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Title: Argentine Ornithology, Volume I (of 2) - A descriptive catalogue of the birds of the Argentine Republic.
Author: Sclater, P. L., Hudson, W. H. (William Henry), 1841-1922
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Argentine Ornithology, Volume I (of 2) - A descriptive catalogue of the birds of the Argentine Republic." ***
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
Obvious typos have been amended. Variations in spelling in the
original text have been retained, except where usage frequency was
used to determine the common spelling and/or hyphenation. These
amendments are listed at the end of the text. Minor printer errors
have been amended without note.
The INTRODUCTION has been added to this volume as per author intent
in the Preface to Volume II. Color plate notations of specified
birds have been relocated to follow the title of the bird.
The full INDEX from Volume II has been added to this volume. (It has
also been added to the Table of Contents.)
ARGENTINE ORNITHOLOGY.
A
DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE
OF THE
BIRDS OF THE
ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.
BY
P. L. SCLATER, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., Etc.
_WITH NOTES ON THEIR HABITS_
BY
W. H. HUDSON, C.M.Z.S.,
LATE OF BUENOS AYRES.
[Illustration: THE CARIAMA.]
VOLUME I.
LONDON:
R. H. PORTER, 6 TENTERDEN STREET, W.
1888.
[Illustration: (Printer's Mark) ALERE FLAMMAM.
PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS.
RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.]
ARGENTINE ORNITHOLOGY.
The Edition of this work being strictly limited
to +200+ copies for Subscribers, each copy is
numbered and signed by the Authors.
[Illustration: No. 6
Signed P L Sclater
W. H. Hudson]
PREFACE TO THE FIRST VOLUME.
The present volume contains an account of the Passeres of the Argentine
Republic, which, as at present known, number some 229 species. The
second volume, which it is hoped will be ready in the course of next
year, will be devoted to the history of the remaining Orders of Birds,
and will also contain the Introduction and Index, and complete the work.
All the personal observations recorded in these pages are due to Mr.
Hudson, while I am responsible for the arrangement, nomenclature, and
scientific portions of the work.
I have to acknowledge with many thanks a donation of £40 from the Royal
Society, which has enabled Mr. Hudson to devote a portion of his time to
the compilation of his interesting notes.
P. L. S.
_December 1, 1887._
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
Fam. I. TURDIDÆ, or THRUSHES.
Page
1. _Turdus leucomelas_, Vieill. (Dusky Thrush.) 1
2. _Turdus rufiventris_, Vieill. (Red-bellied Thrush.) 3
3. _Turdus magellanicus_, King. (Magellanic Thrush.) 3
4. _Turdus fuscater_, d'Orb. et Lafr. (Argentine Blackbird.) 4
5. _Turdus nigriceps_, Cab. (Black-headed Thrush.) 4
6. _Mimus modulator_, Gould. (Calandria Mocking-bird.) 5
7. _Mimus patachonicus_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Patagonian
Mocking-bird.) 7
8. _Mimus triurus_ (Vieill.). (White-banded Mocking-bird.)
[Plate I.] 8
Fam. II. CINCLIDÆ, or DIPPERS.
9. _Cinclus schulzi_, Cab. (Schulz's Dipper.) [Plate II.] 11
Fam. III. MUSCICAPIDÆ, or FLYCATCHERS.
10. _Polioptila dumicola_ (Vieill.). (Brush-loving Fly-snapper.) 12
Fam. IV. TROGLODYTIDÆ, or WRENS.
11. _Donacobius atricapillus_ (Linn.). (Black-headed Reed-Wren.) 13
12. _Troglodytes furvus_ (Gm.). (Brown House-Wren.) 13
13. _Troglodytes auricularis_, Cab. (Eared Wren.) 15
14. _Cistothorus platensis_ (Lath.). (Platan Marsh-Wren.) 15
Fam. V. MOTACILLIDÆ, or WAGTAILS.
15. _Anthus correndera_, Vieill. (Cachila Pipit.) 17
16. _Anthus furcatus_, d'Orb. et Lafr. (Forked-tail Pipit.) 19
Fam. VI. MNIOTILTIDÆ, or WOOD-SINGERS.
17. _Parula pitiayumi_ (Vieill.). (Pitiayumi Wood-singer.) 20
18. _Geothlypis velata_ (Vieill.). (Veiled Wood-singer.) 20
19. _Basileuterus auricapillus_, Sw. (Golden-crowned Wood-singer.) 21
20. _Setophaga brunneiceps_, d'Orb. et Lafr. (Brown-capped
Wood-singer.) 21
Fam. VII. VIREONIDÆ, or GREENLETS.
21. _Vireosylvia chivi_ (Vieill.). (Chivi Greenlet.) 22
22. _Hylophilus pœcilotis_, Max. (Brown-headed Wood-bird.) 23
23. _Cyclorhis ochrocephala_ (Tsch.). (Ochre-headed
Greenlet-Shrike.) [Plate III. fig. 1.] 23
24. _Cyclorhis altirostris_, Salvin. (Deep-billed Greenlet-Shrike.)
[Plate III. fig. 2.] 24
Fam. VIII. HIRUNDINIDÆ, or SWALLOWS.
25. _Progne furcata_, Baird. (Purple Martin.) 24
26. _Progne chalybea_ (Gm.). (Domestic Martin.) 25
27. _Progne tapera_ (Linn.). (Tree-Martin.) 26
28. _Petrochelidon pyrrhonota_ (Vieill.). (Red-backed Rock-Martin.) 30
29. _Tachycineta leucorrhoa_ (Vieill.). (White-rumped Swallow.) 30
30. _Atticora cyanoleuca_ (Vieill.). (Bank-Swallow.) 33
31. _Atticora fucata_ (Temm.). (Brown Martin.) 35
32. _Stelgidopteryx ruficollis_ (Vieill.). (Red-necked Swallow.) 36
Fam. IX. TANAGRIDÆ, or TANAGERS.
33. _Euphonia nigricollis_ (Vieill.). (Black-necked Tanager.) 37
34. _Euphonia chlorotica_ (Linn.). (Purple-and-Yellow Tanager.) 37
35. _Pipridea melanonota_ (Vieill.). (Dark-backed Tanager.) 37
36. _Stephanophorus leucocephalus_ (Vieill.). (White-capped
Tanager.) [Plate IV.] 38
37. _Tanagra sayaca_, Linn. (Blue Tanager.) 39
38. _Tanagra bonariensis_ (Gm.). (Blue-and-Yellow Tanager.) 39
39. _Pyranga azaræ_, d'Orb. (Azara's Tanager.) 40
40. _Trichothraupis quadricolor_ (Vieill.). (Four-coloured Tanager.) 40
41. _Thlypopsis ruficeps_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Red-capped Tanager.) 40
42. _Buarremon citrinellus_, Cab. (Yellow-striped Tanager.) 41
43. _Arremon orbignii_, Sclater. (D'Orbigny's Tanager.) 41
44. _Saltator similis_, d'Orb. et Lafr. (Allied Saltator.) 41
45. _Saltator cærulescens_, Vieill. (Greyish Saltator.) 42
46. _Saltator aurantiirostris_, Vieill. (Yellow-billed Saltator.) 42
Fam. X. FRINGILLIDÆ, or FINCHES.
47. _Pheucticus aureiventris_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Black-and-Yellow
Thick-bill.) 43
48. _Guiraca cyanea_ (Linn.). (Indigo Finch.) 43
49. _Guiraca glaucocærulea_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Glaucous Finch.) 44
50. _Oryzoborus maximiliani_, Cab. (Prince Max.'s Finch.) 44
51. _Spermophila palustris_, Barrows. (Marsh Finch.) 45
52. _Spermophila melanocephala_ (Vieill.). (Black-headed Finch.) 45
53. _Spermophila cærulescens_, Vieill. (Screaming Finch.) 46
54. _Paroaria cucullata_, Lath. (Cardinal Finch.) 47
55. _Paroaria capitata_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Lesser Cardinal Finch.) 48
56. _Coryphospingus cristatus_ (Gm.). (Red-crested Finch.) 48
57. _Lophospingus pusillus_ (Burm.). (Dark-crested Finch.) 48
58. _Donacospiza albifrons_ (Vieill.). (Long-tailed Reed-Finch.) 49
59. _Poospiza nigrorufa_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Black-and-Chestnut
Warbling Finch.) 49
60. _Poospiza whitii_, Scl. (White's Warbling Finch.) 50
61. _Poospiza erythrophrys_, Scl. (Red-browed Warbling Finch.) 50
62. _Poospiza assimilis_, Cab. (Red-flanked Warbling Finch.) 51
63. _Poospiza ornata_ (Landb.). (Pretty Warbling Finch.) 51
64. _Poospiza torquata_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Ringed Warbling Finch.) 51
65. _Poospiza melanoleuca_ (Vieill.). (White-and-Grey Warbling
Finch.) 52
66. _Phrygilus gayi_ (Eyd. et Gerv.). (Gay's Finch.) 52
67. _Phrygilus caniceps_ (Burm.). (Grey-headed Finch.) 53
68. _Phrygilus dorsalis_, Cab. (Red-backed Finch.) 53
69. _Phrygilus unicolor_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Slaty Finch.) 53
70. _Phrygilus fruticeti_ (Kittl.). (Mourning Finch.) 54
71. _Phrygilus carbonarius_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Blackish Finch.) 54
72. _Gubernatrix cristatella_ (Vieill.). (Yellow Cardinal.) 55
73. _Diuca grisea_ (Less.). (Diuca Finch.) 55
74. _Diuca minor_, Bp. (Lesser Diuca Finch.) 56
75. _Catamenia analis_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Red-stained Finch.) 57
76. _Catamenia inornata_ (Lafr.). (Plain-coloured Finch.) 57
77. _Zonotrichia pileata_ (Bodd.). (Chingolo Song-Sparrow.) 58
78. _Zonotrichia canicapilla_, Gould. (Patagonian Song-Sparrow.) 59
79. _Zonotrichia strigiceps_, Gould. (Stripe-headed Song-Sparrow.) 60
80. _Zonotrichia hypochondria_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Red-flanked
Song-Sparrow.) 60
81. _Coturniculus peruanus_, Bp. (Yellow-shouldered Song-Sparrow.) 60
82. _Saltatricula multicolor_, Burm. (Many-coloured Ground-Finch.)
[Plate V.] 61
83. _Embernagra platensis_ (Gm.). (Red-billed Ground-Finch.) 62
84. _Embernagra olivascens_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Olive
Ground-Finch.) 63
85. _Emberizoides sphenurus_ (Vieill.). (Wedge-tailed Ground-Finch.) 63
86. _Hæmophila whitii_ (Sharpe). (White's Ground-Finch.) 64
87. _Chrysomitris icterica_ (Licht.). (Black-headed Siskin.) 64
88. _Chrysomitris atrata_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Half-black Siskin.) 65
89. _Sycalis pelzelni_, Scl. (Yellow House-Sparrow.) 66
90. _Sycalis lutea_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Yellow Seed-Finch.) 69
91. _Sycalis luteola_ (Sparrm.). (Misto Seed-Finch.) 69
92. _Orospina pratensis_, Cab. (Meadow Seed-Finch.) 71
Fam. XI. ICTERIDÆ, or TROUPIALS.
