504 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS : ZOOLOGY. 



color ; the tips of the feathers on the lower surface are polished and shining ; 

 the buff tips on the breast assume the appearance of barring on the sides 

 and particularly on the flanks ; the tips become whitish and silvery on the 

 abdomen and belly; the under tail-coverts are white and very short. 



Bill : Dull gray-blue ; the nail yellowish. 



Iris : Hazel-brown. 



Feet: Dark olive-brown, shaded with yellowish. 



Fig. 251. Fig. 252. 



Erismatura vittata. Immature male. P. U. Eristiiatura vittata. Immature male. P. 



O. C. 8700. Profile of head and neck, showing U. O. C. 8700. Crown of head and bill from 

 color pattern. Reduced. above. Reduced. 



Young birds of the year of both sexes resemble the female, but are not 

 so deep in coloring ; the young males moulting into the first nuptial dress 

 are like females, with the head cap more chestnut, and many bright chest- 

 nut feathers among the brown ones ; also there is much tinging, barring 

 and shading with chestnut on the brown feathers themselves. 



Geographical Range. — Southern South America ; chiefly Chili, Uruguay, 

 Argentina and northern and central Patagonia ; not recorded from the 

 extreme south of South America or from the Magellan Straits. 



While there is more or less seasonal movement on the part of the birds 

 they can hardly be regarded as migrants, for where they occur they are 

 present throughout the year, but in varying.abundance at different seasons. 

 There is a set of eggs, among several others, in the collections of the Brit- 

 ish Museum, probably of this bird, but ascribed to the Falkland Islands as 

 the point where they were collected. In view of the fact that there seem 

 to be no records of the occurrence of the birds in question at that point, 

 it does not seem probable that the data furnished by the collector are 

 correct. (Cat. Birds' Eggs in Brit. Mus. Vol. II, p. 194.) 



