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

BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 345
good plumage in marked contrast to the worn feathers and thin
body of a newly arrived migrant barn swallow from North America,
taken at the same time. During summer, P. jjatagonica was found
through the pampas in pairs about cut banks near water, and was
especially common along the Rio Negro in northern Patagonia.
Though small and light in body, so that the birds blew about in
the wind, they were able at will to breast the strongest blasts.
Their nests were placed in little tunnels excavated in the sides of
banks. Males sang a low and rather squeaky song at intervals, but
on the whole the species was silent. On March 5 little flocks were
common on the open pampa at Guamini, and by March 7 the number
of those present was greatly increased, apparently by migrants
driven by colder weather from the south. The birds, many of them
immature, hawked for food along the lake shore, and, when tired
of buffeting the constant wind, settled in little open spaces on the
ground. Occasionalh' a few joined hddiprocne meyeni at rest on
the wires of a fence, but seldom did one pause on the higher telephone
wires frequented by their companions of larger size.
PHAEOPROGNE TAPERA TAPERA (Linnaeus)
Hiriindo Tapera liiNNAEUS, Syst. Nat, ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 34.5. (Brazil.)
This martin, in color and marking a larger counterpart of the
bank swallow, is migrant in the southern part of its range, as it
was not seen until September 17, 1920. when it was recorded at
Kilometer 80, west of Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay. It was observed
from then until September 30, and on October 21 was already pres-
ent at Dolores, Buenos Aires. The species was noted at Lavalle,
Buenos Aires, from October 25 to November 13, and at the following
points in Uruguay; Carrasco, January 9 and 16; Montevideo (in the
Prado), January 14; La Paloma, January 23; San Vicente, January
27 to 31; Lazcano, February 5 to 9, and Rio Negro, February 15 to
18. The five skins taken include two males from Kilometer 80,
Puerto Pinasco, a pair from Lavalle, and an adult female from San
Vicente. These are similar to one another and all possess the dark
spots on the median undersurface that are lacking in P. t. itnviacu-
lata Chapman ^^ from Colombia and Venezuela.
A male, shot September 18, had the bill, tarsus, and toes black;
iris bone brown.
This martin was encountered among dead trees in open woods or
groves, and in the north was especially common among groves of
palms. The birds ajDpear weaker in flight than most swallows, and
pause frequently to rest on dead limbs after short circling flights.
3«Biill. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 31, July 23, 1912, p. 156. (Chicoral, near
Giradot, Alt. 550 meters, Tolima, Colombia.)