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BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 279
PHACELLODOMUS RUBER RUBER (Vieillot)
Furnarius ruber ViEaxLOT, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., vol. 12, 1817, p. 118.
( Paragua.y.
)
This species was recorded at Eesistencia, Chaco, on July 8, 1920,
-when two were seen, and an adult male was taken, at the Riacho
Pilaga, Formosa, August 16, when an adult female was secured, at
Formosa, Formosa, where an adult male was taken August 23, and
others seen on the day following, and at Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay,
on September 3. The three specimens taken do not differ appreciably
from one another in color. Cherrie ''^ has described a northern form
(that I have not seen) as P. r. ruhicula on the basis of more rufous
coloration on the dorsal surface.
These birds were found in swamps grown with saw grass, and in
the cat-tails and other vegetation that bordered lagoons, particularly
in the areas known as palmares, where low palms grew in scattered
groves over marshy ground. They were frequently shy, especially
when feeding in dense marsh vegetation from which they refused
to be called by unusual noises. In fact, they were more often seen
when I remained perfectly quiet and waited for them to dart out
into sight for a few seconds. When the wind was quiet their noisy
rustling among the dead cat-tail stalks was plainly audible though
the birds themselves were entirely hidden. Rarely one came out for
a few seconds with a sharp, scolding check check, and jerked ner-
vously up and down on its perch with the body inclined well forward.
The light eyes showed plainly when the birds were not too far
distant. Where they were encountered amid palms they often came
up into the palm tops, where on cool mornings they rested in the
sun to preen their plumage.
An adult male, taken August 23, had the maxilla and extreme tip
of the mandible dull sooty black; rest of mandible dawn gray; iris
primuline yellow, shading to mustard yellow at outer margin ; tarsus
and toes storm gray. Another male, shot July 8, had the iris apricot
orange.
PHACELLODOMUS RUFIFRONS SINCIPITAUS Cabanis
Phacellodomus sincijntalis Cabanis, Journ. fiir Ornitli., 1883, p. 109. (Tucuman,
Tucuman.)
An immature female taken near Tapia, Tucuman, on April 12,
1921, differs from P. r. rufifrons in darker coloration on the dorsal
surface. The specimen mentioned was shot from a small flock in
dense brush where the birds remained in close concealment.
«Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 35, May 20, 1916, p. 186.