320 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



SERPOPHAGA MUNDA Berlepsch 



Serpophaga murula Berlepsch, Ornith. Monats., vol. 1, 1893, p. 12. (Sa- 

 maipata, Valle Grande, Bolivia.) 



The present species seems identical with S. subcristata, save that 

 the lower breast and abdomen are white instead of yellow, and the 

 dorsal surface usually is grayer. The species inhabits western and 

 northwestern xVrgentina, and extends eastward in the (^haco into 

 Paraguay. It is said to occur also in the Argentine Chaco. The 

 following specimens referr^ d to tnujida were collected : Kilometers 

 25 and 80, west of Puerto Pinasco, September 1 and 9, 1920, two 

 males; Mendoza, Mendoza (altitude, 850 meters), March 13, 1921, 

 male; Potrerillos, Mendoza, March 16, 17, and 21, one male and 

 two females; and Tapia, Tucuman, April 9, 1921. Birds of this 

 genus recorded March 27, near Tunuyan, Mendoza, were supposed 

 to be this species. 



One of the skins taken at Puerto Pinasco was an immature bird, 

 though fully grown, Avith a slight olive wash on the lower back 

 that is absent in the adult. Those shot in Mendoza and Tucuman 

 are in fall molt. In ju venal plumage the two light wing bars are 

 distinctly buff, while in the succeeding plumages these bars are much 

 lighter to nearly white. In immature birds in first winter plumage 

 the lower abdomen is very faintly washed with yellow, suggesting 

 the condition found in subcristata, where this color in deeper hue 

 extends over the abdomen and lower breast. At first glance this 

 wash of yellow in iiiunda is confusing, but specim ns are easily dis- 

 tinguished when compared in series as subcristata is told at once 

 by the much yellower color. Careful comparison of an adequate 

 series of the two fails to indicate differences that may separate them 

 other than those that have been noted. 



West of Puerto Pinasco, S. munda was encountered in fair num- 

 bers, in heavy timber where it work, d actively about in the smaller 

 branches like some warbler. During fall in the Province of Men- 

 doza the birds were found in low scrub that clothed the dry slopes 

 above small valleys or in better watered sections in growths of weeds. 

 They were fairly common and from their movements appeared to be 

 in migration. In early morning, especially, they Avere recorded as 

 moving actively through the thickets or weed patches, often uttering 

 a low tseet, like the fall calls of some of our warblers. Near Tapia, 

 Tucuman, they were found occasionally in the scrubby forest. 



SERPOPHAGA INORNATA Salvadori 



Serpophaga inornata Salvadoki, Boll. Mus. Zool. Anat. Oomp. Univ. Torino, 

 vol. 12, no. 292, May 12, 1897, p. 13. (San Francisco, Chaco of Bolivia.) 



Near Kilometer 80, west of Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay, on Sep- 

 tember 20, 1920, two were taken in heavy forest, as they worked 



