334 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



PYROCEPHALUS RUBINUS RUBINUS (Boddaert) 

 Miiscicapa rubinvs Boddaert, Tabl. Planch. Enl.. 1783, p. 42. (Brazil.)'' 



This handsome flycatcher, common in central and northern Argen- 

 tina, was recorded and collected as follows : Riacho Pilaga, Formosa, 

 August 8 and 14, 1920 (two males taken) : Formosa, Formosa, Au- 

 gust 23 and 24 (male taken on 24th) ; Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay, 

 September 3 ; Kilometer 80, west of Puerto Pinasco, September 9 to 

 21 (male September 21) ; Lavalle, Buenos Aires, October 24 to No- 

 vember 13 (pair November 13) ; General Roca, Rio Negro, Novem- 

 ber 27 to December 3; Victorica, Pampa, December 23 to 29 (male 

 December 28, adult female December 24, immature female December 

 28) ; Carrasco, Uruguay, January 9 and 16, 1921; La Paloma, Uru- 

 guay, January 23; San Vicente, Uruguay, January 26 to Februar}' 

 2 (female January 27) ; Rio Negro, Uruguay, February 18. 



This bird inhabited regions similar to those in which its northern 

 representative, inexicanus, is found in the southwestern United 

 States, namely, open thickets and groves of low trees, often in the 

 vicinity of dry watercourses, where it chose low perches, frequently 

 where a network of small limbs protected it from the sudden on- 

 slaught of bird-eating hawks. The young males carry the streaked, 

 immature plumage until late winter following the season in whicii 

 they were hatched, as is shown by three males from the Territory of 

 Formosa, killed in August, which are in transition from this streaked 

 phase to the brilliant plumage of the adult. The period from Sep- 

 tember, when they had attained full feather, until December consti- 

 tuted the mating season during which their beautiful display, in 

 which they flew out with head erect and crest raised, and supported 

 themselves in air with rapid beats of the wings, vivid burning spots 

 of red that instantly attracted the eye, was seen frequently. At a 

 distance of a few yards, during this action, a thin, steely note tsit- 

 tsur-ee-ee was faintly audible. Occasionally one gave a low, crack- 

 ling note like the sound made by breaking dry twigs. An immature 

 specimen secured December 28 had only recently left the nest. 



In some localities the brilliant display of the male had given this 

 species the name of hrazita de fuego; elsewhere it was called chur- 

 rinche. 



EMPIDONAX TRAILLII TRAILLII (Audubon) 



Miiscicapa traillii Audubon, Birds Amer. (folio), vol. 1. 1828, pi. 45. 

 (Woods along the prairie lands of the Arkansas River.) 



An adult female, very fat, was found on the deck of the steamship 

 Santa Elisa at daybreak on the morning of May 11, 1921. The bird, 

 which belongs to the eastern race (formerly known as alnorura 



^ See Brabourne and Chubb, Birds of South America, vol. 1, 1912, p. 208. 