93. _Amblycercus solitarius_ (Vieill.). (Solitary Cassique.) 72
94. _Molothrus bonariensis_ (Gm.). (Argentine Cow-bird.) 72
95. _Molothrus rufoaxillaris_, Cassin. (Screaming Cow-bird.)
[Plate VI. fig. 2.] 86
96. _Molothrus badius_ (Vieill.). (Bay-winged Cow-bird.)
[Plate VI. fig. 1.] 95
97. _Agelæus thilius_ (Mol.). (Yellow-shouldered Marsh-bird.) 97
98. _Agelæus flavus_ (Gm.). (Yellow-headed Marsh-bird.) 98
99. _Agelæus ruficapillus_, Vieill. (Red-headed Marsh-bird.) 99
100. _Leistes superciliaris_, Bp. (Red-breasted Marsh-bird.) 100
101. _Amblyrhamphus holosericeus_ (Scop.). (Scarlet-headed
Marsh-bird.) 101
102. _Pseudoleistes virescens_ (Vieill.). (Yellow-breasted
Marsh-bird.) 102
103. _Trupialis militaris_ (Linn.). (Patagonian Marsh-Starling.) 104
104. _Trupialis defilippii_, Bp. (De Filippi's Marsh-Starling.) 105
105. _Icterus pyrrhopterus_, Vieill. (Chestnut-shouldered
Hang-nest.) 107
106. _Aphobus chopi_ (Vieill.). (Chopi Boat-tail.) 108
Fam. XII. CORVIDÆ, or CROWS.
107. _Cyanocorax chrysops_ (Vieill.). (Urraca Jay.) 110
108. _Cyanocorax cæruleus_ (Vieill.). (Azure Jay.) 110
Fam. XIII. TYRANNIDÆ, or TYRANTS.
109. _Agriornis striata_, Gould. (Striped Tyrant.) 111
110. _Agriornis maritima_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (White-tailed Tyrant.) 112
111. _Myiotheretes rufiventris_ (Vieill.). (Chocolate Tyrant.) 112
112. _Tænioptera nengeta_ (Linn.). (Pepoaza Tyrant.) 114
113. _Tænioptera coronata_ (Vieill.). (Black-crowned Tyrant.) 115
114. _Tænioptera dominicana_ (Vieill.). (Dominican Tyrant.) 117
115. _Tænioptera irupero_ (Vieill.). (Widow Tyrant.) 118
116. _Tænioptera murina_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Mouse-brown Tyrant.) 119
117. _Tænioptera rubetra,_ Burm. (Chat-like Tyrant.) [Plate VII.] 120
118. _Ochthœca leucophrys_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (White-browed
Tyrant.) 121
119. _Sayornis cineracea_ (Lafr.). (Ashy Tyrant.) 121
120. _Fluvicola albiventris_ (Spix). (White-bellied Tyrant.) 121
121. _Arundinicola leucocephala_ (Linn.). (White-headed Tyrant.) 122
122. _Alectrurus tricolor_ (Vieill.). (Cock-tailed Tyrant.) 122
123. _Alectrurus risorius_ (Vieill.). (Strange-tailed Tyrant.) 123
124. _Cybernetes yetapa_ (Vieill.). (Yetapa Tyrant.) 124
125. _Sisopygis icterophrys_ (Vieill.). (Yellow-browed Tyrant.) 125
126. _Cnipolegus anthracinus,_ Heine. (Ashy-black Tyrant.) 126
127. _Cnipolegus hudsoni_, Scl. (Hudson's Black Tyrant.) 126
128. _Cnipolegus cyanirostris_ (Vieill.). (Blue-billed Tyrant.) 127
129. _Cnipolegus cabanisi_, Schulz. (Cabanis's Tyrant.) 128
130. _Cnipolegus cinereus_, Scl. (Cinereous Tyrant.) 128
131. _Lichenops perspicillatus_ (Gm.). (Silver-bill Tyrant.) 129
132. _Machetornis rixosa_ (Vieill.). (Short-winged Tyrant.) 131
133. _Muscisaxicola macloviana_ (Garn.). (Chin-spotted Tyrant.) 133
134. _Muscisaxicola rufivertex_, d'Orb. et Lafr. (Red-topped
Tyrant.) 134
135. _Muscisaxicola maculirostris_, d'Orb. et Lafr. (Spot-billed
Tyrant.) 134
136. _Centrites niger_ (Bodd.). (Red-backed Tyrant.) 134
137. _Platyrhynchus mystaceus_ (Vieill.). (Broad-billed Tyrant.) 136
138. _Euscarthmus margaritaceiventris_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(Pearly-bellied Tyrant.) 136
139. _Euscarthmus gularis_ (Temm.). (Red-throated Tyrant.) 136
140. _Phylloscartes ventralis_ (Temm.). (Yellow-bellied Tyrant.) 137
141. _Hapalocercus flaviventris_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Reed-Tyrant.) 137
142. _Habrura pectoralis_ (Vieill.). (Thin-tailed Tyrant.) 138
143. _Culicivora stenura_ (Temm.). (Narrow-tailed Tyrant.) 139
144. _Stigmatura budytoides_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Wagtail Tyrant.) 139
145. _Stigmatura flavo-cinerea_ (Burm.). (Long-tailed Tyrant.) 139
146. _Serpophaga subcristata_ (Vieill.). (Small-crested Tyrant.) 140
147. _Serpophaga nigricans_ (Vieill.). (Blackish Tyrant.) 141
148. _Anæretes parulus_ (Kittl.). (Tit-like Tyrant.) 141
149. _Anæretes flavirostris_, Scl. et Salv. (Yellow-billed
Tit-Tyrant.) 142
150. _Cyanotis azaræ_ (Naum.). (Many-coloured Tyrant.) 142
151. _Leptopogon tristis_, Scl. et Salv. (Sorry Tyrant.) 144
152. _Elainea albiceps_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (White-crested Tyrant.) 145
153. _Elainea strepera_, Cab. (Noisy Tyrant.) 145
154. _Elainea viridicata_ (Vieill.). (Greenish Tyrant.) 146
155. _Empidagra suiriri_ (Vieill.). (Suiriri Tyrant.) 146
156. _Sublegatus griseocularis_, Scl. (Grey-eyed Tyrant.) 147
157. _Rhynchocyclus sulphurescens_ (Spix). (Sulphury Tyrant.) 147
158. _Pitangus bolivianus_ (Lafr.). (Bienteveo Tyrant.) 147
159. _Myiodynastes solitarius_ (Vieill.). (Solitary Tyrant.) 150
160. _Hirundinea bellicosa_ (Vieill.). (Warlike Tyrant.) 151
161. _Myiobius nævius_ (Bodd.). (Little Brown Tyrant.) 151
162. _Pyrocephalus rubineus_ (Bodd.). (Scarlet Tyrant.) 152
163. _Empidonax bimaculatus_, Lafr. et d'Orb. (Wing-banded
Tyrant.) 155
164. _Contopus brachyrhynchus_, Cab. (Short-billed Tyrant.) 155
165. _Contopus brachytarsus_, Scl. (Short-footed Tyrant.) 156
166. _Myiarchus tyrannulus_ (Müll.). (Rusty-tailed Tyrant.) 156
167. _Myiarchus ferox_ (Gm.). (Fierce Tyrant.) 156
168. _Myiarchus atriceps_, Cab. (Black-headed Tyrant.) 157
169. _Empidonomus aurantio-atro-cristatus_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(Black-and-yellow-crested Tyrant.) 157
170. _Tyrannus melancholicus_ (Vieill.). (Melancholy Tyrant.) 158
171. _Milvulus tyrannus_ (Linn.). (Scissor-tail Tyrant.) 160
Fam. XIV. PIPRIDÆ, or MANIKINS.
172. _Chiroxiphia caudata_ (Shaw). (Long-tailed Manikin.) 161
Fam. XV. COTINGIDÆ, or COTINGAS.
173. _Pachyrhamphus polychropterus_ (Vieill.). (White-winged
Bécard.) 162
174. _Casiornis rubra_ (Vieill.). (Rufous Cheese-bird.) 163
Fam. XVI. PHYTOTOMIDÆ, or PLANT-CUTTERS.
175. _Phytotoma rutila_, Vieill. (Red-breasted Plant-cutter.)
[Plate VIII.] 164
Fam. XVII. DENDROCOLAPTIDÆ, or WOOD-HEWERS.
176. _Geositta cunicularia_ (Vieill.). (Common Miner.) 165
177. _Geobamon rufipennis_, Burm. (Red-winged Miner.) 166
178. _Furnarius rufus_ (Gm.). (Red Oven-bird.) 167
179. _Furnarius tricolor_, Cab. (Crested Oven-bird.) 170
180. _Upucerthia dumetoria_ (Geoffr. et d'Orb.). (Patagonian
Earth-creeper.) 170
181. _Upucerthia ruficauda_ (Meyen). (Red-tailed Earth-creeper.) 171
182. _Upucerthia luscinia_ (Burm.). (Warbling Earth-creeper.) 171
183. _Cinclodes fuscus_ (Vieill.). (Brown Cinclodes.) 172
184. _Cinclodes bifasciata_, Sclater. (White-winged Cinclodes.) 173
185. _Henicornis phœnicurus_ (Gould). (Dark-tailed Henicornis.) 173
186. _Lochmias nematura_ (Licht.). (Brazilian Lochmias.) 174
187. _Sclerurus umbretta_ (Licht.). (Spiny Leaf-scraper.) 174
188. _Phlœocryptes melanops_ (Vieill.). (Rush-loving Spine-tail.) 174
189. _Leptasthenura ægithaloides_ (Kittl.). (Tit-like Spine-tail.) 177
190. _Leptasthenura fuliginiceps_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Brown-crested
Spine-tail.) 177
191. _Synallaxis frontalis_, Pelz. (Brown-fronted Spine-tail.) 178
192. _Synallaxis superciliosa_, Cab. (Eyebrowed Spine-tail.) 178
193. _Synallaxis spixi_, Scl. (Spix's Spine-tail.) 179
194. _Synallaxis albescens_, Temm. (White-throated Spine-tail.) 179
195. _Synallaxis whitii_, Scl. (White's Spine-tail.) 181
196. _Synallaxis phryganophila_ (Vieill.). (Pretty-throated
Spine-tail.) 181
197. _Synallaxis striaticeps_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Striped
Spine-tail.) 182
198. _Synallaxis orbignii_, Reichenb. (D'Orbigny's Spine-tail.) 183
199. _Synallaxis modesta_, Eyton. (Modest Spine-tail.) 183
200. _Synallaxis sordida_, Less. (Sordid Spine-tail.) 184
201. _Synallaxis sulphurifera_, Burm. (Yellow-marked Spine-tail.) 185
202. _Synallaxis patagonica_ (Lafr. et d'Orb.). (Patagonian
Spine-tail.) 186
203. _Synallaxis hudsoni_, Scl. (Hudson's Spine-tail.) 186
204. _Synallaxis maluroides_, d'Orb. (Wren-like Spine-tail.) 188
205. _Coryphistera alaudina_, Burm. (Lark-like Coryphistera.) 188
206. _Anumbius acuticaudatus_ (Less.). (Firewood-Gatherer.) 189
207. _Limnornis curvirostris_, Gould. (Curved-bill Rush-bird.) 191
208. _Phacellodomus frontalis_ (Licht.). (Red-fronted Thorn-bird.) 192
209. _Phacellodomus sibilatrix_, Scl. (Whistling Thorn-bird.) 192
210. _Phacellodomus striaticollis_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (Red-winged
Thorn-bird.) 194
211. _Phacellodomus ruber_ (Vieill.). (Red Thorn-bird.) 194
212. _Homorus lophotes_, Reichenb. (Brown Cachalote.)
