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

BIKDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 393
Pinasco, September 25; and male from Tapia, Tucuman, April 9,
The bird last mentioned is just completing a molt from a worn,
3^ellowish-green plumage to the red of the adult. It appears then
that the immature male wears a livery similar to that of the female
until the second fall when it acquires adult dress.
Piranga fiava Avas found with bands of other small birds in forest
growths, usually in the taller trees. The birds were marked when
excited by a slow wagging motion of the tail, that was almost as regular
as that of a Cinclodes. Their call note was a loud chijj or chu
chu. Their flight was undulating.
THRAUPIS BONARIENSIS (Gmelin)
Loxia ionariensis, Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 850. (Buenos
Aires.)
The tanager known as siete colores, a name applied to other species
of bright-colored birds as well, was fairly common in wooded
areas, and was encountered in groves on the pampas of northern
Buenos Aires. It Avas noted as follows: Riacho Pilaga, Formosa,
August 8 and 21, 1920; Lavalle, Buenos Aires, November 1 to 14;
Victorica, Pampa, December 23 to 29 ; La Paloma (near Rocha) , Uru-
guay, January 23, 1921; San Vicente, Uruguay, January 25 to 31;
Potrerillos, Mendoza, March 15 and 18 ; Tapia, Tucuman, April 6 to
13. Seven specimens Avere prepared as skins. Birds from the Chaco
seem to have smaller bills on the average than those from farther
south, but this is a highly variable character. Two in immature
dress taken at Tapia, April 7 and 9, are more rufescent on breast
and rump than adults.
This tanager ranges alone or in little flocks of three or four indi-
viduals that feed restlessly through the tops of the trees or fly Avith
swift, undulating flight to fresh hunting grounds. They are acti\'e
and seemed shy and easily alarmed.
The song, heard frequently during December, was sibilant, with
little carrying power, and Avas uttered Avith much effort. It was given
from a perch on the highest tAvig of Ioav trees. In January, in Uruguay,
the/ birds were feeding young among Ioav, dense thickets, and
scolded Avith sharp notes at possible enemies.
THRAUPIS SAYACA OBSCURA Naumburg
Thratipis sayaca ohscura Naumbukg, Auk, 1924, p. 111. (Parotani, Dept.
Cochabamba, Bolivia.)
The blue tanager was common in the broken woodland of the
Chaco, but was not found elseAvhere. It Avas recorded at Resistencia,
Chaco, July 8 to 10, 1920; Las Palmas, Chaco, July 13 to 28 (immature
male taken July 13, adult female July 17) ; Formosa,