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

BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 395
dull black so that their brilliant colors when in the hand come as a
distinct surprise.
The immature male, in juvenal plumage, in general is deep mouse
gra}' Avith a wash of blue on the back, rump, sides of the head and
neck, and crown, with a grayish wash at the sides of the crown.
The bill in this species suggests that of Phytotoma., as it is evi-
dently designed for cutting and crushing. The margin of the
upper mandible is faintly crenulate. Near the tip there are some
slightly projecting serrations just inside the cutting edge. Still
farther inward is a row of distinct corneous projections that ex-
tend along either side of the palate, and converge to meet near the
tip of the bill. On the inner margin of the lower mandible are
slight i^rojections that meet those above. The tongue is broad,
strong, and bifurcate at the tip.
Family FRINGILLIDAE '•'^
SALTATOR SIMILIS SIMILIS d'Orbigny and Lafresiiaje
Saltator similis d'OKBiGNY and Lafresnaye, Mag. Zool., 1S37, cl. 2, p. 36.
(Corrientes, Argentina.)
This saltator was first seen near Kesistencia, Cliaco, when an adult
female was taken July 9, 1920. At Las Palmas, Chaco, it was
frequent from July 19 to 31 and two immature males were prepared
as skins (July 19 and 26). Saltators that I assumed to be
this species were recorded at the Riacho Pilaga, August 7, 11, and
14, and at Formosa, Formosa, August 24. Two males were secured
at Kilometer 25, west of Puerto Pinasco, on September 1
and 3. These are all fairly uniform in dimensions and in color,
the only differences noted being between adult and immature in-
dividuals, the latter being greener above and huffier on the breast
than older birds. Berlepsch "* has described /S. s. ochraceiventris
from Santa Catherina and Rio Grande do Sul (type locality
Taquara) as deeper buff below, a character present in one skin in
the United States National Museum from Rio Grande.
Like other saltators the present species inhabited thickets and
groves where it fed either on the ground or among the tree tops.
Those taken usually had the bill gummed with plant juices. Near
Las Palmas they were seen in orange groves which they appeared
to visit for the fruit. One brought to me alive was caught in a
snare baited with corn.
Their usual call note was a low pj^ee-ee or jjnit prut. They sang
a cheerful whistled song from amid leaves in the tops of low trees,
"^ The family name Fringillidae is here used in the broader sense pending an allocation
of South American forms in the logical scheme proposed by Doctor Sushkin (Auk,
1923, p. 260).
"Verb. V. Int Ornith.-Kongr., 1911, p. 1146.