[Plate IX.] 195
213. _Homorus gutturalis_ (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (White-throated
Cachalote.) 197
214. _Anabazenops oleagineus_, Scl. (Oily-green Anabazenops.) 198
215. _Sittosomus erithacus_ (Licht.). (Robin-like Wood-hewer.) 198
216. _Glyphorhynchus cuneatus_ (Licht.). (Wedge-billed Wood-hewer.) 199
217. _Dendrocolaptes picumnus_ (Licht.). (Flat-billed Wood-hewer.) 199
218. _Drymornis bridgesi_, Eyton. (Bridges's Wood-hewer.)
[Plate X.] 199
219. _Xiphocolaptes albicollis_ (Vieill.). (White-throated
Wood-hewer.) 200
220. _Xiphocolaptes major_ (Vieill.). (Chestnut Wood-hewer.) 201
221. _Picolaptes angustirostris_ (Vieill.). (Narrow-billed
Wood-hewer.) 201
Fam. XVIII. FORMICARIIDÆ, or ANT-BIRDS.
222. _Thamnophilus leachi_ (Such). (Leach's Bush-bird.) 202
223. _Thamnophilus major_, Vieill. (Larger Bush-bird.) 203
224. _Thamnophilus cærulescens_, Vieill. (Slaty-blue Bush-bird.) 204
225. _Thamnophilus ruficapillus_, Vieill. (Red-capped Bush-bird.) 204
Fam. XIX. PTEROPTOCHIDÆ, or TAPACOLAS.
226. _Scytalopus superciliaris_, Cab. (White-eyebrowed Scytalopus.) 205
227. _Rhinocrypta lanceolata_, Geoffr. et d'Orb. (Gallito.) 206
228. _Rhinocrypta fusca_, Scl. et Salv. (Brown Gallito.) 207
229. _Pteroptochus albicollis_, Kittl. (White-necked Tapacola.) 207
INDEX 209
LIST OF PLATES IN VOL. I.
Plate Page
I. MIMUS TRIURUS 8
II. CINCLUS SCHULZI 11
III. Fig. 1. CYCLORHIS OCHROCEPHALA 23
Fig. 2. CYCLORHIS ALTIROSTRIS 24
IV. STEPHANOPHORUS LEUCOCEPHALUS 38
V. SALTATRICULA MULTICOLOR 61
VI. Fig. 1. MOLOTHRUS BADIUS, ad. 95
Fig. 2. MOLOTHRUS RUFOAXILLARIS, pull. 86
VII. TÆNIOPTERA RUBETRA 120
VIII. PHYTOTOMA RUTILA, ♂ et ♀ 164
IX. HOMORUS LOPHOTES 195
X. DRYMORNIS BRIDGESI 199
INTRODUCTION.
As regards its Bird-life the Neotropical Region, which, according to the
arrangement usually adopted, consists of America south of the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec together with the West Indies[1], may be most conveniently
divided into six Subregions. These are:--
[1] _Cf._ Sclater, Journ. Linn. Soc., Zool. ii. p. 143 (1857).
1. The _Transpanamic Subregion_, embracing the great Central-American
Isthmus from Tehuantepec down to Panama.
2. The _Antillean Subregion_, containing the West-India Islands.
3. The _Colombian Subregion_, containing the South-American littoral and
the adjacent Andean ranges in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and
Bolivia.
4. The _Amazonian Subregion_, containing Guiana and the valleys of the
Orinoco and Amazons and their confluents.
5. The _Brazilian Subregion_, containing the great wooded and campos
districts of Southern Brazil and Paraguay.
6. The _Patagonian Subregion_, consisting of Antarctic America up to the
Brazilian wood-districts and the highlands of Bolivia on the eastern
side of the Andes, and apparently extending as far as the Gulf of
Guayaquil on the west.
It is, of course, impossible to draw a precise line between these six
Subregions, and any boundaries assigned to them can only be regarded as
approximative; but it is obvious that nearly, if not quite, the whole of
the Argentine Republic, the Avifauna of which we are now considering,
comes within the limits of the Patagonian Subregion. It is possible that
the birds of the Territory of Misiones and of some parts of Northern
Corrientes may be more nearly akin to those of Brazil, but we may say
generally that the Argentine Republic belongs to the Patagonian
Subregion.
As shown in the succeeding pages, the number of species of Birds as yet
ascertained to be found within the Argentine Republic[2] is about 430.
We will now take the leading groups of the Neotropical Ornis, one after
another, and consider the _rôle_ they play in the Argentine Avifauna, so
as to get some general ideas as to its peculiarities.
[2] We have not included within the scope of the present work the
territory of Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego, which are politically
part of the Argentine Republic, but only Northern Patagonia down to
the Rio Negro.
The subjoined Table contains in the first column the number of
Neotropical species assigned to each of the 20 different Orders of Birds
in the 'Nomenclator Avium Neotropicalium.' In the second column is given
the corresponding number of Argentine species of each order according to
the present work. The total number of Neotropical species will be seen
to be about eight times as many as those of the Argentine Avifauna;
so that where this average is exceeded in the individual orders the
particular group may be considered to be over-represented, and where it
is not reached to be under-represented in the Argentine Avifauna. This
is of course a very rough-and-ready mode of calculation, because it
assumes that every species has an equal area of distribution, which is
not ordinarily the case; but it will serve to give us some general ideas
on the subject. We will now proceed to consider the principal groups one
after another, and to point out their comparative importance in the
Argentine Avifauna.
The known Argentine Passeres, according to the present work, are 229 in
number; those of the Neotropical Region, according to the 'Nomenclator,'
are 1976; so that the species of Argentine Passeres, according to the
ratio which we have adopted, would be very little short of the average
numbers. If, however, we divide the Passeres up into the three suborders
of Oscines, Oligomyodæ, and Tracheophonæ, we shall find that the
Oligomyodæ are rather in excess of the estimated average, while the
species of the two other groups are deficient. This arises mainly from
the large number of Tyrannidæ belonging to the Argentine Ornis. Not less
than 63 species of this group have been already discovered within its
limits. Besides Tyrants, other prevailing families of Passeres in the
Argentine Avifauna are the Finches (Fringillidæ) and the Wood-hewers
(Dendrocolaptidæ), both of which have 46 representatives in the
Argentine Republic. Both these families are, however, well represented
all over the Neotropical Region. But the Tapacolas (Pteroptochidæ) and
the Plant-cutters (Phytotomidæ) are both of them families specially
characteristic of the Patagonian Avifauna, and both of them are
represented in the Argentine Republic. One other Passerine form is also
worthy of special mention. The Dippers (Cinclidæ) are essentially an
Arctic group diffused all over the Palæarctic and the Arctic Regions. It
is singular, however, that this form should reoccur at higher elevations
in the Neotropical Region. A _Cinclus_ is found in the mountains of
Colombia, another in the Andes of Peru, and a third has lately been
discovered in the northern sierras of the Argentine Republic. As regards
Passerine birds, therefore, which great order makes up more than one
half of the Argentine Ornis, we may say that Finches, Tyrants, and
Wood-hewers are remarkable for their abundance, Plant-cutters and
Tapacolas for peculiarity of type, and Dippers as an instance of the
occurrence of an Arctic form in Antarctic latitudes.
+------------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| | I. | II. | III. |
| | No. of | No. of | |
| | Neotropical | Argentine | Proportion. |
| | Species. | Species. | |
+------------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| I. Passeres. | | | |
| Oscines | 1049 | 108 | - |
| Oligomyodæ | 445 | 67 | + |
| Tracheophonæ | 482 | 54 | - |
| II. Macrochires | 444 | 18 | -- |
| III. Pici | 116 | 13 | - |
| IV. Coccyges | 214 | 15 | - |
| V. Psittaci | 142 | 10 | - |
| VI. Striges | 37 | 6 | + |
| VII. Accipitres | 114 | 22 | + |
| VIII. Steganopodes | 17 | 1 | - |
| IX. Herodiones | 44 | 19 | + |
| X. Anseres | 64 | 23 | ++ |
| XI. Columbæ | 66 | 8 | = |
| XII. Gallinæ | 90 | 4 | - |
| XIII. Opisthocomi | 1 | 0 | |
| XIV. Geranomorphæ | 57 | 16 | ++ |
| XV. Limicolæ | 73 | 25 | ++ |
| XVI. Gaviæ | 53 | 9 | + |
| XVII. Pygopodes | 9 | 5 | + |
| XVIII. Impennes | 9 | 1 | = |
| XIX. Crypturi | 36 | 8 | + |
| XX. Struthiones | 3 | 2 | + |
| +-------------+-------------+ |
| | 3565 | 434 | |
+------------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
As regards the second order, Macrochires, the Argentine Avifauna
is notably deficient on account of the comparative scarcity of
Humming-birds. Although eleven species of this remarkable group have
been met with within our limits, the great mass of the Trochilidæ,
which are now known to number some 400 species, belong to the Tropics.
The Swifts are also scantily represented by a single species. The
Caprimulgidæ are comparatively more abundant, but slightly below the
average in number of species.
The Argentine Woodpeckers enumerated in the present work are thirteen in
number, but several of those are somewhat doubtful species, and others
only occur in the extreme northern limits of the Republic. On the whole
we may say that the _Pici_ are decidedly deficient in Argentina.
Nine families of the fourth order, Coccyges, are included in the
Neotropical Avifauna, but of these only five are represented in the
Argentine Ornis--the Motmots, Todies, Jacamars, and Barbets being
entirely wanting. The Trogons, Puff-birds, and Toucans are also
essentially Tropical forms, and have but one or two representatives
on the northern outskirts of the Republic; so that the Cuckoos and
Kingfishers are the only two families of Coccyges which play any
material _rôle_ in the Argentine Ornis.
