Sporophila palustris (Barrows)

Spermophila palustris Barrows, Bull.Nutt.Orn.Cl.,8, p. 92, 1883 (Concepción del Uruguay, Entre Ríos, Argentina).

No specimens examined.

Description of female.—No female examined. There is a plate of it in the Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus. (12, pl. 2, 1888). This is perhaps a young male, for it shows a white speculum. According to the Cat. Bds.(p. 113), above it is dull olive brown, slightly mottled with dusky bases to the feathers of the back, as is the crown of the head. This perhaps may be the best distinguishing feature. The wing coverts and tertials are blackish, edged pale.

Range.—Northeastern Argentina (Entre Ríos), extreme southern Brazil (Itaquí, rio Uruguai), and Paraguay(low lying islands in the río Paraguay at Concepción).

Remarks.—A colored plate of this species is to be found in the Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus. (12, pl. 2, 1888). The (sight?)record of this conspicuous bird from Villa Concepcion, Paraguay,by Kerr (Ibis, 1901, pp. 217, 223) is credible, as the species has been taken since in the same general marshy region at Itaquí, Rio Grande do Sul, which is located about 300 miles southeast of the Paraguayan locality. Hellmayr doubted therecord, but when he wrote about this species it was only known from the type locality.

The two males in the Museum of Comparative Zoology are, I believe, the only ones in this country.

Sporophila lorenzi Hellmayr, described from a specimen without locality, bought in 1840 from Lennier,a Parisian dealer in natural history objects, is believed by Hellmayr to be an artifact (p.220,foot-note3). It is apparently a specimen of S. palustris with the wings ofsome otherbird. I do not believe it should be regarded as a distinct species unless it can be proved not to be a made-up specimen.