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

BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 327
taken September 25, 11>20, two from the Cerro Lorito on the east
bank of the Rio Paraguay opposite Puerto Pinasco, secured September
30, and one from Tapia, Tucuman, collected April 8, 1921,
are referred to the typical form, as they agree in color with three
seen from Taquara do Mundo Novo, Rio Grande do Sul, and have
the measurements assigned by Hellmayr ^^ to that form. The wing
in these birds, in the order cited, measures as follows : 53, 55.4, 55.8,
55.2, and 54.3 mm. As these represent the chord of the folded wing
taken with dividers, they are comparable with Doctor Hellmayr's
figures, in Avhich it is supposed that tlie wing was measured flat.
Mr. Ridgway ^^ has removed OrnitJiion iner?ne, the type of Orni-
thion Hartlaub to the Pipridae, as it has a pycnaspidean tarsus,
leaving the species with exaspidean tarsi, that have been associated
with it, in the Tyrannidae under the name Gcvm'ptostoma of Sclater.
This small bird was of local occurrence and was seldom seen. At
Resistencia the one taken was shot from a little flock of three that
came flitting actively through some low trees in dense growth, occa-
sionally uttering a vireolike, scolding note. Near Laguna Wall, in
the Chaco, 200 kilometers west of Puerto Pinasco, the birds were
fairly common in the dense growths of thorny vinal that covered
large areas. On September 30, near the Rio Paraguay, I found a
number in heavy timber over a wet area where the forest was open.
The birds Avere seen high in the tops of the still leafless trees,
where they perched quietly except when they darted out to secure
passing insects. Their song was a rattling, laughing chee chee chee
chee chee that was almost swiftlike in its tones. In fall, near Tapia,
Tucuman. the species was encountered again in low scrub in company
with other small, brush-haunting birds.
One taken July 8 had the tip of the mandible blackish; base of
culmen dull slate; rest of mandible pinkish white, becoming dull
orange at gape; inside of mouth, orange; iris, broAvn; tarsus, slate
black.
ELAENIA ALBICEPS ALBICEPS (d'Orbigny and Lafresnaye)
Muscipeta albiceps cFOrbigxy and Lafresnaye, Mag. Zool., 1837, cl. 2, p. 47.
(Yungas, Bolivia.)
The present species seems to be one that ranges throughout Pata-
gonia, north at least to the Rio Negro, and that northward extends
through the foothills of the Andes in Chile and Argentina to south-
ern Peru. In Argentina it is reported from the isolated Sierra de
Cordoba. From examination of a considerable series it seems that
albiceps differs from E. parvirostris, which superficially appears
identical in narrower bill, browner, less greenish dorsal coloration,
«Nov. Zool., vol. 15, June, 1908, p. 44.
i» Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 19, Jan. 29, 1906, p. 14.