Of the order of Parrots it will be seen from our Table that 142 species
are known as belonging to the Neotropical Region, and that only ten of
these have been met with within our limits. Of these ten, moreover,
several are either doubtful, or only occur on the northern outskirts of
Argentina, so that Parrots must be held to be deficient in the Argentine
Ornis. As is well known Parrots are mostly inhabitants of the Tropics,
and it is quite an exception to the rule that several of these
warmth-loving birds should extend into the cold latitudes of Patagonia
and Chili. This, however, is paralleled in the Old World by the
existence of Parrots in some of the Antarctic Islands south of New
Zealand.
Of the Birds of Prey of the Argentine Republic, Diurnal and Nocturnal,
it is not necessary to say much; both of these orders are rather in
excess as regards the average number of species, the Accipitres
especially so. The wide open pampas offer a fine field for Kites and
Buzzards and their kind, and they are as numerous in individuals as in
species in such favoured haunts.
In the next order, Steganopodes, the Argentine Ornis seems to be very
deficient. Out of the five families of this group which occur in the
Neotropical Region, one only is yet known to us to be represented in the
Argentine Ornis, and that by a single species. But when the sea-birds of
the Argentine coast-land come to be better known, there is no doubt that
several additions will be made to the list.
The next following order, Herodiones, is of much more importance in
Argentine Ornithology, not less than 19 species of this group being
already known to exist within our limits, out of a total of 44
Neotropical species. And amongst these we can pick out the little
Variegated Bittern (_Ardetta involucris_) and the four species of
Ibises as being highly characteristic members of the Argentine Ornis.
The tenth order, that of Anseres, or Waterfowl, commonly so-called, is
also largely in excess as regards the number of species. Out of a total
of 64 Anseres belonging to the Neotropical Regions, 23 are met with
in the Argentine Republic. Moreover, the greater number of these are
exclusively Antarctic species, restricted to the Patagonian Subregion.
Amongst them we may specially call attention to the Black-necked Swan
(_Cygnus nigricollis_), the Chiloe Wigeon (_Mareca sibilatrix_), and
the Rosy-billed Duck (_Metopiana peposaca_) as highly characteristic
and ornamental species.
Proceeding to the next order, that of the Pigeons (Columbæ), we find the
number of Argentine species to be slightly below the average. Several
fine Pigeons and Doves are well-known inhabitants of the Republic, but
the Columbine order is not a prominent one within our limits.
The Gallinaceous birds of the Neotropical Region are about ninety in
number, the greater part of these belonging to the Curassows, Cracidæ,
a family specially adapted for habitation in the extensive forests
of the New World. Four species of Cracidæ have been met with in the
forest-region of Northern Argentina; but the Gallinaceous group as a
whole must be held to be deficient in this part of South America, the
place in Nature which these birds fill in other regions being occupied
here by the more lowly organized Tinamous, of which we shall speak
further on.
The Geranomorphæ of the Argentine Republic are much in excess as regards
the number of species. This arises mainly from the abundant supply of
Rails and Crakes which Nature has provided for the more swampy districts
of the pampas, and to the presence of no less than three distinct
species of Coots (_Fulica_), which appear to be generally abundant
on the lakes and pools. Nor must we forget to mention as of special
interest the two Cariamas which belong to this order, and which are the
only representatives of a family of very peculiar structure. One of the
two Cariamas is, so far as we know, absolutely confined to the Northern
provinces of the Argentine Republic; the second is a bird of the campos
of Southern Brazil, which only just comes within our limits.
The Snipes and Plovers and their allies, constituting the Order
Limicolæ, are again in excess in the Argentine Avifauna, not less than
25 out of a known total of 73 Neotropical species having been already
met with within our limits. A large proportion, however, of these birds
are merely winter visitors, and breed only in the far north. On the
other hand, the Slender-billed Plover (_Oreophilus ruficollis_) and the
Winter Plover (_Eudromias modesta_) are species highly characteristic of
the Patagonian subregion, and come to the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres
from a contrary direction. Another especially characteristic Patagonian
family of this order is the Thinocoridæ or Seed-Snipes, of which two
species occur within our limits.
Of the Gaviæ, or Gulls and Terns, of the Argentine Republic, nine
species are already known out of a total of 53 Neotropical members of
the group, and additions no doubt will be made to the list when the
coast-birds of La Plata come to be better known.
The seventeenth order of Birds, Pygopodes, is represented in the
Argentine Ornis by five species of Grebes. Two of these are widely
diffused over all America, the remaining three are Antarctic species
belonging to the Patagonian subregion. As only nine species of this
groups are known to occur in the whole Neotropical Region, the Pygopodes
are highly in excess in the Argentine Avifauna.
The Impennes, or Penguins, which form the eighteenth order of birds,
according to the arrangement of the 'Nomenclator,' are a group specially
characteristic of high Antarctic latitudes. Nine species of Penguins
occur on the coasts of Antarctic America, but one of these only is as
yet known to reach so far north as our limits.
We now come to the Crypturi or Tinamous, an order of birds commonly
supposed to be Gallinaceous, and generally confounded with "Partridges"
and "Pheasants" in the vernacular. They are, however, in some points of
essential structure more nearly allied to the Struthiones, although they
doubtless fill the same place in the economy of Neotropical Nature as
the true Gallinaceous birds in other lands. The Tinamous are spread all
over the Neotropical Region and number about 36 species. Eight of these
occur within the Argentine Republic; and amongst them we may pick out
the Martineta Tinamou (_Calodromas elegans_) and the three species of
the genus _Nothura_ as being specially characteristic Patagonian types.
Lastly, we come to the final order of the Neotropical Ornis in the shape
of the Rheas, or the American representatives of the Ostrich-type of
bird-life. The Rhea is, above all other birds, a most characteristic
representative of the Avifauna of the Patagonian subregion. It is true
that it ranges far north throughout the campos of Inner Brazil, where
the outlying members have become developed into an almost distinct
species or subspecies, _Rhea americana macrorhyncha_. But south of
the Rio Negro of Patagonia another very distinct type of Rhea, almost
subgenerically different, is met with and extends thence to the Straits
of Magellan. _Rhea_ has also been lately ascertained to occur on the
western side of the Andes in the Chilian province of Tarapaco; so
that this fine form of bird-life is diffused nearly over the entire
Patagonian subregion, and is well entitled to be termed one of the most
characteristic features of the Patagonian Avifauna.
In conclusion, therefore, we may sum up our present knowledge of the
Argentine Avifauna somewhat as follows:--
The Argentine Avifauna comprises 434 species of birds, referable to 54
families and genera.
All the twenty Orders of the Neotropical Avifauna have representatives
within its boundaries, except the _Opisthocomi_ or Hoatzins, which are
restricted to the Amazonian subregion.
The most numerous families of the Argentine Avifauna are, among the
Passeres, the Finches with 46 species, the Tyrants with 63 species, and
the Wood-hewers with 46 species. Among the remaining Orders, the Diurnal
Birds of Prey with 19 species, the Waterfowl with 22 species, the Rails
with 13 species, the Snipes with 15 species, and the Tinamous with 8
species, are likewise well represented.
Genera characteristic and proportionately numerous in species in the
Argentine Avifauna are _Poospiza_ and _Phrygilus_ among the Finches,
_Tænioptera_ and _Cnipolegus_ among the Tyrants, _Synallaxis_ among the
Wood-hewers, _Fulica_ among the Rails, and _Nothura_ among the Tinamous.
Less numerous in species, but highly characteristic forms of the
Argentine Ornis, are _Thinocorus_, _Rhynchotis_, and _Rhea_.
The following ten genera, mostly monotypic, are, so far as we know at
present, restricted to the limits of the Argentine Avifauna or its
immediate confines:--_Donacospiza_ and _Saltatricula_ (Fringillidæ);
_Coryphistera_, _Anumbius_, _Limnornis_, and _Drymornis_
(Dendrocolaptidæ); _Rhinocrypta_, with two species (Pteroptochidæ);
_Spiziapteryx_ (Falconidæ); _Chunga_ (Cariamidæ); and _Calodromas_
(Tinamidæ).
ARGENTINE ORNITHOLOGY.
Order I. PASSERES.
Suborder I. _OSCINES._
Fam. I. TURDIDÆ, or THRUSHES.
Eight species of the almost cosmopolitan Thrush-family are known to
occur in the Argentine Republic. Of these, five belong to the
widely-spread genus _Turdus_, and are closely similar in structure to
our European Thrushes. The remaining three are Mock-birds (_Miminæ_)--a
group restricted to the New World, and sometimes considered more nearly
allied to the Wrens. They are remarkable as splendid songsters.
Burmeister includes in his list a fourth species of _Mimus_ (_M.
thenca_), as found in the Mendoza district; but there may be some
error in this, as _M. thenca_ is only known to us from Chili west
of the Andes.
1. TURDUS LEUCOMELAS, Vieill.
(DUSKY THRUSH.)
+Turdus leucomelas+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 1; _Hudson, P. Z.
S._ 1870, p. 798 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 166
(Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 592 (Misiones and
Corrientes); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 85
(Concepcion); _Seebohm, Cat. Birds_, v. p. 213. +Turdus
crotopezus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 474 (Mendoza).
_Description._--Above olive-grey, tinged with brown on the head and
neck; beneath pale grey, throat white, more or less striped with
brown; middle of belly and crissum white; under wing-coverts and
inner margins of wing-feathers fulvous; bill yellow; feet hazel:
total length 9·0 inches, wing 4·5, tail 3·7. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Eastern South America, from Cayenne to Buenos Ayres.
The Dusky Thrush is widely distributed in South America, and ranges as
far south as Buenos Ayres, where it is quite common in the woods along
the Plata river. It is a shy forest-bird; a fruit- and insect-eater;
abrupt in its motions; runs rapidly on the ground with beak elevated,
and at intervals pauses and shakes its tail; pugnacious in temper;
strong on the wing, its flight not being over the trees, but masked
by their shadows. It can always be easily distinguished, even at a
distance, from other species by its peculiar short, metallic chirp--a
melodious sound indicating alarm or curiosity, and uttered before
flight--in contrast to the harsh screams and chuckling notes of other
Thrushes in this district.
Whether it is a fine singer or not within the tropics I am unable to
say, its vocal powers having received no attention from the naturalists
who have observed it. With us in the temperate climate of Buenos Ayres,
where it commences to sing in September, it has the finest song of
any bird I know, excepting only _Mimus triurus_. Like the English
Song-Thrush, but unlike its near neighbours the Red-bellied Thrush and
the Magellanic Thrush, it perches on the summit of a tree to sing. Its
song is, however, utterly unlike that of the English bird, which is
so fragmentary, and, as Mr. Barrows describes it, made up of "vocal
attitudes and poses." The two birds differ also in voice as much as in
manner. The strains of the Dusky Thrush are poured forth in a continuous
stream, with all the hurry and freedom of the Sky-Lark's song; but
though so rapidly uttered, every note is distinct and clear, and the
voice singularly sweet and far-reaching. At intervals in the song there
recurs a two-syllabled note twice repeated, unlike in sound any other
bird-music I have heard, for it is purely metallic, and its joyous
bell-like "_te-ling te-ling_" always comes like a delightful surprise
to the listener, being in strange contrast with the prevailing tone.
