BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 187 



Aires, Mendoza, Santa Fe, and Chaco, no definite variation is ap- 

 parent save that specimens from Mendoza appear someAvhat paler 

 and whiter below. Birds of this species easily become soiled and 

 most of the skins from eastern localities are considerably discolored 

 by dirt so that on careful examination the lio;hter color of skins from 

 semiarid Mendoza seems more apparent than real. Cory has stated 

 that specimens from Ceara average smaller than those from the 

 south, but a single skin from Marajo is as large as those from Buenos 

 Aires. 



Though a bird of open country, the guira, like the ani, prefers 

 regions of open savannas diversified with thickets and groves so 

 that, though fairly common on the pampas, it was most abundant 

 in the partly wooded areas farther north. In southern Uruguay 

 and central Argentina the species is called urraca^ signifying prop- 

 erly a magpie, but in the north where jays occur the term urrcuca 

 is applied to them, and the guira is known as inrincho. It is inter- 

 esting to note that guira^ in the Guarani tongue signifies bird as a 

 group designation. 



Guiras are social and range in pairs or flocks that frequently num- 

 ber 20 individuals. The birds feed on the ground, usually with one 

 member of the band perched as guard where it may survey the 

 country. Open pastures or savannas are frequented and the birds 

 are attracted by recent burns in grasslands. As they alight they 

 throw the tail up and the head down, and then walk or run rapidly 

 with long legs fully extended. At any alarm they utter a curious 

 rattling call that may be represented as kee-ee-ee-ee^ from which 

 they derive their Guarani name of piriri (meaning a crackling noise, 

 as the crackle of a brush fire, or the noise produced in walking 

 through dry weeds), and then fly off in a loose, stringing flock to 

 alight in company on a tree, post, or fence. The flight is slow and 

 Aveak, accomplished by a brief beating of the wings, followed by a 

 short sail in which the wings are held stiffly extended. On the wing, 

 head and tail are held at a slightly higher level than the back. The 

 long tail is held at various angles when the birds are at rest, while 

 the wings may be drooped and the crest lowered or raised. Curi- 

 osity, interest, or indifference are expressed in constantly changing 

 attitudes, many of which are bizarre and unusual so that the long, 

 slenderly formed guiras are always of interest. On cool mornings 

 flocks rest in the rays of the sun with hanging tail, drooping wings, 

 and fluffed out feathers, a sight so frequent that in el sol como un 

 pirincho is a common saying for any one who basks in the sun's rays 

 on a cold morning. 



The song of the guira, if such it may be called, is a series of 

 discordant notes of great carrying power, exactly like the noise 

 produced by blowing on a grass blade held taut betvveen the thumbs ; 



