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

BIRDS OP ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 61
Vicente, Uruguay, wood ibis were fairly common on January 31,
1921, and an immature male was taken. Here they ranged in bands
of 10 to 20 individuals, often accompanied by a roseate spoonbill or
two, that rested in open grassy areas adjoining shallow rush-grown
lagoons. They were wary, but under cover of rushes I crept within
40 meters of one flock and lay for a time watching them as they
rested motionless or preened their feathers. At a sudden alarm
they rose in confusion, and I killed one that I had singled out in
advance. When flocks were flushed they usually sailed and flapped
for a time in narrow circles a hundred meters above the earth and
then flew on to some safer resting place.
On Februar}^ 2 a flock -uas observed in a baiiado near the Arroyo
Sarandi; 30 miles northwest of San Vicente, and from February 6
to 9 scattered individuals were seen near Lazcano. The wood ibis
was known locally as fraile.
The specimen secured still shows traces of the nestling down on
the nape and the back of the neck. In this species neck feathers of
the Juvenal plumage often burst the sheaths near the base, while the
tip is still inclosed in a corneous case so that the tips of the feathers
appear as though waxed.
EUXENURA GALATEA (Molina)
Ardea Galatea Molina, Sags. Stor. Nat. Chili, 1782, p. 235. (Chile.)
In Molina's account of the birds of Chile there are two composite
names that refer in part to the present species and in part apparently
to the egret {Gasmerodius) . The first of these, Ardea galatea (p.
235), is described as "di color di latte col becco giallo lungo quattro
pollici, e le gambe crem fine ;
queste gambe, come pure il collo, hanno
due piedi, e sette pollici di altezza," while the Latin diagnosis, in a
footnote, says "Ardea occipite subcristato, corpore lacteolo, rostro
luteo, pedibus coccineis." The length of bill cited is too short for
Euxenura and nothing is said of black in the wings, but in general
color of feathers and legs and in size this can fit only the stork, and
the name is here taken for that species, Tantalus pillus of the same
work (p. 243) is also a composite, but here again general size and
color of body are those of Euxenura^ while length of bill and color
of legs are those of Gasmerodius. Both names seem more applicable
to Euxenura and are here accepted for that bird, a course that
obviates necessity for change in the name of the egret.
The Maguari stork was common through the Chaco as far north
as the Territory of Formosa, but was not observed in Paraguay.
From Garabate, Santa Fe, northward to Charadai, Chaco, many
were seen from the train on July 5, 1920. Single individuals were
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