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

BIEDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 347
of a covered passage at the hotel where I was stopping, and on the
following morning the male martin threw two young Passer doviesti-
cus from a nest near his chosen site, in spite of the protests of the
adult sparrows. As there were many o-penings suited for nesting
still unoccupied, this act must be attributed to a wanton meanness
of disposition. At Victorica, Pampa, the fork-tailed martin w^as
fairh^ common in town from December 23 to 29. The last seen
were three noted on March 31, 1921, as my train stopped at the station
of Monte Ralo, Cordoba.
In general appearance, action, and calls, the male of this species
is similar to that of Progne subis, but is marked when on the wing
by its longer, more deeply forked tail. The female is entirely dark
underneath.
Mr. Todd "° has called attention to the fact that Progne elegans
Baird (based on an immature male) is the same as P. furcata Baird,
the name current for this martin for many years, and must replace
it, as the name elegans occurs on an earlier page of the same work
in which Baird described furcata.
Family TROGLODYTIDAE
TROGLODYTES MUSCULUS MUSCULUS Naumann
Troglodytes musculiis Naumann, Yog. Deutsclil., vol. 3, 1823, p. 724,
(Bahia.)
The series of house wrens taken during my work in South America
has been studied by Chapman and Griscom during their revision of
Troglodytes musculus and identifications of siDecimens are theirs.
The only skin of typical musculus is an adult male taken at Kilometer
80, west of Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay, on September 11, 1920.
The birds at that point were common at the borders of forest and
came familiarly about the ranch buildings, where they sang from
the doorAvays and searched for food among the split palm trunks that
formed the roofs. It is assumed that this form was the one recorded
on the Rio Paraguay, at Puerto Pinasco, and possibly the one seen
in the Chaco near Laguna Wall, 200 kilometers west.
TROGLODYTES MUSCULUS REX (Berlepsch and Leverkuhn)
Troglodytes furvus var. rex Berlepsch and Leverkuhn, Ornis, vol. 6,
1890, p. 6. (Samaipata, Bolivia.)
A small series of wrens from the Chaco have been identified as
intermediate between rex and musculus, but nearer reje. These in-
clude the following localities: Resistencia, Chaco, July 9 and 10,
1920 (adult female taken) ; Las Palmas, Chaco, July 13 to 31 (two
39 Auk. 1925, pp. 276-277.