The song is altogether a very fine one, its peculiar charm being that it
seems to combine two opposite qualities of bird-music, plaintiveness and
joyousness, in some indefinable manner.
I have never heard this species sing in a cage or anywhere near a human
habitation; and it is probably owing to its recluse habits that its
excellent song has not been hitherto noticed. Azara perhaps mistook the
song of this species for that of _Turdus rufiventris_, a very inferior
vocalist.
The nest is made in the centre of a thick bush or tree six or eight
feet above the ground, and is a deep elaborate structure, plastered
inside with mud, and lined with soft dry grass. The eggs are four in
number, oblong; the ground-colour light blue, abundantly marked with
reddish-brown spots.
This Thrush has, I believe, a partial migration in Buenos Ayres. In the
autumn and winter I have frequently observed it in localities where it
is never seen in summer.
2. TURDUS RUFIVENTRIS, Vieill.
(RED-BELLIED THRUSH.)
+Turdus rufiventris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 2; _Burm. La-Plata
Reise_, ii. p. 474; _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 89 (Buenos
Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 167, 1880, p. 417 (Buenos
Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 592 (Salta); _Barrows, Bull.
Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 85 (Concepcion). +Turdus rufiventer+,
_Seebohm, Cat. B._ v. p. 222.
_Description._--Entire upper parts olive-grey; throat white, striped
with dark brown, the striped portion extending to the chest; rest of
under surface, also under wing-coverts, rufous-red, deepest on the
belly; bill brownish yellow; feet brown: total length 9·0 inches,
wing 4·6, tail 3·6. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and La Plata.
The Red-bellied Thrush, distinguished from the species just described
by its larger size and the bright rufous colour of its under plumage,
is common everywhere in the Plata region, and does not appear to be
migratory. It is a noisy, strong-winged, quarrelsome bird, closely
resembling the Dusky Thrush in its manners. It inhabits forests, runs
on the ground in search of food, and when approached darts away with
loud chuckling notes, flying close to the ground. These birds are also
often seen pursuing each other through the trees with loud harsh
screams.
The song has a faint resemblance to that of the English Song-Thrush,
being composed of a variety of notes uttered in the same disconnected
manner, with frequent pauses; but it is, both in sweetness and strength,
inferior to that of the English bird. As a rule this Thrush sings
concealed in a thick bush or tree.
The nest is deep, well made, plastered inside with mud, and concealed in
the centre of a large bush or low tree. The eggs are four, pale blue in
colour, and thickly spotted with brown.
3. TURDUS MAGELLANICUS, King.
(MAGELLANIC THRUSH.)
+Turdus magellanicus+, _Seebohm, Cat. B._ v. p. 223, pl. xiv. +Turdus
falklandicus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 2; _Hudson, P. Z. S._
1872, p. 548 (Rio Negro); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p.
36 (R. Colorado and R. Negro).
_Description._--Head, wings, and tail brownish black; the remaining
portions of upper surface brownish olive; under surface pale
rufous, obscure on the breast; throat white, striped with black;
bill and feet dull yellow: total length 10·5 inches, wing 7·5, tail
4·0. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Patagonia and Chili.
This Thrush, which I met with on the Rio Negro of Patagonia, so closely
approximates to _T. rufiventris_ in colour, language, and habits, that
the casual observer finds it difficult to distinguish one from the
other. Its nest and eggs are also precisely like those of its northern
representative. The song is, however, much poorer, and reminds one of
the first attempts of a young bird. That a member of so melodious a
family should have so inferior a song I attribute to the fact that
Thrushes (unlike the songsters of other genera) sing only in the
warm season and when the air is calm. In the southern portion of the
South-American continent violent winds prevail in summer, so that this
southern Thrush sings perhaps less frequently than any other song-bird,
and appears to be losing the faculty of song altogether.
4. TURDUS FUSCATER, d'Orb. et Lafr.
(ARGENTINE BLACKBIRD.)
+Turdus fuscater+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 2; _White, P. Z. S._
1882, p. 593 (Catamarca); _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 474
(Mendoza, Cordova, and Tucuman). +Merula fuscatra+, _Seebohm,
Cat. B._ v. p. 243.
_Description._--Uniform brownish black; bill and feet yellow: total
length 11·5 inches, wing 5·3, tail 4·5. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Bolivia and Northern La Plata.
"I have noticed this bird in the provinces of Mendoza, San Juan, San
Luis, Cordova, and Catamarca, where it is much esteemed as a cage-bird
on account of its beautiful whistle. In Mendoza it goes by the name of
'Zorsal,' in Catamarca and Cordova by that of 'Merlo,' and in Andalgala
(Catamarca province) 'Chocoyno.'"--_White, l. s. c._
"Very common at Mendoza, Cordova, and Tucuman, and met with among the
shady trees of the promenades: has a better song than our Blackbird,
which is heard at a distance, especially in the evening. Called
'Crispin' in Tucuman."--_Burm. l. s. c._
5. TURDUS NIGRICEPS, Cab.
(BLACK-HEADED THRUSH.)
+Turdus nigriceps+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1878, p. 195.
_Description._--Above slaty grey, head black; below paler, chin
white, striped with black; middle of belly and crissum white; bill
and feet pale yellow: total length 7·6 inches, wing 4·4, tail 3·5.
_Female_ olive-brown, paler below, chin pale ochraceous; middle of
belly and crissum white; bill brown, feet yellowish.
_Hab._ Peru, Bolivia, and Northern La Plata.
Met with by Dr. A. Döring and Herr Schulz on the Sierra of Cordova.
6. MIMUS MODULATOR, Gould.
(CALANDRIA MOCKING-BIRD.)
+Mimus modulator+, _Sharpe, Cat. B._ vi. p. 347. +Mimus calandria+,
_Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 475; _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p.
3; _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 89 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1877, p. 167 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 37
(Cordova); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 85
(Concepcion).
_Description._--Above dark grey, faintly mottled with pale grey;
rump tinged with brown; wings nearly black, the feathers edged with
brownish white; tail black, the feathers, except the two middle
ones, broadly tipped with white; under surface dirty white; bill and
legs black; eye olive-green: total length 11·0 inches, wing 4·5,
tail 4·9. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentine Republic.
Azara has not failed to remark that it would be well to find a more
appropriate name for this species, which was absurdly called "Calandria"
(_i. e._ Sky-Lark) by the early colonists of the Plata. Use is, however,
too strong to be easily set aside, and the name is now familiar to
everyone in the Argentine Province. Moreover, by a curious irony of
fate, the Spanish naturalist himself, by employing this unsuitable name
in his 'Apuntamientos,' even while protesting against it, has been the
cause of its introduction into scientific nomenclature.
It would be impossible to improve on the account Azara gives of the
bird's appearance and manners. The prevailing colour of the plumage is
grey, the irides are deep green, the beak black, slender, and curved.
The tail is long, jerked and elevated when the bird is at rest, spread
open and depressed in flight. The Calandria's movements are measured
and dignified, its flight low and never extends far, the bird usually
passing from one tree to another in a long graceful curve. It goes alone
or with its mate only; feeds chiefly on the ground; does not penetrate
into deep forests, nor is it seen on the treeless plains. It frequents
the borders of woods and open grounds abounding in isolated shrubs and
trees; is fond of coming about houses, and invariably perches itself
on the most conspicuous places. It sings chiefly in spring, and its
really wonderful vocal powers have made it one of our best-known and
most-admired songsters. To sing it usually places itself on the summit
of a bush or tree, and occasionally, as if carried away by excitement,
it darts upwards three or four yards into the air, and then drops back
on to its perch. So varied are its notes, and so frequently suggestive
of the language of other species, that the listener finds himself
continually asking whether the Calandria is really an original singer or
merely a cunning plagiarist, able to steal scraps of fifty different
melodies and to blend them in some sort into one complete composition.
As a whole the song is in character utterly unlike that of any other
bird (birds of the _Mimus_ genus, of course, excepted), for the same
notes are never repeated twice in the same order; and though the
Calandria has many favourite notes, he is able to vary every one of
them a hundred ways. Sometimes the whole song seems to be made up of
imitations of other singers, with slight variations--and not of singers
only, for now there will be clear flute-like notes, only to be succeeded
by others reedy and querulous as the hunger-calls of a young Finch; then
there will be pretty flourishes or Thrush-like phrases, and afterwards
screams, as of a frightened Swallow hurrying through the sky to announce
the approach of a Falcon; or perhaps piteous outcries, as of a chicken
in the clutches of a Kite.
Nevertheless Azara says truly that the Calandria does not mock or mimic
the songs of other birds; for though the style and intonation of a score
of different singers, chatterers, and screamers are reproduced by him,
one can never catch a song, or even a portion of a song, of which he is
able to say that it is absolutely like that of any other species. This
much, however, can be said of the Calandria: he has a passion for
endless variety in singing, a capacity for varying his tones to almost
any extent, and a facility for catching the notes of other birds, which,
in the Virginian Mocking-bird of North, and in the White-banded
Mocking-bird of South America, has been developed into that marvellous
faculty these two species possess of faithfully imitating the songs of
all other birds. The two species I have just named, while mockers of
the songs of other birds, also retain their own original music--their
"natural song," as an American ornithologist calls it.
The Calandria makes its nest in the middle of a large bush or low
thorn-tree standing by itself; it is deep, like the nest of a Thrush in
form, built of sticks, thorns, and grass, and lined with thistle-down or
some other soft material. The eggs are four or five, pale blue, and
thickly marked with reddish-brown spots.
When the nest is approached the parent birds demonstrate their anxiety
by uttering loud harsh angry notes.
It is generally believed that the Calandria will not live in captivity.
I have, however, seen a few individuals in cages, but they never sang.
7. MIMUS PATACHONICUS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(PATAGONIAN MOCKING-BIRD.)
+Mimus patachonicus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 3; _Hudson, P. Z.
S._ 1872, p. 538 (Rio Negro); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 31
(Chupat); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 36 (R. Colorado);
_Sharpe, Cat. B._ vi. p. 352. +Mimus thenca+, _Burm. La-Plata
Reise_, ii. p. 475 (Mendoza)?
_Description._--Above and beneath grey, paler on the under surface,
and tinged with rufous on the belly; throat and mark over the eye
white; wings black, the outer webs of the feathers edged with white
and grey; tail black, tipped with white; bill and feet black; eye
olive-green: total length 9·2 inches, wing 4·2, tail 4·0. _Female_
similar, but smaller in size and lighter in colour.
_Hab._ Northern Patagonia.
