322 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



for passing insects. In appearance and actions they resembled the 

 usual type of small flycatchers. 



SPIZITORNIS FLAVIROSTRIS FLAVIROSTRIS (Sclater and Salvin) 



Anaeretes flavirostris Sclater and Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1876, 

 p. 355. (Tilotilo, Yungas, Bolivia.) 



Five adult males secured near General Roca, Rio Negro, on No- 

 vember 25 and 29, and December 2, 1920 (one prepared as a skele- 

 ton), mark a considerable extension in range for this species, since it 

 has been recorded by Dabbene " only south to the Sierra de Cordoba. 

 It is possible that it has been overlooked through its similarity to 

 Spizitomis parulus. S. f. flavirostris was found with S. jp. patagoni- 

 eus, but was readily distinguished by the yellowish base of the 

 mandible, by the heavier black streaks on the underparts, and, 

 when in the flesh, by its dark eye. It was fairly common in the 

 low bushes that dotted the sides of little valleys in the arid gravel 

 hills north of the flood plain of the Rio Negro. In general appear- 

 ance, aside from its crest, it suggested a gnatcatcher, as it hopped 

 about in the tops of the low bushes or occasionally darted up to 

 secure some insect in the air. The resemblance was heightened w4ien 

 it threw the tail at a jaunty angle over the back, though the slender, 

 recurved crest of a few black feathers broke the illusion at first 

 glance. The birds were active and alert and often difficult to 

 approach since they flew with tilting flight from bush to bush at 

 the slighest suggestion of danger. 



Males were practically in breeding condition and were singing 

 constantly, a low buzzing, squeaky effort, barely audible above the 

 wind, that I wrote as seet zwee-ee seeta seeta seeta. 



The inside of the mouth and base of the mandible were zinc 

 orange; rest of bill black; iris Hay's brown; tarsus black. 



Chapman * has named two subspecies of flavirostns from Peru- 



SPIZITORNIS PARULUS PARULUS (Kittlitz) 



Muscicapa Parulufi Kittlitz, Mem. Acad. Imp. Sci. St.-Petersbourg, vol. 1, 

 1831, p. 190. (Concepcion and Valparaiso, Chile.) 



On the grounds that Anairetes of Reichenbach, 1850,'^ is pre- 

 occupied by Anaeretes Dejean, 1837,*^ Oberholser ^ has proposed the 

 generic name Spizitornis for this bird. 



3 Orn. Argentina, An. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires, vol. 18, 1910, p. 331. 



«Amer. Mus. Nov., no. 118, June 20, 1924, p. 8. 

 . ^ Ajiairetes Reichenbacli, Av. Syst. Nat., 1850, pi. 66. 



<i Anaeretes Dejean, Cat. Col., ed. 3, 1837, p. 181. E. A. Schwarz informs me that 

 this work, though marked as the third edition and universally so cited, is in reality 

 a fourth print since, when the third revision of Dejean had been printed, it was de- 

 stroyed by fire before more than a few copies had been distributed. It was set up 

 again, and this reprint was still marked as the third edition though in reality it was 

 the fourth. 



7 Auk, 1920, p. 453. 



