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

274 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
grasp, I should never have suspected its presence. The nest was
composed of bits of grass, and was warmly lined with many feathers.
The three eggs, with incubation partly begun, are dull white with a
very faint tinge of cream. The shell is slightly roughened. The
eggs measure, in millimeters, as follows: 22.2 by 16.8, 21.5 by 16.7,
and 21.4 by 16.5.
An adult female, shot October 23, when first taken, had the
maxilla and tip of mandible fuscous black; base of mandible drab
gray ; iris light seal brown ; tarsus and toes ecru drab.
Adult females, preserved as skins, were secured near Lavalle on
October 23 and November 9, and an immature female was shot at
Guamini on March 8. The two adults, though fully grown, differ
strikingly in color of throat patch, as in one it is yellow and in the
other cinnamon buff. The immature bird has the breast heavily
and the abdomen more lightly streaked with dusky. Doctor Hartert**
has treated S. hudsoni as a subspecies of S. anthoides, with
which decision I find that I can not agree, as anthoides is distinguished
b}^ its somewhat broader, less narrowly pointed rectrices,
and more suffused, less definite color pattern on the dorsal surface,
in addition to its darker coloration.
CORYPmSTERA ALAUDINA ALAUDINA Burmeister
CorypJiistera alaudina Burmeister, Journ. fiir Ornith., 1860, p. 251. (La
Plata States.)
Near Tapia, Tucuman, the present bird was common from April
6 to 13, 1921 ; four of the six taken were preserved as skins. These
comprise adult males, shot April 6 and 12, and an immature male
and female, taken April 11. The immature specimens resemble
adults, but have the streaks of the undersurface narrower and
less sharply defined. The skin in this species is thick and very
tough.
An adult male, when killed, had the maxilla sayal brown, shading
to deep mouse gray at the tip and at the base of the culmen;
mandible dull light-grayish vinaceous; tarsus and toes cinnamon;
iris natal brown.
I have not seen specimens of C. a. carnpicola Todd,^^ a northern
subspecies said to differ from the typical form in paler, more buffy
coloration above, with the underparts less heavily streaked.
These curious birds inhabited dry, open scrub growing over roll-
ing hills, where they were found in parties numbering from three
to six, apparently families, as adults and young were taken from the
same flock. Though the birds were common, they were silent un-
« Nov. Zool., vol. 16, December, 1909, p. 214.
«Proc. Biol. Soc. Washin^on, vol. 28, November 29, 1915, p. 170. (Guanacos,
Bolivia.)