The Patagonian Mocking-bird, which I met with during my sojourn on the
Rio Negro of Patagonia in 1871, closely resembles the species just
described, but is smaller, the plumage is of a darker grey, and the
irides are also of a darker green. It is a common bird, resident, lives
alone or with its mate, feeds on insects and berries, and in its manner
of flight and habits is like _Mimus modulator_. The nest is made in
the centre of a bush of thorns and sticks, and lined with dry grass,
cow-hair, or other soft material; and the eggs are four in number,
bluntly pointed, and thickly marked with dark flesh-coloured spots.
When the nest is approached the parent birds come close to the intruder,
often perching within a yard of his head, but without uttering any
sound, differing in this respect from _M. modulator_.
The song of the Patagonian bird is in character like that of the
northern species, the variety of its notes being apparently infinite;
there are, however, some differences worth mentioning. The singing
of the Patagonian species is perhaps inferior, his voice being less
powerful, while his mellow and clear notes are constantly mingled with
shrill ones, resembling the cries of some of the Dendrocolaptine birds.
While incapable of notes so loud or so harsh as those of the northern
bird, or of changes so wild and sudden, he possesses even a greater
variety of soft notes. Day after day for many months I have heard them
singing, yet never once listened to them for any length of time without
hearing some note or phrase I had never heard before. The remarks I have
made concerning the Calandria's mocking-faculties also apply to this
bird: but though he does not actually repeat the notes and songs of
other species, he certainly does mock the notes of individuals of his
own species; for it must be borne in mind that no two individuals sing
quite alike, and that the same bird constantly introduces new notes into
his song, and never repeats his notes in the same order. I have often
observed that when a bird, while singing, emits a few of these _new_
notes, he seems surprised and delighted with them; for, after a silent
pause, he repeats them again and again a vast number of times, as if
to impress them on his memory. When he once more resumes his varied
singing, for hours, and sometimes for days, the expression he has
discovered is still a favourite one, and recurs with the greatest
frequency. But this is not all. If the new note or phrase happens to be
a very striking one, it immediately takes the fancy of all the other
birds within hearing, and often in a small thicket there will be a dozen
or twenty birds near together, each sitting perched on the summit of his
own bush. After the new wonderful note has been sounded they all become
silent and attentive, reminding one in their manner of a caged Parrot
listening to a sound it is trying to learn. Presently they learn it,
and are as pleased with its acquisition as if they had discovered it
themselves, repeating it incessantly. I noticed this curious habit of
the bird many times, and on one occasion I found that for three entire
days all the birds in a small thicket I used to visit every day did
nothing but repeat incessantly two or three singular notes which they
had borrowed from one of their number. The constant repetition of this
one sound had a strongly irritating effect on me; but a day or two later
they had apparently got tired of it themselves, and had resumed their
usual varied singing.
This bird usually sits still upon the summit of a bush when singing,
and its music is heard in all seasons and in all weathers from dawn
till after dark: as a rule it sings in a leisurely unexcited manner,
remaining silent for some time after every five or six or a dozen notes,
and apparently listening to his brother-performers. These snatches of
melody often seem like a prelude or promise of something better coming;
there is often in them such exquisite sweetness and so much variety that
the hearer is ever wishing for a fuller measure, and still the bird
opens his bill to delight and disappoint him, as if not yet ready to
display his whole power.
8. MIMUS TRIURUS (Vieill.).
(WHITE-BANDED MOCKING-BIRD.)
[Plate I.]
[Illustration: MIMUS TRIURUS.]
+Mimus triurus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 3; _Hudson, P. Z. S._
1872, p. 539 (Rio Negro); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 593 (Buenos
Ayres); _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 475 (Mendoza, Cordova, and
Tucuman); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ vi. p. 342.
_Description._--Above grey, brown on the rump; beneath light grey,
white on the belly; wing black, crossed with a broad white band;
tail white, except the two middle feathers, which are black; bill
and feet black; eye orange-yellow: total length 9·5 inches, wing
4·8, tail 4·2. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Paraguay, Argentine Republic, and Bolivia.
Azara first met with this king of the Mocking-birds in Paraguay a
century ago; he named it "Calandria de las tres colas," and described
the plumage accurately, but was, I think, mistaken about the colour of
the eye, which is orange-red and not olive-green. He says that it is a
rare species, possessing no melodious notes, which proves at once that
he never heard it sing. D'Orbigny obtained it in Bolivia, Bridges in
Mendoza, and more recently it his been found by collectors in various
parts of the Argentine country, even in Buenos Ayres, where, however, it
is probably only an occasional visitor. But they have told us nothing of
its song and of its miraculous mocking-powers. For my part I can think
of no other way to describe the surpassing excellence of its melody,
which delights the soul beyond all other bird-music, than by saying that
this bird is among song-birds like the diamond among stones, which in
its many-coloured splendour represents and exceeds the special beauty of
every other gem.
I met with this species on the Rio Negro in Patagonia: it was there
called _Calandria blanca_, a name not strictly accurate, since the bird
is not all white, but certainly better than Azara's strange invention of
"Lark with three tails."
The bird was not common in Patagonia, and its only language was a very
loud harsh startled note, resembling that of the _Mimus calandria_; but
it was past the love-season when I first met with it, and the natives
all assured me that it possessed a very wonderful song, surpassing the
songs of all other birds; also that it had the faculty of imitating
other species. In manners and appearance it struck me as being utterly
unlike a _Mimus_; in its flight and in the conspicuous white and black
of the wings and tail, it looked like a Tyrant of the _Tænioptera_
group. It was extremely shy, had a swift, easy, powerful flight, and,
when approached, would rise up high in the air and soar away to a great
distance. In February it disappeared from the Rio Negro and did not
return till the following October, after the arrival of all the other
migrants. It was then that I had the rare good fortune to hear it sing,
and I shall never forget the sensation I experienced when listening to
its matchless melody.
While walking through a _chañar_-wood one bright morning, my attention
was suddenly arrested by notes issuing from a thicket close by, and
to which I listened in delighted astonishment, so vastly superior in
melody, strength, and variety did they seem to all other bird-music.
That it was the song of a _Mimus_ did not occur to me; for while the
music came in a continuous stream, until I marvelled that the throat of
any bird could sustain so powerful and varied a song for so long a time,
it was never once degraded by the harsh cries, fantastical flights, and
squealing buffooneries so frequently introduced by the Calandria, but
every note was in harmony and uttered with a rapidity and joyous abandon
no other bird is capable of, except, perhaps, the Sky-Lark; while the
purity of the sounds gave to the whole performance something of the
ethereal rapturous character of the Lark's song when it comes to the
listener from a great height in the air.
Presently this flow of exquisite unfamiliar music ceased, while I still
remained standing amongst the trees, not daring to move for fear of
scaring away the strange vocalist. After a short interval of silence I
had a fresh surprise. From the very spot whence that torrent of melody
had issued, burst out the shrill, confused, impetuous song of the small
yellow-and-grey Patagonian Flycatcher (_Stigmatura flavo-cinerea_). It
irritated me to hear this familiar and trivial song after the other, and
I began to fear that my entertainer had flown away unobserved. But in
another moment, from the same spot, came the mellow matin-song of the
Diuca Finch, and this was quickly succeeded by the silvery bell-like
trilling song of the Churinche, or little Scarlet Tyrant-bird.
Then followed many other familiar notes and songs--the flute-like
evening-call of the Crested Tinamou, the gay hurried twittering of the
Black-headed Goldfinch, and the leisurely-uttered, delicious strains of
the Yellow Cardinal, all repeated with miraculous fidelity. How much
was my wonder and admiration increased by the discovery that my one
sweet singer had produced all these diverse strains! The discovery was
only made when he began to repeat songs of species that never visit
Patagonia. I knew then that I was at last listening to the famed White
Mocking-bird, just returned from his winter travels, and repeating in
this southern region the notes he had acquired in subtropical forests a
thousand miles away.
These imitations at length ceased, after which the sweet vocalist
resumed his own matchless song once more. I ventured then to creep a
little nearer, and at length caught sight of him not fifteen yards away.
I then found that the pleasure of listening to its melody was greatly
enhanced when I could at the same time see the bird, so carried away
with rapture does he seem while singing, so many and so beautiful are
the gestures and motions with which his notes are accompanied. He passes
incessantly from bush to bush, scarcely alighting on their summits, and
at times dropping down beneath the foliage; then, at intervals, soaring
to a height of a hundred feet above the thicket, with a flight slow as
that of a Heron, or mounting suddenly upwards with a wild, hurried,
zigzag motion; then slowly circling downwards, to sit with tail
outspread and the broad glistening white wings expanded, or languidly
waved up and down like the wings of some great butterfly--an object
beautiful to see.
When I first heard this bird sing I felt convinced that no other
feathered songster on the globe could compare with it; for besides the
faculty of reproducing the songs of other species, which it possesses in
common with the Virginian Mocking-bird, it has a song of its own, which
I believed matchless; and in this belief I was confirmed when, shortly
after hearing it, I visited England, and found of how much less account
than this Patagonian bird, which no poet has ever praised, were the
sweetest of the famed melodists of the Old World.
Fam. II. CINCLIDÆ, or DIPPERS.
The Dippers, constituting the genus _Cinclus_ and the family Cinclidæ,
are sparingly distributed, principally in the Alpine Regions which
contain clear and perennial streams, throughout the Palæarctic and
Nearctic Regions. In the Neotropical Region they are represented by
three species, one of which is found in the northern provinces of the
Argentine Republic.
9. CINCLUS SCHULZI, Cab.
(SCHULZ'S DIPPER.)
[Plate II.]
[Illustration: CINCLUS SCHULZI.]
+Cinclus schulzi+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1883, p. 102, t. ii. fig. 3.
_Description._--Dark grey; throat pale rufous; a broad bar on the
inner webs of the wing-feathers white: total length 5·5 inches, wing
3·0, tail 1·6.
_Hab._ Northern Argentina.
A recent discovery of Herr Fritsch Schulz, who obtained specimens of it
on the Cerro Vayo of Tucuman, where this species, like others of the
genus, frequents the mountain-streams.
Fam. III. MUSCICAPIDÆ, or FLYCATCHERS.
The peculiar genus _Polioptila_, which contains some twelve or thirteen
species of small-sized American birds, ranging from the United States to
the Argentine Republic, has been variously arranged by naturalists, but
seems to be more nearly related to the African genus _Stenostira_ than
to any other known form. I therefore now place it with the Muscicapidæ,
or Flycatchers, of which it is the only genus found in the New World.
10. POLIOPTILA DUMICOLA (Vieill.).
(BRUSH-LOVING FLY-SNAPPER.)
+Polioptila dumicola+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 4; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1876, p. 157, 1877, p. 167 (Buenos Ayres); _Salv. Ibis_,
1880, p. 352 (Tucuman); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 593 (Buenos
Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 86 (Concepcion);
_Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 444. +Culicivora dumicola+, _Burm.
