GENERAL NOTES

Photographic confirmation of Giant in Argentina.-- On 24 October 1974, while on an ornithologicaltour of Argentina, I saw two Giant Snipe( [=Capella] undulata) in a grassyfield at the edgeof a pondnear the airport at Rio Grande, Tierra del Fuego.The generalappearance suggested that of a CommonSnipe (Gallinago [= Capella]gallinago), but their bills were muchlonger and the profile was flatter than that of the CommonSnipe. The belly was white and heavy barring extendeddown the breastand alongthe flanks.The centraltail featherswere bright rusty, but othertail feathershad no rusty on them. The overall colorwas paler and the legswere brighteryellow than thoseof the CommonSnipe. In flight the greater wing covertsappeared pale. The behavior also differed, in that they did not flush readily and when flushed flew only a few yards in a straight line before landing. They were flushed repeatedlya•d uttered a two-noted call deeper in pitch than the . It was alsoapparent that they did not resemblethe descriptionof the CordilleranSnipe (Gallinago [=Capella] stricklandii) in Meyer de Schauensee(1970) which is more extensivelybarred beneathand lacks rusty on the tail. The Cordilleran Snipe is the only other snipe speciesthat had previouslybeen recordedin Tierra del Fuego accordingto Humphrey et al. (1970). Severalphotographs were taken and sent to Phillip S. Humphreyand LeslieM. Tuck for their com- mentsregarding the identity of the . Tuck stated, "Theseare very clear photographsof Capella undulata. Your descriptionof flight, callsand lack of rusty coloringon the outer tail feathersall fit perfectly.Moreover, the long bill relativeto the bodylength makes it a goodexample of the gigantea--as I would expect from the location." Photographshave been depositedwith the National PhotoduplicateFile, PatuxentWildlife ResearchCenter, Laurel, Maryland, with AccessionNumbers 229.1-1Ba and 229.1-1Bb. The Giant Snipeconsists of two populationswith highly disjunctranges, the northernnominate un- dulata from northern chiefly east of the Andes and north of the Amazon River, and the largergigantea, definitely known from southernBrazil, , ,and reportedfrom and Argentina. Early authorsincluded gigantea as foundin Argentinain the Chacoand BuenosAires, and the British MuseumCatalogue (Sharpe, 1896) lists two specimensfrom the SeehohmCollection taken in "Buenos Ayres"in April 1886, the authenticityof which may he open to question,according to Hellmayr and Conover(1948). Olrog (1958, 1963)mentions the species in hisArgentina check-list only in a footnotewith the commentthat it had beenrecorded for the countryprobably as a resultof confusionwith the Eskimo (Numeniusborealis). Meyer de Schauensee(1966) cites Olrog's opinion, but later (1970)does not in- cludeArgentina within the rangeof thisspecies. Consequently, these photographs appear to be the first recent confirmation of the Giant Snipe in Argentina. Other observerswho saw the birds were: Maurice Rumboll (an experiencedArgentine naturalist and leaderof our group),Robert Crofts (who kindlysupplied the photographsfor me), Norman Chesterfield, Harvey and Marion Mudd, Herbert and Betty Cutler, JohnDanzenbaker, William J. Weiss,Jr., Robert Loehning,and Paul DuMont. I wouldlike to expressmy appreciationto PhillipHumphrey and LeslieM. Tuck for their kindnessin examiningthe photographs.

LITERATURE CITED HELLMAYR,C. E., AND B. CONOVER. 1948. Catalogueof birds of the Americas.Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Zool. Ser. 13, pt. 1, no. 3: 1-383. HUMPHREY,P.S., D. BrJDGE,P. W. REYNOLDS,AND R. T. PETERSON. 1970. Birds of Isla Grande (Tierra del Fuego), PreliminarySmithsonian Manual, Lawrence, Kansas,Univ. KansasMus. Nat. Hist. MEYERDE SCHAUENSEE,R. 1966. The speciesof birdsof SouthAmerica. Philadelphia, Pennsylva- nia, Livingston Publ. Co. --. 1970. A guideto thebirds of SouthAmerica. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Livingston Publ. Co. OLROG,C.C. 1958. Notasornitologicas sobre la colecciondel InstitutoMiguel Lillo (Tucuman).IV. Acta Zool. Lilloana 16: 83-90. 1963. Lista y distribucionde las avesArgentinas. Op. Lilloana 9: 1-377. SHARPE,R.B. 1896. Catalogueof thebirds in the BritishMuseum. Vol. 26, 794pp. London.

IRAJOEL ABRAMSON, 12550 Biscayne Boulevard, Suite 501, North Miami, Florida 33181. Accepted 17 July 1975

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