170 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



acters : Larger size, gray head and neck, more extensive black mark- 

 ings on head and neck, and further posterior extension of black on 

 breast. (Wing 240 to 258 mm.) 



2. BELONOPTERUS CHILENSIS CAYANNENSIS (Gmelin). 



Range : Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas (type locality Cayenne), 

 and northern Brazil (south at least to Diamantina, near Santarem). 

 Characters : BroAvnish head and sides of neck, forming an unbroken 

 collar on foreneck, and greater length of tarsus (77.5 to 82.5 mm.). 



3, BELONOPTERUS CHILENSIS LAMPRONOTUS (Wagler). 



Range: Southern and eastern Brazil,*^ Paraguay, Uruguay, and 

 Argentina west to the plains at the eastern base of the Andes south 

 into northern Patagonia. Characters: Brownish gray head and 

 sides of neck, with a black line passing from black of throat to 

 breast, and shorter tarsus (69.5 to 75.5 mm.). 



The third form has been recognized as Belonopterus grisesceris 

 Prazak by Brabourne and Chubb.*^ As Vanellus grisescens Pra- 

 zak** was described from a single specimen secured by Richard 

 Materna in " North Chile," it can not refer to the bird of the eastern 

 pampas and must be considered a synonjan of chilensis. As a 

 matter of fact, the name lampronotus of Wagler cited above is 

 available for the southern form, and does not refer to the northern 

 typical subspecies, as in his description Wagler states that lampro- 

 notus has a black line leading down the middle of the foreneck to 

 the breast, sides of the head, hind neck, and sides of neck ashy and 

 tarsus 3 inches long, characters that indicate a bird from the south. 

 He cites the range as Paraguay, Brazil, and Cayenne. The type 

 locality is hereby restricted to Paraguay. 



The large, conspicuously colored teru teru is one of the most 

 prominent birds found on the Argentine pampas, a species that the 

 traveler meets almost at once on reaching open country. Where 

 the birds are common one is never free from their insistent espionage, 

 and though the birds are pleasing in color, their clamor soon be- 

 comes tiresome even when they do not alarm desirable game. Where 

 herdsmen pass continually through the fields on horseback the 

 plovers are tame; elsewhere, where hunting is prevalent, they may 

 be more shy, but it is seldom difficult to call them within gun range 

 by sitting down in the open or by waving a white handkerchief. 

 During the breeding season the birds fly out to meet all comers and 

 with clamorous calls conduct intruders across their chosen domain. 

 On moonlit nights their barking stiltlike calls may be heard con- 

 tinuously, while they call at any time when disturbed, even though 



*2 A skin in the Field Museum, from Cidade da Barra, Rio San Francisco, Bahia, 

 is representative of tliis form. 



*3 Birds of South America, December, 1912, p. 38. 



" Ornith. Monatsber., vol. 4, 1896, p. 23. '' 



