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

408 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
On the date mentioned three or four Avere found on open, rounded
shoulders at the summit of the cumbre, where the ground was cov-
ered with tussock grass. In habits they resemble P. a. alaudinus.
DIUCA DIUCA (Molina)
Fringilla Diuca, Molina, Sagg. Stor. Nat. Chili, 1782, p. 249. (Chile.)
Handsome diuca finches were found everywhere in the valley of
the Rio Aconcagua near Concon, Chile, from the open sand dunes of
the coast inland to the brush-grown hillsides. Flocks were often
seen on the ground, or single birds were noted perched on thistles,
bushes, or the tops of trees, where they were readily recognized by
their white throats when their stocky forms and heavy bills were
not sufficient to identify them. In flight the white in the tail was
prominent. Flocks were seen often feeding in growths of weeds or
on open ground. They were a veritable pest in truck gardens as
they destroyed the leaves and tender shoots of growing vegetables.
In small fields it was common to see a 5-gallon oil tin suspended from
a stick with a piece of tin hanging against one side and a wire lead-
ing to a hut, perhaps 70 or 80 meters away. As the diucas alighted
to feed the wire was jerked causing the tin to rattle against the can,
a noise that made the finches rise in alarm and pass on. On the
whole the arrangement seemed very effective.
Two males and one female were preserved as skins. A male, shot
April 25, had the tip of the bill dull black; base of maxilla dark
mouse gray ; a line of dark mouse gray along cutting edge of mandi-
ble, rest light Payne's gray; iris bone brown; tarsus dusky green-
gray; toes sooty black.
DIUCA MINOR Bonaparte
Diuca minor Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av., vol. 1, 1850, p. 476. (Pata-
gonia.)
The lesser diuca finch was fairly common at General Roca, Rio
Negro, from November 23 to December 3, 1920, where a male and
four females were taken, and was found in equal numbers near Vic-
torica, Pampa, from December 23 to 29, where two pairs were preserved
as skins. One was seen in a warm north valley below
Zapala, Neuquen, on December 9.
D. minor is treated here as specifically distinct from D. diuca as,
though the two appear complementary in range and are of similar
color pattern and color, in the series examined there is no apparent
intergradation in size. Males of diuca have decidedly longer wings
than males of minor, but the difference in females of the two are
less pronounced. I), diuca, however, may always be told by the
longer, heavier bill. The difference in bulk between well-made
skins of the two is decided.