La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 473 (Paraná). +Culicivora boliviana+,
_Scl. P. Z. S._ 1852, p. 34, pl. xlvii.
_Description._--Above clear greyish blue; wing-coverts,
bastard-wing, and primary-coverts dusky brown, with greyish-blue
edges; quills dusky; upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers black, the
third outer tail-feather white at the tip, the outer tail-feather
nearly entirely white; from the base of the forehead a black line
extends backwards over the eye; under surface delicate ashy grey,
white on the abdomen and under tail-coverts; bill and feet
bluish-black: total length 4·5 inches, wing 2·1, tail 2·0. _Female_
similar, but without the black eye-streak.
_Hab._ Paraguay and Northern Argentina.
This little bird strongly resembles some species of that division of the
Tyrannidæ which includes the genera _Stigmatura_, _Serpophaga_, and
_Anæretes_; but the likeness, strange to say, is even more marked in
habits and voice than in coloration and general appearance.
It is found in open thorny woods and thickets; and in Buenos Ayres seems
to have a partial migration, as it is much more common in summer than in
winter. At all times male and female are found together, and probably
pair for life, like several of the species in the groups just mentioned.
They are seen continually hopping about among the twigs in a leisurely
deliberate manner, all the time emitting a variety of low short notes,
as if conversing together; and at intervals they unite their voices
in a burst of congratulatory notes, like those uttered by the small
Tyrant-birds they resemble. They have no song. I have not found the
nest, but Dr. Burmeister says that it is made in bushes, and that the
eggs are white.
Fam. IV. TROGLODYTIDÆ, or WRENS.
The Troglodytidæ, or Wren family, are of wide distribution, and are
found alike under the tropics and in temperate latitudes. In South
America nearly 100 species altogether are known to occur. Of these two
are familiar inhabitants of the whole Argentine Republic, and a third,
belonging to the water-loving genus _Donacobius_, is met with in the
eastern provinces on the Paraná. A fourth species has been lately
described from Tucuman.
11. DONACOBIUS ATRICAPILLUS (Linn.).
(BLACK-HEADED REED-WREN.)
+Donacobius atricapillus+, _Scl. Cat. A. B._ p. 16; _Scl. et Salv.
Nomencl._ p. 5; _Sharpe, Cat. B._ vi. p. 364; _Burm. La-Plata
Reise_, ii. p. 475. +Donacobius brasiliensis+, _d'Orb. Voy.,
Ois._ p. 213 (Corrientes).
_Description._--Above dark chocolate-brown; cap black; wings black,
with a large white patch on the inner primaries; tail black; lateral
rectrices broadly ended with white; beneath ochreous buff; sides of
breast and flanks with cross lines of dusky brown: total length 7·5
inches, wing 2·9, tail 3·7. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Guiana, Amazonia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.
The genus _Donacobius_ contains two species somewhat intermediate between
the Mock-birds and the large Wrens of the genus _Campylorhynchus_. The
well-known Brazilian _D. atricapillus_ extends through Paraguay, where
Azara found it abundant, into Corrientes and the adjoining provinces
of La Plata. It is met with among the reeds on lakes and streams.
12. TROGLODYTES FURVUS (Gm.).
(BROWN HOUSE-WREN.)
+Troglodytes furvus+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 158
(Conchitas); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 7; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1876, p.
157, 1877, p. 32 (Chupat), p. 167 (Buenos Ayres), 1878, p. 392
(Central Patagonia); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 593 (Buenos
Ayres); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 36 (Azul, R.
Colorado, R. Negro). +Troglodytes platensis+, _Burm. La-Plata
Reise_, ii. p. 476; _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 86
(Concepcion). +Troglodytes musculus+, _Sharpe, Cat. B._ vi. p.
255.
_Description._--Above brown; the tail-feathers and outer webs of
wing-feathers pencilled with dark wavy lines; beneath very pale
brown; bill and feet horn-colour; eye brown: total length 4·8
inches, wing 2·0, tail 1·7. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ South America.
The common Argentine Wren is to all English residents the "House-Wren,"
and is considered to be identical with the species familiar to them in
their own country. It is a sprightly little bird, of a uniform brown
colour and a cheerful melodious voice; a tireless hunter after small
spiders and caterpillars in hedges, gardens, and outhouses, where it
explores every dark hole and cranny, hopping briskly about with tail
erect, and dropping frequent little curtsies; always prompt to scold an
intruder with great emphasis; a great hater of cats.
It was my belief at one time that the Wren was one of the little birds
a cat never could catch; but later on I discovered that this was a
mistake. At my home on the pampas we once had a large yellow tom cat
exceedingly dexterous in catching small birds; he did not, however, eat
them himself, but used to bring them into the house for the other cats.
Two or three times a day he would appear with a bird, which he would
drop at the door, then utter a loud mew very well understood by the
other cats, for they would all fly to the spot in great haste, and
the first to arrive would get the bird. At one time I noticed that he
brought in a Wren almost every day, and, curious to know how he managed
to capture so clever a bird, I watched him. His method was to go out
into the grounds frequented by Wrens, and seat himself conspicuously
amongst the weeds or bushes; and then, after the first burst of alarm
had subsided amongst the small birds, one or two Wrens would always take
on themselves the task of dislodging him, or, at all events, of making
his position a very uncomfortable one. The cat would sit perfectly
motionless, apparently not noticing them at all, and by-and-by this
stolid demeanour would have its effect, and one of the Wrens, growing
bolder, would extend his dashing little incursions to within a few
inches of pussy's demure face; then at last, swift as lightning, would
come the stroke of a paw, and the little brown body would drop down with
the merry brave little spirit gone from it.
The House-Wren is widely distributed in South America, from the tropical
forests to the cold uplands of Patagonia, and, possessing a greater
adaptiveness than most species, it inhabits every kind of country, moist
or dry, and is as much at home on lofty mountains and stony places as in
the everglades of the Plata, where it frequents the reed-beds and damp
forests. About houses they are always to be found; and though the
traveller on the desert pampas might easily imagine that there are no
Wrens in the giant grasses, if he makes himself a lodge in this lonely
region, a Wren will immediately appear to make its nest in his thatch
and cheer him with its song.
Even in large towns they are common, and I always remember one flying
into a church in Buenos Ayres one Sunday, and, during the whole
sermon-time, pouring out its bright lyric strains from its perch high
up somewhere in the ornamental wood-work of the roof.
The Wren sings all summer, and also on bright days in winter. The song
is not unlike that of the English House-Wren, having the same gushing
character, the notes being strong and clear, and uttered with rapidity
and precision; but the Argentine bird has greater sweetness and more
power.
In spring the male courts his mate with notes high and piercing as
the squeals of a young mouse; these he repeats with great rapidity,
fluttering his wings all the time like a moth, and at intervals breaking
out into song.
The nest is made in a dark hole in a wall or tree, sometimes in the
forsaken domed nest of some other bird; and where such sites are not to
be found, in a dense thistle or thorn-bush, or in a large tussock of
grass. I have also found nests in dry skulls of cows and horses, in an
old boot, in the sleeve of an old coat left hanging on a _fence_, in a
large-necked bottle, and in various other curious situations. The nest
is built of sticks and lined with horse-hair or feathers, and the eggs
are usually nine in number, of a pinkish ground-colour, thickly spotted
with pale red.
13. TROGLODYTES AURICULARIS, Cab.
(EARED WREN.)
+Troglodytes (Uropsila) auricularis+, _Cab. Journ. f. Orn._ 1883, p.
105, t. ii. fig. 1.
_Description._--In habit and size near the European Wren, _T.
parvulus_, but peculiar for the blackish-brown hinder half of the
ear-coverts and its broad white superciliaries. Upper surface and
flanks brown; throat and middle of belly whitish, tinged with
brownish yellow; wings and tail with fine black cross bands; crissum
with broader black and white cross bands. (_Cabanis._)
_Hab._ Tucuman.
This is a recent discovery of Herr Schulz in the Sierra of Tucuman. We
have not yet met with specimens of it.
14. CISTOTHORUS PLATENSIS (Lath.).
(PLATAN MARSH-WREN.)
+Cistothorus platensis+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 158; _iid.
Nomencl._ p. 7; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 168 (Buenos Ayres);
_Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 37 (R. Sauce, R. Colorado,
R. Negro); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 87 (Carhué);
_Sharpe, Cat. B._ vi. p. 244. +Cistothorus fasciolatus+, _Burm.
La-Plata Reise_, ii, p. 476 (Mendoza).
_Description._--Above pale sandy brown, variegated with black
streaks; head darker brown, streaked with black; the hind neck paler
brown, with narrow black streaks; wing-coverts brown; tail-feathers
dark sandy brown, barred with blackish brown; under surface pale
sandy buff: total length 4·3 inches, wing 1·85, tail 1·6. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ Argentina, Patagonia, and Falkland Islands.
This small Wren is rarely seen, being nowhere common, although widely
distributed. It prefers open grounds covered with dense reeds and
grasses, where it easily escapes observation. I have met with it near
Buenos Ayres city; also on the desert pampas, in the tall pampas-grass.
It is likewise met with along the Paraná river, and in Chili, Patagonia,
and the Falkland Islands. In the last-named locality Darwin found it
common, and says that it has there an extremely feeble flight, so that
it may easily be run down and taken.
The Marsh-Wren has a sweet and delicate song, resembling that of the
House-Wren (_Troglodytes furvus_), but much less powerful. It does not
migrate; and on the pampas I have heard it singing with great animation
when the pampas-grass, where it sat perched, was white with frozen
dew. Probably its song, like that of _Troglodytes furvus_, varies in
different districts; at all events, the pampas bird does not possess so
fine a song as Azara ascribes to his "Todo Voz" in Paraguay, which is
undoubtedly the same species.
Fam. V. MOTACILLIDÆ, or WAGTAILS.
The Wagtails and Pipits are closely-allied forms, and are usually
referred to the same family of Oscines. The Wagtails are restricted to
the Old World, although it has been recently ascertained that some of
them occasionally occur as stragglers in the northern latitudes of
America. Of the almost cosmopolitan Pipits about eight or nine species
are sparingly distributed over the prairies and pampas of the New World.
One of these is a common resident in the pampas of Argentina, and
another (perhaps somewhat doubtful species) is occasionally met with.
15. ANTHUS CORRENDERA, Vieill.
(CACHILA PIPIT.)
+Anthus correndera+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 8; _Hudson, P. Z.
S._ 1873, p. 771 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 32
(Chupat), p. 168 (Buenos Ayres), 1878, p. 392 (Central
Patagonia); _Sclater, Ibis_, 1878, p. 362; _White, P. Z. S._
1882, p. 594 (Buenos Ayres); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._
p. 37 (Azul); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 87
(Concepcion, Entrerios); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 610. +Anthus
rufus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 474 (Mendoza, Paraná);
_Durnford, Ibis_, 1876, p. 158.
