BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PAKAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 241 

 DRYMORNIS BRIDGESH (Eyton) 



JVtMJco hridgesii Eyton, Jardii>e's contrib. Orn., 1849 (pub. 1850), p. 130, 

 p. 38. (Bolivia.) 



Near Victorica, Pampa, Bridge's wood hewer was fairly common 

 from December 23 to 29, 1920, so that two males (one prepared as a 

 skeleton) were taken December 23 and a female on December 24. 

 The}' were found in little flocks of four or five in open forest where 

 they fed on the ground where it vras more or less free from under- 

 growth, often in company with Pseudoseisiira lophotes. Wlien 

 startled they flew away with undulating flight to alight on some 

 tree trunk, up which they climbed until they came to rest on a slop- 

 ing limb. Their ordinary call was a loud ivhee whee whee^ to which 

 they added a chattering note when excited. Though they climbed 

 readily, they seemed to prefer to rest on a sloping limb of good size 

 and in such situations frequently ran along the branches instead of 

 hitching about with the aid of the tail. A bird with a broken wing 

 ran along on the ground as rapidly and easily as a plover or a lark, 

 so that I had considerable difficulty in capturing it. 



A few were recorded near Tapia, Tucuman, from April T to 13, 

 1921, but none were taken. 



A male, secured December 23, had the base of the mandible ecru 

 drab : rest of bill black ; iris natal brown ; tarsus and toes dull black. 



SITTASOMUS SYLVIELLUS CHAPADENSIS (Ridgway) 



Sittasotnus cha pa densis Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 14, 1891, p. 

 509. (Chapada, Matto Grosso, Brazil.) 



Five specimens of Sittasonius sylvieUus from three rather widely 

 separated localities offer some variation in color, but, until better 

 series of skins are available, may be referred to the subspecies 

 chapadensis. A male and a female shot west of Puerto Pinasco, the 

 male at Kilometer 25, September 1, and the female at Kilometer 80, 

 September 15, are slightly grayer, less yellowish both above and 

 below than two females taken at Las Palmas, Chaco, on July 15. An 

 adult male secured April IT, 1921, at an altitude of nearly 1,700 

 meters on the Sierra San Xavier, above Tafi Viejo, Tucuman, is 

 much more yellowish than those last mentioned, especially on th.i 

 lower breast and abdomen, while the bill appears larger and heavier. 

 The three seem to represent phases that may eventually be recog- 

 nized as subspecies. Hellmayr ^^ refers skins from Tucuman to 

 chapadensis and considers this to range in Goyaz and Matto Grosso, 

 Brazil, eastern Bolivia. Paraguay (Colonia Risso). and northern 

 Argentina (Jujuy. Salta, and Tucuman). 



'•Nov. Zool., vol. 1.5, June, 1908, p. 64. 



