Seventeen bird species new to Peru from the Pampas de Heath

-This paper presents notes on 17 species of birds that have not previously been reported for Peru, all of which were collected or observed on a large isolated grassland surrounded by tropical forest in southeastern Peru. Received 16 August 1978, accepted 26 December 1979. FROM 16 June until 11 July 1977 we investigated the avifauna of the Pampas de Heath, a seasonally flooded grassland, and the forest adjacent to the Rio Heath, on the Peru-Bolivia border, Department of Madre de Dios, Peru (approximately 12053'S, 68054'W). We worked both the forest near the river and the pampas, which occur as several islands of grassland surrounded by forest, 2-5 km west of the Rio Heath (Fig. 1). These pampas are the most northwestern incursion of the more extensive grasslands found east of the river in Bolivia. During this study, we collected or observed 17 species of birds that represent first records for Peru. That we were able to add this many species to the Peruvian avifauna is not surprising, inasmuch as the birds of this grassland habitat had not previously been investigated. The purpose of this paper is to report these new records. Specimens reported herein are from the Department of Madre de Dios; the Pampas de Heath, ca. 50 km by river south of Puerto Pardo (a small town located at the mouth of the Rio Heath), has an elevation of 160 m. The area of pampa grassland was estimated to be about 50 km2 in size and is characterized by very humid soils and an almost continuous expanse of grasses and sedges broken only by small (less than 100 m2) groves of trees. Palms (Mauritia) occur in these groves and as scattered individual trees in parts of the grassland. Termite nests (1-2 m tall) and associated shrubs, sedges, and terrestrial bromeliads are common throughout the pampas. Spring-fed pools are found in various places, and streams drain the scattered small marshes. Gallery forest extends into the grassland along these small streams and is continuous with the surrounding rain forest. Parts of the pampas are burned annually during the dry season by Huarayo Indians, but the grasses grow taller than 1 m in the unburned areas. More detailed information on the pampa habitats is available in Hoffmann et al. (1976). These authors report that the pampas are flooded from October until June. All specimens are deposited in the Louisiana State University Museum of Zoology, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (LSUMZ catalog numbers are in parentheses). Subspecific determinations have been made from literature descriptions and with the use of comparative material at LSUMZ and the American Museum of Natural History. Red-winged Tinamou, Rhynchotus rufescens.-This species was observed in newly burned and shortgrass areas where two females (84273, 84274) were collected and at least 10 other birds were seen. The frequently heard call was a clear whistled "weeut tu tu," with the first syllable ascending and the last two shorter but of the same pitch as the last portion of the first. Bond and Meyer de Schauensee (1943) recorded this species from the low savanna country near Chatarona on the Rio Beni, Bolivia. Meyer de Schauensee (1966, 1970) includes in the distribution of this species the area from the Beni in Bolivia south to the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina and north to central and eastern Brazil. Our specimens are referable to the subspecies R. r. rufescens as reviewed by Blake (1977). 366 The Auk 97: 366-370. April 1980 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.187 on Wed, 30 Mar 2016 05:51:10 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms April 1980] New Birds for Peru 367