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 mil- 

 limeters) 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. 



