^84 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



7)iajor. The two specimens from Tucuman have molted and renewed 

 a part of the flight feathers. 



The present species is an inhabitant of thickets or dense growths 

 of weeds, and, though as retiring in habit as a chat (Icteria), has 

 more curiosity and may be decoyed more readily into view. It 

 impresses one as a bird of character that will repay observation with 

 curious and interesting traits. When it chooses to appear it is alert, 

 certain in every movement, and jaunty in carriage, but often one 

 merely has sight of a brilliant red eye glaring with a positively evil 

 expression through some crevice between leaves, with only a sug- 

 gestion of a darker body behind. The bird is more frequently heard 

 than seen, even where it is common. Its calls, usually uttered in a 

 complaining tone, are considerably varied, a common one being a 

 low pru/i-h-h-h, another tur-r-r te tnh, while others do not lend 

 themselves readily to representation. The song, strange and decep- 

 tive in volume and tone, may be written as heh heh heh heh heh heh 

 heh-h-h-h-h-h quo-ah. It begins slowly, becomes increasingly rapid 

 until it changes to a rattle, and then, after a slight pause, terminates 

 in a squall exactly like that uttered by a gray squirrel {Sciurus 

 carolinensis) . During August the birds were usually in pairs, and 

 males sang constantly in early morning in sunny weather. 



The Toba Indians called this species soo loo likh^ while the 

 Anguete knew the female as al lakh tik tik, and the male as yum 

 u oukh. 



An adult male, taken July 9, when fresh, had the maxilla and line 

 of the gonys blackish slate ; rest of mandible, basal tomia of maxilla 

 and tarsus gray number 6 ; iris spectrum red. The colors in females 

 were similar, though both sexes varied slightly in the depth of red 

 of the eye. 



THAMNOPHILUS RUFICAPILLUS RUFICAPILLUS Vieillot 



ThamnopMlus mflcapillus Vieicllot, Nouv. Diet. Hist Nat., vol. 3, 1816, 

 p. 318. (Corrientes, Argentina. ) ^^ 



The present species seems to be rare or local, as it was seen on 

 only two occasions. At the Paso Alamo, on the Arroyo Sarandi, 

 nn adult male in rather worn plumage was taken on February 2, 

 1921. Another specimen, preserved in alcohol, was secured near 

 Rio Negro, Uruguay, on February 16. The birds were found in 

 dense brush near water, where they worked slowly about under 

 heavy cover, in habit suggesting ThamnopMlus gilvigaster. Their 

 call note was a low whistle. 



Hellmayr^^ gives T hainnophilus suhfasciatus Sclater and Salvin 

 and T. Tnarcapatae Hellmayr as subspecies of T. ruf,ca'pillus. Mr. 



62 Type locality selected by Hellmayr, Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Ser., vol. 13, pt. 3, 

 Nov. 20, 1924, p. 108. 



ssArch. Naturg., vol. 85, 1919 (November, 1920), p. 85. 



