BIRDS OF AKGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 431 



MYOSPIZA HUMERALIS DORSALIS (Ridgway) 



Cotumicuhis manimbe, var. dorsalis Ridgway, in Baird, Brewer, aud 

 Ridgway, Hist. North American Birds, vol. 3, 1874, p. 549. (Buenos 

 Aires. ) 



This common form was encountered at Riacho Pilaga, Formosa, 

 August 8 to 21, 1920 (adult male, August 11) ; Formosa, Formosa, 

 August 23 and 24; Las Palmas, Chaco, July 15 to 31 (4 adult males) ; 

 Carhue, Buenos Aires, December 17 (adult male) ; Guamini, Buenos 

 Aires, March 6, 1921 (adult male) ; Carrasco, Urugua}^, January 16; 

 La Paloma, Uruguay, January 23 : Lazcano, Uruguay, February 2 to 

 Q (adult male taken) ; and Eio Negro, Uruguay, February 14. The 

 birds were found in weed or grass grown fields usually near but not 

 in marshy localities. They have the habits and mannerisms of the 

 grasshopper sparrows of the United States, but appear decidedly 

 darker in color. On the southern pampas they were found at times 

 in pastures with very little cover, Avhere they crept about on the 

 ground as inconspicuously as possible. During the winter season 

 they were entirely silent, but were in song the middle of February. 

 One taken at Guamini, March C, had begun to molt. 



The Toba Indians called this bird po ko Ukh. 



MYOSPIZA HUMERALIS TUCUMANENSJS Bangs and Penard 



Myospiza humeralis tucumanensis Bangs aud Penard, Bull. Mus. Comp. 

 Zool., vol. 62, April, 1918, p. 92. (Tapia, Tucuman.) 



An adult male, shot December 26, 1920, at Victorica, Pampa, 

 agrees in coloration with the type-specimen. At Victorica the birds 

 were fairly common on rolling hills covered with bunch grass. They 

 were breeding and were in song at this time. 



PASSER DOMESTICUS (Linnaeus) 



Fringilla domestica, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 183. 

 ( Sweden. ) 



The familiar house sparrow, or gorrion, is well established now 

 throughout the Argentine, where, according to Berg,^^ it was first 

 introduced in Buenos Aires by E. Bieckert in 1872 or 1873, for the 

 purpose of destroying a Psychid Oiketicus platensis Berg. Several 

 importations may have been made, however, as Doctor Holmberg-^ 

 reports that they were brought in by one PelufFo, and Gibson ^"^ 

 cites a rumor that they were introduced by a German brewer. Spar- 

 rows first attracted attention in tlie nineties, as Gibson mentions 

 them on the Calle Florida, in Buenos Aires, in 1890, and E. L. Holm- 

 es Com. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires, vol. 1, 1901, p. 284. See also F. Lahille, El. Ilornero, 

 vol. 2, 1921, p. 216. 



=» Quotation from Rev. Jardin Zoo!., June 15, 1893, in El Horuero, vol. 2, 1920, p. 71. 

 •oibis, 1918, pp. 3S&-387. 



