(RED-NECKED SWALLOW.)
+Stelgidopteryx ruficollis+, _Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 208. +Cotile
ruficollis+, _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 90.
_Description._--Above brown, head darker, rump paler; wings and tail
blackish brown, coverts edged with pale brown, external secondaries
margined with whitish; beneath pale ashy brown; throat rufous;
middle of belly pale yellowish; crissum white, tipped with black:
total length 5·0 inches, wing 4·3, tail 2·0. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ South America.
Mr. Barrows tells us that this species is abundant in Entrerios
throughout the summer, arriving from the north early in August, and
is said to nest in holes in banks.
Fam. IX. TANAGRIDÆ, or TANAGERS.
The brilliant family of Tanagers, one of the most characteristic groups
of the American avifauna, contains altogether nearly 400 species, of
which the greater number are restricted to the forest-clad districts of
Central and South America between the tropics. South of the Tropic of
Cancer the number of species met with falls off very considerably, so
that in the Argentine Republic only fourteen members of the family have
as yet been recognized. This number will, however, be probably increased
when the less-known wooded districts of northern and eastern Argentina
have been more fully explored.
The fourteen species of Argentine Tanagers belong to ten different
genera, mostly of wide distribution. But to this rule one genus
(_Stephanophorus_) is an exception, being only found in Southern
Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Northern La Plata.