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

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36 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM Minas Geraes " prope paf^os Tejuco et Contendas." However, the types of T. majoi' and T. niedius are said by Hellmayr to have the rufescent cast of the dorsal surface found in N. vi. maculosa, while N. m. minor is a small form so that none of these names can apply to the bird I have described as savam/naru'tri. The Nothura media of Salvadori^^ is a synonym of TV. m. minor (Spix). While Nothura assimilis G, R. Gray ^^ described from " South America " is also identical with .V. m. minor.-^ Near La Paloma, port of the town of Rocha, the spotted tinamou was seen on January 23, 1921, while from January 25 to February 2 it was common near San Vicente, Avhere the birds were especially abundant in g^rassy fields near the Lnguna Castillos. The female described as the type of the present form, taken here on January 27, contained a Avell-formed egg almost ready to be laid. The birds were heard whistling in all directions, and half-grown young were seen on January 30. From February 3 to 9 they were noted in numbers near Lazcano. NOTHURA MACULOSA BOLIVIANA Salvadori Nothura hoUviana Salvadobi Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 27, 1S95, p. 561. (Bolivia.) Specimens of the spotted tinamou taken at Las Palmas, Chaco, Kilometer 182 (Riacho Pilaga), Formosa, and Kilometer 80, Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay, are representative of the Bolivian form, though with adequate material there is no question but that they will be found to constitute one or more distant races allied to that bird. In general they are characterized by a strong grayish cast above and below, with the markings of the underparts restricted, and on the breast formed into lines. All are sharply cut off from the brighter colored Nothura m. maculosa and N. m. nigroguttata that range east and south of the Chaco. {Nigroguttata is said to occur at Mocovi, Santa Fe, in the southern end of the Chaco region.) Three distinct types of coloration are represented by the three localities from which specimens called here boliviana are available. A female taken at Las Palmas, Chaco, on July 16, 1920, differs from others here described under the name N. m. holiviana, in being more deeply buff in coloration, especially on the wings and sides of the neck, and in having bolder, heavier black markings on the hind neck. Two males from the Riacho Pilaga, 10 miles northwest of Kilometer 182, Formosa, taken August 15 and 18, are much grayer than this Las Palmas bird, and have the hind neck grizzled with »8 Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 27, 1895, p. 563. '» List Birds Brit. Mus., pt. 5, Gallinae, 1867, p. 105. =» See Salvadori, Cat. Birds, Brit. Mus., vol. 27, 1895, p. 564, and Hellmayr, Abliand. Kon. Bayerischen Akad. Wiss., vol. 22, 1906, p. 707.

BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 37 dull black and olive-buff, with a slight buffy tinge. A female from Kilometer 80, west of Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay, is grayer throughout than any of the others, while the markings on the liind neck and on the underj^arts are greatly restricted. Spotted tinamous are birds of sedentary habit that have been divided into a number of subspecies, even under the more or less cursory examination that has been granted them by ornithologists up to the present time. When series of specimens are available from their entire range it will be found that a number of geographic races have been overlooked, as it is probable that every extensive river system may have a distinct form ranging through the plains of its drainage basin. In the material at hand in the United States National Museum three types of coloration are readily distinguished among the spotted tinamous; Nothura m. maculosa, N. m. nigroguttata, and N. m. savannai^m (probably N . m. minor, which I have not seen) a group of subspecies characterized by more or less intense buffy coloration and bold markings of the dorsal surface, ranging from the well-watered pampas north to the Chaco and through eastern Paraguay, Uruguay, and southern Brazil; Nothura m. boUviana, N. m. peruviana, and N. m. agassizi of grayish color, strongly marked above and streaked on the breast below, covering eastern Peru, Bolivia, and the Chaco in Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina ;^^ and Nothura d. daricini, N. d. tnendosensis, and N. d. salvadorii, of grayish cast, with fine, vermiculated lining above and diffuse markings below, from Patagonia, and the arid regions of western Argentina, north into Salta. Nothura maculosa and N. darioini are at present recognized as distinct species, while the group characterized by holiviana (including the forms given above) would also seem distinct, specially from N. maculosa in the characters that have been enumerated. It is significant that a form identical with or close to holivia/na was taken at Las Palmas on the west bank of the Kio Paraguay, while a specimen in the United States National Museum, from Corrientes a few miles below on the eastern shore, just below the confluence of the Parana and Paraguay, has the buffy coloration and bold markings of the true maculosa group. The relationships of these birds are points to be settled only when additional series are available., Nothura m. hoUvia^ia does not seem to have been recorded pre- viously from Argentina. One who has garnered from desultory reading on South American natural history that the spotted tinamou is a bird of weak, uncertain ^ Tinamus ioraquira Spix (Av. spec. nov. Brazillam, vol. 2, 1825, p. 63, pi. 79) if correctly delineated in the original plate should be placed in the genus Nothoprocta, a group that differs from Nothura in having the posterior face of the tarsus covered with small reticulate, hexagonal scales instead of with two rows of large scutes, the outer of which is much broader and more distinct than the inner. 54207—26 i

