BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 345 



good plumage in marked contrast to the worn feathers and thin 

 body of a newly arrived migrant barn swallow from North America, 

 taken at the same time. During summer, P. jjatagonica was found 

 through the pampas in pairs about cut banks near water, and was 

 especially common along the Rio Negro in northern Patagonia. 

 Though small and light in body, so that the birds blew about in 

 the wind, they were able at will to breast the strongest blasts. 

 Their nests were placed in little tunnels excavated in the sides of 

 banks. Males sang a low and rather squeaky song at intervals, but 

 on the whole the species was silent. On March 5 little flocks were 

 common on the open pampa at Guamini, and by March 7 the num- 

 ber of those present was greatly increased, apparently by migrants 

 driven by colder weather from the south. The birds, many of them 

 immature, hawked for food along the lake shore, and, when tired 

 of buffeting the constant wind, settled in little open spaces on the 

 ground. Occasionalh' a few joined hddiprocne meyeni at rest on 

 the wires of a fence, but seldom did one pause on the higher tele- 

 phone wires frequented by their companions of larger size. 



PHAEOPROGNE TAPERA TAPERA (Linnaeus) 



Hiriindo Tapera liiNNAEUS, Syst. Nat, ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 34.5. (Brazil.) 



This martin, in color and marking a larger counterpart of the 

 bank swallow, is migrant in the southern part of its range, as it 

 was not seen until September 17, 1920. when it was recorded at 

 Kilometer 80, west of Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay. It was observed 

 from then until September 30, and on October 21 was already pres- 

 ent at Dolores, Buenos Aires. The species was noted at Lavalle, 

 Buenos Aires, from October 25 to November 13, and at the following 

 points in Uruguay; Carrasco, January 9 and 16; Montevideo (in the 

 Prado), January 14; La Paloma, January 23; San Vicente, January 

 27 to 31; Lazcano, February 5 to 9, and Rio Negro, February 15 to 

 18. The five skins taken include two males from Kilometer 80, 

 Puerto Pinasco, a pair from Lavalle, and an adult female from San 

 Vicente. These are similar to one another and all possess the dark 

 spots on the median undersurface that are lacking in P. t. itnviacu- 

 lata Chapman ^^ from Colombia and Venezuela. 



A male, shot September 18, had the bill, tarsus, and toes black; 

 iris bone brown. 



This martin was encountered among dead trees in open woods or 

 groves, and in the north was especially common among groves of 

 palms. The birds ajDpear weaker in flight than most swallows, and 

 pause frequently to rest on dead limbs after short circling flights. 



3«Biill. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 31, July 23, 1912, p. 156. (Chicoral, near 

 Giradot, Alt. 550 meters, Tolima, Colombia.) 



