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298 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
TAENIOPTERA CINEREA CINEREA (Vieillot)
Tyrannus cinerciis Vieillot, Anal. Nouv. Ornith. El^m., 1816, p. 68. (Argen-
tina.'^)
Examination of the type and three other specimens of T. c.
ohscura Cory^® indicates that this form is sli^jhtly darker than true
cinerea.
This flycatcher was recorded at the following points : Las Palmas,
Chaco, July 13 to August 1; Riacho Pilaga, Formosa, August 8
to 21 ; Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay, September 3 ; Kilometer 80, west
of Puerto Pinasco, September 8; San Vicente, Uruguay, January
26 to February 2; Lazcano, Uruguay, February 3 to 9 (noted on
February 9 as far as Corrales). Three adult males taken at Las
Palmas, Chaco, July 28, Riacho Pilaga, Formosa, August 8 and
San Vicente, Uruguay, January 26 were preserved as skins. The
series of this species at hand is far from adequate for comparison,
but it may be noted that a female from Matto Grosso appears paler
above and has a broader light tip on the tail than the specimens
listed above. The two skins from Las Palmas and Formosa are in
full winter plumage. The one from Uruguay is in very worn
breeding feather, but has not yet begun the molt.
The iris is martius yellow, lined heavily toward the inner margin
with peach red, so that at casual inspection it appears wholly red;
bill and tarsus dull black.
The present species ranges through the warmer areas of the region
visited, as none were seen in the pampas of Buenos Aires. It is an
inhabitant of open country, but chooses localities where trees or
bushes are not far distant. The birds were encountered frequently
about houses, or in the outskirts of little towns, or were observed in
numbers along roads that wound through the open country. They
chose commanding perches on posts, tops of bushes, telegraph wires,
or, failing these, on elevated clods or little eminences on the ground,
where they rested with heads drawn down in usual flycatcher attitude
in watch for prey. When food was sighted they darted down
to the ground to seize it, alighted perhaps to run along for a few
steps, and then returned to a higher perch. Their wings were long
and pointed and their flight, accompanied by a flashing of the black
and white wing markings, light and graceful. As they alight the
wings are often raised above the back for a second until they gain
a secure hold on the perch. They are alert, active, and graceful in
all their movements. In coloration they are strongly suggestive of
a mocking bird {Mivius), and even close at hand give this impres-
sion, a likeness that is at once belied when the bright red eye, pointed
« See Braboume and CTiubb, Birds South America, 1912, p. 259.
w Field Mus. Nat. Hi.st., Orn. Ser., vol. 1, Aug. 30, 1016, p. 341. (Jua, Ceara.)