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320 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
SERPOPHAGA MUNDA Berlepsch
Serpophaga murula Berlepsch, Ornith. Monats., vol. 1, 1893, p. 12. (Samaipata,
Valle Grande, Bolivia.)
The present species seems identical with S. subcristata, save that
the lower breast and abdomen are white instead of yellow, and the
dorsal surface usually is grayer. The species inhabits western and
northwestern xVrgentina, and extends eastward in the (^haco into
Paraguay. It is said to occur also in the Argentine Chaco. The
following specimens referr^ d to tnujida were collected : Kilometers
25 and 80, west of Puerto Pinasco, September 1 and 9, 1920, two
males; Mendoza, Mendoza (altitude, 850 meters), March 13, 1921,
male; Potrerillos, Mendoza, March 16, 17, and 21, one male and
two females; and Tapia, Tucuman, April 9, 1921. Birds of this
genus recorded March 27, near Tunuyan, Mendoza, were supposed
to be this species.
One of the skins taken at Puerto Pinasco was an immature bird,
though fully grown, Avith a slight olive wash on the lower back
that is absent in the adult. Those shot in Mendoza and Tucuman
are in fall molt. In juvenal plumage the two light wing bars are
distinctly buff, while in the succeeding plumages these bars are much
lighter to nearly white. In immature birds in first winter plumage
the lower abdomen is very faintly washed with yellow, suggesting
the condition found in subcristata, where this color in deeper hue
extends over the abdomen and lower breast. At first glance this
wash of yellow in iiiunda is confusing, but specim ns are easily dis-
tinguished when compared in series as subcristata is told at once
by the much yellower color. Careful comparison of an adequate
series of the two fails to indicate differences that may separate them
other than those that have been noted.
West of Puerto Pinasco, S. munda was encountered in fair num-
bers, in heavy timber where it work, d actively about in the smaller
branches like some warbler. During fall in the Province of Men-
doza the birds were found in low scrub that clothed the dry slopes
above small valleys or in better watered sections in growths of weeds.
They were fairly common and from their movements appeared to be
in migration. In early morning, especially, they Avere recorded as
moving actively through the thickets or weed patches, often uttering
a low tseet, like the fall calls of some of our warblers. Near Tapia,
Tucuman, they were found occasionally in the scrubby forest.
SERPOPHAGA INORNATA Salvadori
Serpophaga inornata Salvadoki, Boll. Mus. Zool. Anat. Oomp. Univ. Torino,
vol. 12, no. 292, May 12, 1897, p. 13. (San Francisco, Chaco of Bolivia.)
Near Kilometer 80, west of Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay, on September
20, 1920, two were taken in heavy forest, as they worked