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