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

310 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
immature female was shot near Tapia, Tucuman, on April 11, 1921.
The two adults are in full breeding plumage. The third specimen,
in partial juvenal plumage, is duller, less yellow below and on the
superciliary, is grayer above, and has two broad, light streaks on the
wing, formed by whitish tips on greater and middle wing coverts.
At Los Yngleses, on October 30, a pair of these flycatchers had
begun a nest in a fruit tree in the yard, and the female was busily
engaged in carrying nest material to arrange it in a cuplike form in
a convenient crotch. Other birds were recorded on November 1
and 9, and one was seen near Lavalle November 13. In appearance
and actions the birds were typical flycatchers. They chose resting
perches among leafy branches, and when their backs were turned
to the observer were inconspicuous. One captured a large caterpillar,
killed it, and swallowed it. At Tapia, Tucuman, two were
observed occupying low perches in open trees in dry forest. They
were in company with a band of other passerines that appeared to
be in migration as they moved rapidly through the scrub.
ARUNDINICOLA LEUCOCEPHALA (Linnaeus)
Pipra leucocephala Linnaeus, Mus. Ad. Frid. Reg., vol. 2, 1764, p. 33.
(Surinam.^)
At the Riacho Pilaga, Formosa, an adult male was secured on
August 8, 1920, and a male in immature dress on the day following.
The birds were recorded on August 16 and 17, and one shot on
the latter day was preserved in alcohol. The immature specimen
has the black of the adult replaced by white on the breast and abdomen,
and by brownish gray on the back, wings, and sides. The
adult specimen seems to have a larger bill (culmen from base, 18.5
nun.) than the few examined from Bahia, Santarem, Demerara,
and other points in northern South America.
These odd flycatchers were fairly common in the outer growths of
tall cat-tails that fringed lagoons, where it was difficult to secure
them as one might work about the shore line for days without catching
sight of one save by chance. When I paddled out across the
water in a clumsy boat hewn from the trunk of a silk-cotton tree,
or on a crude raft made of a bundle of cat-tails lashed together, these
birds were more in evidence, but it was difficult at that to retrieve
specimens that were shot. Ordinarily these flycatchers rested quietly
on low perches among the rushes, with the tail twitching quickly,
while at short intervals they sallied out after passing insects. In
flight a rattling sound was often produced by the wings. Their only
call was a thin high-pitched note that may be represented as tseet.
85 See Berlepsch and Hartert, Nov. Zool., vol. 9, April, 1902, p. 34.