JPMYERS 1973 Micropalama @ himantopos Grid #9 (Farmhouse Puddle) Estancia Medland, 35 km SE of Juancho by road, Pircia d B.A., Argentina. but typically it is not so far. Legs are submerged to the top of the tarsus (the joint at little beyond) sometime all the way to the base of the legs. More than one instance of the birds pulling their entire head and neck in water. Feeding motions are a rapid series of jiggles - a sewing machine type, with the bird bringing whatever he catches up. I can see frequently that when he raises his bill after a prolonged probing, the bill is slightly opened, as if it contains something. They appear to tot areas with a few probes, and then concentrate. [aside - head scratching done without going behind wing] in an area for 5 sec or longer. The twitching motions last only a second or so. While probing, the birds yield up when ~FYL gives call. Grid I (Farmhouse Puddle) Estancia Medland, Pircia d B.A., Argentina. 29 December 0737 - 2 stills flew in with one LYE (???) to (1,2). The LYE from (4,1) supplanted the new LYE but did nothing w/ respect to the Micros. 0750 Slipping chased birds out of (2,0) (3,1), (1,1) (1,2) (1,0) area. One Mino stayed, one flew to (4,3,4) The birds began feeding shortly, each one alone, and continued for ~ 2 minutes then the (4,4) started calling an arch arch (little less or probably), and the @ Micro in (1,2) flew to join it. They are now foraging together. (happily). 26 December 22 Micropalama foraging on grid when 2 came at 1420. 1515 - first aggression that I've seen among Micros. A still in (20) unit is chasing other birds that come within an area of about 80 [illegible] (perhaps 2.5). First behaviour of the aggressive bird upon approach: upright posture (from typical feeding stance) accompanied by vocalization crack - crack (different from flocking call described 24 December) with bill opened wide. Then it chases them off by running at the other bird in a straight line. 1530 - Has been continuously chasing other birds from area. Appears to be independent of distinction between individuals, but rather space specific - i.e. territorial. (BUT currently this is not true). However now the bird appears to be drifting off with a group. 1750 - in exactly the same location there is another Micro (perhaps same one) that I must call territorial judging from this response to other Micros. He is in a fixed position in the center of (3,0)