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

BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 259
and near Kilometer 80, west of Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay, on September
17 (adult male taken). The three skins preserved are distinctly
duller, grayer brown above than skins from Diamantina,
Brazil, supposed to be near typical cinnamoTnea, or than two from
Fundacion, Colombia, and "Bogota," that have the gray forehead
distinguishing S. c. fuscifrons Madardsz. A skin from Cachoeira,
Sao Paulo, is darker above than skins from more northern localities
but is much more refescent than S. c. russeola. It represents a dis-
tinct form that apparently should bear the name S. c. ruficauda
Vieillot.^^ In spite of assertions to the contrary, measurements of
the four forms here tentatively recognized agree so closely as to
have no significance in separating the subspecies. Measurements of
the three males that I secured are given below
Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay.
Riacho Pilaga, Formosa ..-
Las Palmas, Chaco
Locality Sex Wing Tail
Male ad...
do.-..
do....
:
61.2
62.0
62.7
65.2
66.4
64.5
Culmen
from
base
15.5
15.1
15.5
Tarsus
The birds under discussion were found among rushes that bor-
dered lagoons, and were doubtless more common than the few rec-
ords given indicate, since it was difficult to observe them in their
rather inaccessible haunts. At some slight alarm one might come
through the reeds with rattling, scolding notes to peer for an instant
between the stems of the rushes, and then drop down again to be lost
to sight in the dense growth. Otherwise they passed wholly unnoted.
Their notes were exactly like those of wrens of the genus
Tehnatodytes^ so that their white breasts, reddish backs, and large
size when they appeared always come as a surprise. Occasionally I
had a glimpse of one feeding on the wet surface of vegetation float-
ing among the reed stems, but here they kept so low that it was diffi-
cult to follow them for any distance.
The Toba Indians were acquainted with them under the name of
ve on reh.
An adult male, killed July 22, had the maxilla and tip of the
mandible black ; base of mandible gray number 8 ; iris Rood's brown
tarsus gray number 6, with a slight greenish tinge in front at the
lower end.
Synallaxis Spixi Sclatek, Proc.
(BrazU.)
SYNALLAXIS SPIXI Sclater
;
21.3
20.0
21.5
Zool. Soc. London, Aug. 13, 1856, p. 98.
The three more common forms of Synallaxis of central and northern
Argentina and Uruguay, S. spixi, S\ a. frontalu, and 8. a.
albescens, are often confused, but with a little care may be readily
^ Synallaxis ruficauda Vleillot, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat.,, vol. 32, 1819, p. 310. (" Bresil.")