BIRDS OF AEGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 281 

 PSEUDOSEISURA LOPHOTES (Keichenbach) 



Homorus lophotes Keichenbach, Handb. Spec. Ornitli., August, 1853, p. 

 172. (Bolivia"?) 



The present species probably may be separated generically from 

 Pseudoseisura gutturalis, from which it differs to a considerable 

 extent. The two are here associated pending further study. 



Though reported of fairly wide range, the present bird was 

 encountered only near Victorica, Pampa, from December 23 to 29, 

 and at Rio Negio, Uruguay, from February 16 to 18. It is an in- 

 habitant of open groves of low trees where it feeds on the ground, 

 often in company with Dr^ymornis hindgesi. At the slightest alarm 

 the crested Pseudoseisura flies up with chattering calls, and hops 

 about in the shelter of the limbs as alertly as a jay, pausing to 

 peer out or to peck nervously at the limbs. The flight is strongly 

 undulating. 



These birds build huge nests of sticks, as large in diameter as 

 a bushel measure, somewhat flattened, with an entrance at one side, 

 that are placed in the tops of low trees from 4 to 6 meters from 

 the ground. The conspicuous nests are seen frequently, but the 

 birds are usually so shy and retiring that it may be difficult to 

 And them. However, on occasion they may come familiarly into 

 dooryard trees, and at Victorica, where they were known as 6hor- 

 loco, they were accused of stealing the eggs of domestic fowls. The 

 birds are found in pairs save for the period when adults are ac- 

 companied by young. (PI. 10.) 



The paired birds shriek in chorus with nasal, laughing calls that 

 close with rattling notes suggestive of those of some melanerpine 

 woodpecker. When excited they utter in a low tone a note resem- 

 bling the syllable cuck cuck cuck. In an immature male, barely 

 grown, the bill was black; iris ecru drab; tarsus and toes dark 

 gi'ayish olive. 



Two immature specimens taken at Victorica on December 23, 

 though fully feathered, had the borders of the gape soft and the bill 

 shorter than in adults. These, in juvenal plumage, differ from 

 older individuals in having indistinct, narrow, dusky bars on the 

 breast and sides of the head. 



XENICOPSIS RUFO-SUPERCILIATUS OLEAGINUS (Sclater) 



Anabazeno'ps oleaginus P. L. Sclateb, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 18S3, p. 654. 

 (Sierra de Totoral, Catamarca, Argentina.^") 



When Sclater described the present form of Xenicopsis he did so 

 on the basis of skins secured by White in the Sierra de Totoral, 

 Catamarca, and on others (in the United States National Museum) 



*» Keichenbach remarks that the locality on the label of his specimen, given as 

 Bolivia, is probably Incorrect. 



" For citation of type specimen see Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 15, 1890, p. 106. 



