BIEDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 323 



A series of three males and two females secured April 24, 26, and 

 27, 1921. near Concon, Chile, with five more in the United States 

 National Museum collection (Tome and other localities in Chile not 

 specified), serve to demonstrate the characters of the t3'^pical form. 

 From these it appears that true parulus is marked by grayish colora- 

 tion, somewhat limited streaking of the undersurface, and the reduc- 

 tion or absence of white wing bars. Hellmayr^ found this to be 

 true in 10 skins from Valparaiso and Valdivia. A. y. curatus Wet- 

 more and Peters, from Argentina, which is yellowish below like 

 parulus^ is somewhat more broadly streaked, on the average, is 

 lighter, more grayish above, and has two broad white Aving bars. 

 One of the females from Concon has the greater and middle coverts 

 faintly tipped with buffy. white and is somew^hat paler above than 

 four others (all in fresh fall plumage). It indicates a near ap- 

 proach to curatus, and may possibh^ be a migrant from some higher 

 region where there is a tendency toward intergradation between the 

 two forms. Barros^ records the birds as resident at an altitude of 

 1,700 meters on the upper Rio Aconcagua. This one specimen was 

 the cause of some uncertainty as to the validit}^ of curatus from east 

 of the mountains; nine supposedly typical examples of patniJus, in 

 Avhich there was a mere trace at most of a pale edging to the coverts, 

 and Hellmayr's account of 10 more, in which the condition is similar, 

 seem to indicate that this one specimen represents an intergrade. 



These tiny birds frequented the dense brush on the hill slopes 

 above the Rio Aconcagua, where they traveled actively about through 

 the bushes. In general appearance and actions they suggested king 

 lets, as they flitted the wings constantly, an appearance that w^as 

 belied by the jaunty black crest that came into view when the birds 

 were seen clearly. They were frequently aggressive and drove one 

 another about petulantly. At this season they were in full fall 

 plumage. 



In a male the upper third of the iris was raisin black, the re- 

 mainder marguerite yellow. The dark and light areas w^ere sharply 

 defined and the unusual pattern with two distinct colors gave the 

 eye an appearance that was exceedingly strange.^" 



SPIZITORNIS PARULUS CURATUS Wetmore and Peters 



Spizltornis parulus curatus Wetmore and Peters, Auk, 1924, p. 145. (Rio 

 Colorado, Gobernacion de Rio Negro, Argentina.) 



The present form is represented by a female shot at Potrerillos, 

 Mendoza, on March 15, 1921 (another seen but not taken March 17), 



* Arch, fiir Naturg., vol. 85, November, 1920, p. 51. 

 »Rev. Chilena Hist. Nat., vol. 25, 1921, p. 185. 



>" This condition has been figured accurately by Barros, Rev. Chilena Nat. Hist., vol, 

 •25, 1921, p. 185, fig. 26. 



