BIEDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 221 



and measurements with sufficient accuracy, and is identified as 

 the bird that Grant described. From my comparisons it appears 

 that nigroviridis is a fairly well marked subspecies of melanolaimus 

 that may be distinguished from specimens from Mendoza, taken as 

 representative of typical inelanolalnms^ and from perplexus^ by 

 the restriction of the black marking behind the malar stripe, the 

 smaller size of the spots on the undersurface, and slightly more 

 greenish cast below. In measurements this form seems somewhat 

 intermediate between true tnelanolaimus and perplexus. Measure- 

 ments of two male birds from Las Palmas (including the one pre- 

 pared as a skeleton) are as follows: Wing, 155-157.5 mm.; culmen, 

 31.6-34 mm. The type of nigroviridis collected by Prof. J. G. 

 Kerr was taken in the month of April (1890), so that we may 

 presume that it was in winter plumage, which would account for the 

 golden wash on ear coverts and rump mentioned by Grant. On 

 the basis of my present studies (on very insufficient material) it 

 would seem that nigroviridis is the form of melanolaimus found 

 in the Chaco. In restriction of the black behind the malar stripe 

 and in the greenish tinge of the undersurface, the Las Palmas 

 specimen, while undoubtedly closely related to melanolaimus^ sug- 

 gests Chrysoptilus melanochlorus^ and it may be that further col- 

 lecting will produce intermediate specimens that will link the forms 

 of the two groups as geographic variants of one wide-ranging 

 species. 



These woodpeckers, handsomely marked and of good appearance, 

 were common in the Chaco near the Eio Paraguay, but did not 

 seem to penetrate far inland. In general habits they resemble 

 flickers, but are more partial to wooded sections than the South 

 American species of that group, and to not range far into open 

 country unless trees are near at hand. They fed on the ground in 

 little openings, and in settled districts were observed on plowed 

 ground between rows of trees in orange groves. Burns in open 

 savannas were attractive to them. They are gregarious to the ex- 

 tent that five or six may be found together, though it is not unusual 

 to see single birds at rest quietly in the open top of a tree, or to 

 have one fly up to hitch along the larger limbs of a tree under shel- 

 ter of leaves. The flight is bounding like that of any flicker and 

 in general appearance the species suggests the pampas flicker; in 

 fact, I killed my first specimen on a dull, gloomy, rainy day under 

 the impression that it was an ordinary flicker. The ordinary call 

 note is a loud scolding keah keah keah kah. 



From July 16 to 31, 1920, the species was fairly common at the 

 borders of open savannas near the small stream known as the 

 Riacho Quia (Guarani for "dirty creek"), at Las Palmas, Chaco. 

 54207—26 15 



