BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 149 



The specimens taken at Formosa and General Roca belon<^ cer- 

 tainly to the western form, on the basis of size (male, wing, 134.3; 

 female, wing, 136.7 mm.), dorsal coloration, and the presence of 

 mottling on the inner web of the outer primary. A female from 

 Lazcano, Uruguay, has molted the outer primaries, but on the basis 

 of other measurements and on the presence of some dark butf mot- 

 tling on the back seems Avithin the limit of variation of cinnaniomea 

 and is identified as the same as the other two. Though the typical 

 subspecies solitaria is recorded definitely from Colombia by Chap- 

 man,^^ these findings seem to cast a doubt on its presence as far south 

 as Argentina. 



A specimen taken August 23, newly arrived from the north, shows 

 no indication of molt. One on December 3 has begun the renewal 

 of feathers on the side of the breast and the wing coverts, but has not 

 yet shed the flight feathers. On February 7 one has the wing 

 feathers, including the coverts, renewed with the bodj'^ plumage save 

 on head, neck, and back mainly new. The species seems to have a 

 complete molt during the period of northern winter. 



TOTANUS FLAVIPES (Gmelin) 



Scolopax flavipes Gmelin, Syst. Nat, vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 659. (New 

 York.) 



On July 31, 1920, at Las Palmas, Chaco, three lesser yellowlegs, 

 the earliest of the northern migrants, appeared at a lagoon during a 

 heavy wind. It may have been imagination, but to me it appeared 

 that they flew slowly as though tired, suggesting that they had just 

 arrived from the north. From September 5 to 21 the species was in 

 steady migration southward at Kilometer 80, west of Puerto Pi- 

 nasco, Paraguay, and on September 24 and 25 it was common with 

 other shore birds at Laguna Wall, 120 kilometers farther west. 

 Elsewhere the species was recorded as follows : Dolores to Lavalle, 

 Buenos Aires, October 23, many; Lavalle, Buenos Aires, October 

 29 to November 15 ; General Roca, Rio Negro, November 23 ; Carhue, 

 Buenos Aires, December 15 to 18 ; San Vicente, Uruguay, January 

 31, 1921; Lazcano, Rocha, February 5 to 9; 25 de Mayo, Buenos 

 Aires, March 2; Guamini, Buenos Aires, March 3 to 8; Tunuyan 

 Mendoza, March 23 to 28; Simoca, Tucuman, April 1; Tucuman, 

 Tucuman, April 5; Tapia, Tucuman, April 13; and Tafi Viejo, 

 Tucuman, April 15. 



The lesser yellowlegs was wide spread in distribution after Oc- 

 tober and was more abundant on the whole than Totanus r/iclanolcu- 

 cus. The birds frequented the shores of open lagoons, shallow pools, 

 or coastal mud flats, and though found distributed singly or two or 

 three together it was not unusual to encounter them in larger bands 



^ Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 36, 1917, p. 223. 



