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

38 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
flight must perforce abandon this idea at the first encounter in the
field. The birds rise with a disconcerting whistle and roar of wings
that startled me into missing my first bird clean, but on my second
encounter I retaliated by making a double, though one bird was lost
in the grass, as I failed to mark it properly. At Las Palmas, in
the Territory of Chaco, Nothura m. holiviaTia was common from
July 14 to July 28. The birds were encountered in savannas and
prairies bordered by heavy groves, where growths of grasses a foot
or so high afforded cover. Occasionally one ran out with neck ex-
tended to the utmost to watch me, but more frequently they lay
close and were overlooked in the heavy cover. At the Riacho Pilaga,
Formosa, from August 8 to 20, tinamou were common in the drier
areas. Though it was winter and the air often sharp and frosty,
I heard the plaintive piping whistle of males frequently as I worked
at specimens or walked through the open savannas in early morning.
Cover was so heavy here that the birds were seen less easily than in
the case of the form inhabiting the open pampa, and though heard
constantly they were seldom flushed. On one occasion I saw one
walking across an open space where there was little cover, but a
minute later, when I returned with a gun, the tinamou had hidden
and could not be found, though it was only a few feet away. When
flushed they rose from 2 to 5 meters from the ground and darted
swiftly away. It was difficult to make them rise a second time.
One was noted in the outskirts of the town of Formosa on the
Paraguay River on August 23, and several were seen near Puerto
Pinasco on September 3. At Kilometer 80 they were abundant from
September 6 to 26, and were seen in the open camps through the
Chaco for a distance of 200 kilometers west of the river. A female
killed on September 6 had the ovaries developing, while males were
calling constantly. The call consists of a repetition of one note that
begins slowly, becomes louder and somewhat more rapid, and then
dies away, a pleasant and agreeable sound. Though brush-grown
areas were common here, the birds ranged entirely in open country.
On September 25 at Laguna Wall a set of five fresh eggs was secured
from a Lengua Indian who had taken them that morning. These
eggs are slightly paler than dusky drab (being lighter than the set
of N. m. nigroguttata described from Carhue) and measure (in millimeters)
as follows: 42.3 by 31.2, 43.1 by 31.6, 44.2 by 31.5, 44.9 by
32.2, 45.1 by 31.5.
The Anguete Indians knew this species as 6-eA' en likh\
The soft parts of a bird secured at Las Palmas were colored as
follows: Maxilla fuscous; sides of maxilla, and mandible cartridge
buff; iris apricot orange; tarsus and toes vinaceous buff.