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BIRDS OF AEGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 281
PSEUDOSEISURA LOPHOTES (Keichenbach)
Homorus lophotes Keichenbach, Handb. Spec. Ornitli., August, 1853, p.
172. (Bolivia"?)
The present species probably may be separated generically from
Pseudoseisura gutturalis, from which it differs to a considerable
extent. The two are here associated pending further study.
Though reported of fairly wide range, the present bird was
encountered only near Victorica, Pampa, from December 23 to 29,
and at Rio Negio, Uruguay, from February 16 to 18. It is an in-
habitant of open groves of low trees where it feeds on the ground,
often in company with Dr^ymornis hindgesi. At the slightest alarm
the crested Pseudoseisura flies up with chattering calls, and hops
about in the shelter of the limbs as alertly as a jay, pausing to
peer out or to peck nervously at the limbs. The flight is strongly
undulating.
These birds build huge nests of sticks, as large in diameter as
a bushel measure, somewhat flattened, with an entrance at one side,
that are placed in the tops of low trees from 4 to 6 meters from
the ground. The conspicuous nests are seen frequently, but the
birds are usually so shy and retiring that it may be difficult to
And them. However, on occasion they may come familiarly into
dooryard trees, and at Victorica, where they were known as 6horloco,
they were accused of stealing the eggs of domestic fowls. The
birds are found in pairs save for the period when adults are accompanied
by young. (PI. 10.)
The paired birds shriek in chorus with nasal, laughing calls that
close with rattling notes suggestive of those of some melanerpine
woodpecker. When excited they utter in a low tone a note resem-
bling the syllable cuck cuck cuck. In an immature male, barely
grown, the bill was black; iris ecru drab; tarsus and toes dark
gi'ayish olive.
Two immature specimens taken at Victorica on December 23,
though fully feathered, had the borders of the gape soft and the bill
shorter than in adults. These, in juvenal plumage, differ from
older individuals in having indistinct, narrow, dusky bars on the
breast and sides of the head.
XENICOPSIS RUFO-SUPERCILIATUS OLEAGINUS (Sclater)
Anabazeno'ps oleaginus P. L. Sclateb, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 18S3, p. 654.
(Sierra de Totoral, Catamarca, Argentina.^")
When Sclater described the present form of Xenicopsis he did so
on the basis of skins secured by White in the Sierra de Totoral,
Catamarca, and on others (in the United States National Museum)
*» Keichenbach remarks that the locality on the label of his specimen, given as
Bolivia, is probably Incorrect.
" For citation of type specimen see Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 15, 1890, p. 106.