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

366 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
their presence indicated only by their jaylike calls. April 17 another
small band was encountered in one of the dense groves on the upper
slopes of Sierra San Xavier, above Tafi Viejo, Tucuman, at an
altitude of about 2,100 meters. These remained concealed among
heavy branches and slipped away down the steep slopes to more
distant quarters. The habits in general are similar to those of the
typical form.
Family CYCLARHIDAE
CYCLARHIS GUJANENSIS VIRmiS (Vieillot)
Saltator viridis, Vieillot, Tabl. Enc. Meth., vol. 2, 1828, p. 793. (Para-
guay. )
The three skins of this species preserved include an adult male
from Las Palmas, Chaco, July 31, 1920; adult male, Riacho Pilaga,
Formosa, August 11; and immature female, Tapia, Tucuman, April
12, 1921. The two males have a wing measurement of 82.5 and 79.5
mm., respectively, and the female, with wing not quite grown, 78.5
mm. The southern form, to which these birds belong, is distinguished
from C. g. cearensis Baird by larger size.
An adult male, taken July 31, had the maxilla and tip of mandible
cinnamon drab, changing to neutral gray at tip of culmen; base of
mandible deep green-blue gray; iris ochraceous buff with a tinge of
ochraceous orange; tarsus and toes gray number 7.
These birds inhabited low trees in brush-grown pastures or at the
borders of barrancas, where they hopped slowly and deliberately
about among the dense branches with erect carriage, examining
twigs and leaves for food. That the strong, heavy bill was of
service was shown when one tore and pulled at a strip of insect-
infested bark, using much strength in its efforts. The song, heard
August 23 near Formosa, Formosa, was a pleasant warble, somewhat
accented, so that it did not seem monotonous though constantly re-
peated. From its tone I had supposed that it came from some finch
and was astonished to trace it to a pepper shrike.
The Toba Indians in P^ormosa called this species si trih.
CYCLARHIS OCHROCEPHALA Tschudi
Cyclarhis ochrocephala Tschudi, Arch, fiir Naturg., 1845, pt. 1, p. 362.
(Southern Brazil and Buenos Aires.)
The first of these birds observed was an adult female taken at
Berazategui, Buenos Aires, on June 20, 1920, in a thicket near the
Rio de la Plata. In southern Uruguay the species was common, as
two adult males and one immature bird of the same sex were shot
at San Vicente on January 28 and 30, 1921, and adult and immature
males on February 6 and 8. The species was observed at Rio
Negro, Uruguay, from February 17 to 19. The adult female from