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

250 BULLETIN ia3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
The birds were shy and difficult of approach. Attention was at-
tracted to them by their song, a rapid chijrpy cliif'py chippy chipy
given as they sat on the top of a bush or post, with tail slightly
raised. At the slightest alarm thej'^ made long flights low among
the bushes, where it was difficult to follow their course. Xear Zapala,
Neuquen, a second specimen (preserved in alcohol) was shot on
December 8, 1920. The bird was encountered there in heavy tracts
of thorny brush in an arroyo leading toward the lowlands. At Con-
con, Chile, tAvo Avere seen on April 28 in open brush on a sloping
hillside.
The curved bill of this species gives it a thrasherlike appearance, a
suggestion heightened by its habits and choice of haunts.
The male shot April 28 had the bill, in general, dull black, shading
at base of cutting edge of maxilla and at base of gonys to hair
brown; gape Isabella color; iris bone brown; tarsus and toes clove
brown.
UPUCERXmA VALIDIROSTRIS (Burmeister)
Ochetorhynchus validirostru Bubmeistbe, Keise La Plata-Staaten, vol. 2,
1861, p. 464. (Sierra de Mendoza.)
The present species was observed occasionally near Potrerillos,
Mendoza, from March 15 to 21, 1921, and an immature female was
secured March 15 at an altitude of 1,500 meters. The birds were
found singly among bushes scattered over sloping hillsides, or on the
gravel flood plains of small streams, where they Avalked about on
the ground. They were secretive and Avere difficult to detect until
they rose and flew Avith a strong undulating flight aboA^e the bushes.
Occasionally one uttered a Ioav chtirlt, but as a rule they were silent.
The specimen taken is fully grown, though immature. The throat
is somewhat whiter than the breast, but the tail is distinctly ru-
fescent, so that the specimen does not seem to agree with Scott's
Upucerthia fitzgeraldi^^ which is supposedly a subspecies of validirostris.
The feathers of breast and throat have very faintly marked
darker tips, an indication of the more prominent breast markings in
U. dumetaria. The specimen measures as follows : Wing, 80.5 ; tail,
75.5; culmen from base, 33.7; tarsus, 26.7 mm.
The bill in this bird in life was black, shading to storm gray at
base of mandible ; iris deep quaker blue ; tarsus and toes dull black.
UPUCERTHIA CERTHIOmES (d'Orbigrny and Lafresnaye)
Ana'bates certhioides d'OfiBiGNY and Lafresnaye, Mag. Zool., 1838, cl. 2,
p. 15. (Corrientes.)
The present species was recorded at Las Palmas, Chaco, from
July 14 to 31, 1920 (an immature male, taken July 14, and an adult
=3 Upucerthia fltsgeraldi Scott, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 10, Apr. 30, 1900, p. Ixili.
(Pucnte del Inca, Mendoza.)