36 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM<br />

Minas Geraes " prope paf^os Tejuco et Contendas." However, the<br />

types of T. majoi' and T. niedius are said by Hellmayr to have the<br />

rufescent cast of the dorsal surface found in N. vi. maculosa, while<br />

N. m. minor is a small form so that none of these names can apply to<br />

the bird I have described as savam/naru'tri. The Nothura media of<br />

Salvadori^^ is a synonym of TV. m. minor (Spix). While Nothura<br />

as<strong>si</strong>milis G, R. Gray ^^ described from " South America " is also<br />

identical with .V. m. minor.-^<br />

Near La Paloma, port of the town of Rocha, the spotted tinamou<br />

was seen on January 23, 1921, while from January 25 to February<br />

2 it was common near San Vicente, Avhere the birds were especially<br />

abundant in g^rassy fields near the Lnguna Castillos. The female<br />

described as the type of the present form, taken here on January<br />

27, contained a Avell-formed egg almost ready to be laid. The<br />

birds were heard whistling in all directions, and half-grown young<br />

were seen on January 30. From February 3 to 9 they were noted<br />

in numbers near Lazcano.<br />

NOTHURA MACULOSA BOLIVIANA Salvadori<br />

Nothura hoUviana Salvadobi Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 27, 1S95, p. 561.<br />

(Bolivia.)<br />

Specimens of the spotted tinamou taken at Las Palmas, Chaco,<br />

Kilometer 182 (Riacho Pilaga), Formosa, and Kilometer 80, Puerto<br />

Pinasco, Paraguay, are representative of the Bolivian form, though<br />

with adequate material there is no question but that they will be<br />

found to constitute one or more distant races allied to that bird.<br />

In general they are characterized by a strong grayish cast above and<br />

below, with the markings of the underparts restricted, and on the<br />

breast formed into lines. All are sharply cut off from the brighter<br />

colored Nothura m. maculosa and N. m. nigroguttata that range<br />

east and south of the Chaco. {Nigroguttata is said to occur at<br />

Mocovi, Santa Fe, in the southern end of the Chaco region.) Three<br />

distinct types of coloration are represented by the three localities<br />

from which specimens called here boliviana are available. A female<br />

taken at Las Palmas, Chaco, on July 16, 1920, differs from others<br />

here described under the name N. m. holiviana, in being more<br />

deeply buff in coloration, especially on the wings and <strong>si</strong>des of the<br />

neck, and in having bolder, heavier black markings on the hind<br />

neck. Two males from the Riacho Pilaga, 10 miles northwest of<br />

Kilometer 182, Formosa, taken August 15 and 18, are much grayer<br />

than this Las Palmas bird, and have the hind neck grizzled with<br />

»8 Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 27, 1895, p. 563.<br />

'» List Birds Brit. Mus., pt. 5, Gallinae, 1867, p. 105.<br />

=» See Salvadori, Cat. Birds, Brit. Mus., vol. 27, 1895, p. 564, and Hellmayr, Abliand.<br />

Kon. Bayerischen Akad. Wiss., vol. 22, 1906, p. 707.

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