_Description._--Above pale sandy buff, mottled with black centres
to the feathers; wing- and tail-feathers dark brown, edged with
buff, the penultimate tail-feather with a white tip, the outer
tail-feather almost entirely white; neck and breast sandy buff, with
large triangular black spots; flanks buff, streaked with black;
abdomen and under tail-coverts isabelline; bill dusky grey; feet
pink: total length 6·0 inches, wing 2·9, tail 2·3. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Paraguay, Argentina, Patagonia, and Chili.
Azara's only reason for calling this bird _La Correndera_ was because he
thought it resembled a Tit-Lark known by that name in his own country,
but of which he merely had a confused recollection. It is therefore to
be regretted, I think, that _correndera_ has been adopted as a specific
name by naturalists instead of "Cachila," the vernacular name of the
bird, familiar to every one in the Argentine country. Azara's Spanish
bird was probably _Anthus pratensis_, which closely resembles _A.
correndera_ in general appearance, and has, moreover, as wide a range in
the northern as the last-named species has in the southern hemisphere.
In the volume on Birds in the 'Voyage of the Beagle,' it is said that a
species of _Anthus_ ranges further south than any other land-bird, being
the only land-bird found on Georgia and South Orkney (lat. 61° S.).
In colour and language, possibly also in size, the Cachila is variable.
It is a very common bird, widely and plentifully distributed over the
pampas, found alike on marshy and dry grounds, but rare in the region of
giant grasses. While abundant, it is also very evenly dispersed, each
bird spending its life on a very circumscribed plot of earth. Those
frequenting marshy or moist grounds are of a yellowish-cream colour,
thickly mottled and striped with fuscous and black, and have two narrow
parallel pure white marks on the back, very conspicuous when the bird is
on the ground. The individuals frequenting high and dry grounds are much
paler in hue, appearing almost grey, and do not show the white marks on
the back. They also look larger than the birds on marshy lands; but this
appearance is probably due to a looser plumage. The most strongly-marked
pale and dark-plumaged variations may be found living within a few
hundred yards of each other, showing how strictly each bird keeps to
its own little "beat"; for this difference in coloration is, no doubt,
due entirely to the amount of moisture in the ground they live on.
The Cachilas are resident, living in couples all the year round, the
sexes being faithful. Several pairs frequent a small area, and sometimes
they unite in a desultory flock; but these gatherings are not frequent.
In the evening, at all seasons, immediately after the sun has set, the
Cachilas all rise to a considerable height in the air and fly wildly
about, chirping for a few minutes, after which they retire to roost.
When approached they frequently rise up several feet from the ground and
flutter in the air, chirping sharply, with breast towards the intruder.
This is a habit also found in Synallaxine species inhabiting the grassy
plains. But, as a rule, the Cachilas are the tamest of feathered
creatures, and usually creep reluctantly away on their little pink
feet when approached. If the pedestrian is a stranger to their habits
they easily delude him into attempting their capture with his hat, so
little is their fear of man.
To sing, the Cachila mounts upwards almost vertically, making at
intervals a fluttering pause, accompanied with a few hurried notes. When
he has thus risen to a great height (but never beyond sight as Azara
says) he begins the descent slowly, the wings inclining upwards; and,
descending, he pours forth long impressive strains, each ending with a
falling inflection or with two or three short throat-notes as the bird
pauses fluttering in mid-air, and then renewed successively until, when
the singer is within 3 or 4 feet of the earth, without alighting he
reascends as before to continue the performance. It is a very charming
melody, and heard always on the treeless plains when there is no other
bird-music, with the exception of the trilling and grasshopper-like
notes of a few Synallaxine species. But in character it is utterly
unlike the song of the Sky-Lark with its boundless energy, hurry, and
abandon; and yet it is impossible not to think of the Sky-Lark when
describing the Cachila, which, in its manners, appearance, and in its
habit of soaring to a great height when singing, seems so like a small
copy of that bird.
The Cachila rears two broods in the year; the first is hatched about the
middle of August, that is, one to three months before the laying-season
of other Passerine species. By anticipating the breeding-season their
early nests escape the evil of parasitical eggs; but, on the other hand,
frosty nights and heavy rains are probably as fatal to as many early
broods as the instinct of the _Molothrus bonariensis_, or Cow-bird, is
to others at a later period.
The second brood is reared in December, the hottest month, and in that
season a large proportion of their nests contain parasitical eggs.
The nest is placed in a slight hollow in the ground, under a tussock of
grass, and is sometimes elaborately made and lined with horsehair and
fine grass, and sometimes with a few materials loosely put together.
During the solstitial heats I have frequently found nests with frail
shades, built of sticks and grass, over them, the short withered grass
affording an insufficient protection from the meridian sun. The eggs are
four, elongated, with a dirty white and sometimes a dull bluish ground,
thickly spotted with dusky brown and drab. In some eggs the spots are
confluent, the whole shell being of a dull brownish-drab colour.
The manners of this species, where I have observed it, are always the
same; it lives on the ground on open plains, where the herbage and grass
is short, and never perches on trees. The song varies considerably in
different districts.
16. ANTHUS FURCATUS, d'Orb. et Lafr.
(FORKED-TAIL PIPIT.)
+Anthus furcatus+, _d'Orb. Voy._ p. 227 (Patagonia); _Darwin, Zool.
Voy. 'Beagle'_, iii. p. 85 (La Plata); _Sclater, Ibis_, 1878, p.
364; _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 37 (Azul,
Carhué-pampas); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 605.
_Description._--Similar to _A. correndera_, but with a smaller bill,
shorter and more curved hind claw, less spotted under surface, and
different marking of the second outer rectrix, which has a clear and
distinct white line along the inner side of the shaft: total length
6·0 inches, wing 3·2, tail 2·4.
_Hab._ Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina.
One of the Pipits procured at Conchitas belongs to this species, if
distinct from the former. I think I recollect it as a resident on the
pampas, closely resembling the Cachila in flight and language, but much
shyer, and usually found concealed under Tulu grass on dry grounds.
Fam. VI. MNIOTILTIDÆ, or WOOD-SINGERS.
The Mniotiltidæ, or Wood-singers, are a well-known and very
characteristic family of the New World, where they occupy the position
of our Sylviidæ. They number some 130 or 140 species, distributed all
over America down to La Plata, but most abundant in the southern
portions of North America, where the favourite and beautiful genus
_Dendrœca_, with about 100 species, plays an important part. In
Argentina only four species have as yet been met with.
17. PARULA PITIAYUMI (Vieill.).
(PITIAYUMI WOOD-SINGER.)
+Parula pitiayumi+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 8; _Durnford, Ibis_,
1876, p. 158, 1877, p. 168 (Buenos Ayres); _Salv. Ibis_, 1880,
p. 352 (Tucuman); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 594 (Catamarca,
Misiones); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 87
(Concepcion, Entrerios); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 259, pl. xi.
fig. 1. +Sylvicola venusta+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 473
(Paraná, Tucuman).
_Description._--Above clear blue; mantle and upper back olive-yellow;
central tail-feathers blue, all the others, also the quills,
blackish; cheeks and under surface of body bright yellow; lower
abdomen and under tail-coverts white; upper mandible black, lower
yellow; eye brown: total length 4·0 inches, wing 2·05, tail 1·55.
_Female_ similar, but much paler in colour.
_Hab._ South America.
This is a southern representative of a small group of Wood-warblers,
which is extensively diffused in the New World.
The upper plumage of this small bird is mostly cerulean-blue, the
breast and belly yellow. Its Guarani name, according to Azara, is
"_Pitiayume_," which means little yellow-breast. I have never heard
it sing or utter any note beyond a very feeble chirp as it hops about
through the foliage in quest of small caterpillars. Its migration
extends south to Buenos Ayres, where it is seen in woods and thickets
in pairs or singly; but it is a rare bird, and I have been unable to
find out anything about its nesting-habits.
18. GEOTHLYPIS VELATA (Vieill.).
(VEILED WOOD-SINGER.)
+Geothlypis velata+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 9; _White, P. Z. S._
1882, p. 594 (Salta); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 87
(Concepcion, Entrerios); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 363, pl. ix.
fig. 5.
_Description._--Above yellowish green; the wing-coverts like
the back; wing-feathers dusky brown, edged with olive-yellow;
tail-feathers olive-green; crown of head to the occiput blue-grey;
from the forehead a black mark extends to the eye and downward to
the cheek; throat and under surface bright yellow; bill black; feet
pale brown; eye brown: total length 5·6 inches, wing 2·4, tail 2·4.
_Female_ similar, but without the black on the face.
_Hab._ Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.
This is again the only species of a North- and Central-American genus
which ranges so far south as Buenos Ayres. It visits us in summer, and
is found singly or in pairs in woods and large plantations. It feeds
both on the ground and in trees, and, while gleaning amongst the
leaves, frequently pauses to utter its loud cheerful song, composed
of seven or eight clear notes uttered with rapidity and emphasis.
19. BASILEUTERUS AURICAPILLUS, Sw.
(GOLDEN-CROWNED WOOD-SINGER.)
+Basileuterus auricapillus+, _Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 393.
+Basileuterus vermivorus+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1865, p. 283; _Scl. et
Salv. Nomencl._ p. 10; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 594 (Misiones).
_Description._--Above olive-yellow, lightest on the rump and upper
tail-coverts; tail-feathers ashy brown, with yellowish margins;
quills dusky; crown of head light orange-chestnut; nape and hind
neck pale ashy grey; on each side of the crown a broad black stripe
extending from the bill to the hind neck, also a streak of ashy
white above the eye; under surface bright yellow; axillaries and
under wing-coverts white; bill and feet brownish: total length 4·5
inches, wing 2·2, tail 2·05. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ South America.
This species, which is widely spread over the northern portion of South
America, was found in Paraguay by Azara, and in the province of Misiones
by White.
20. SETOPHAGA BRUNNEICEPS, d'Orb. et Lafr.
(BROWN-CAPPED WOOD-SINGER.)
+Setophaga brunneiceps+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 473
(Tucuman); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 11; _White, P. Z. S._
1882, p. 595 (Catamarca); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 428.
_Description._--General colour dull olive-yellowish; wing-coverts
dark slaty grey; quills blackish; upper tail-coverts slaty grey,
washed with olive; tail-feathers blackish--the outer pair white, the
next pair white edged with black on the outer web, the third pair
with a large white mark at the end; crown of head deep chestnut;
neck slaty grey; under surface of body bright yellow; under tail-
and wing-coverts white: total length 5·0 inches, wing 2·45, tail
2·4. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Bolivia and Northern Argentina.
White obtained a pair of these birds on the Sierra of Totoral,
Catamarca, in July 1880. He describes them as quick in their movements
and difficult to shoot. The species was originally discovered by
d'Orbigny in Bolivia.
Fam. VII. VIREONIDÆ, or GREENLETS.
Three of the groups of the peculiar American family of Greenlets, allied
to our Shrikes, have representatives within the Argentine Republic. The
genera _Vireo_ and _Hylophilus_ both extend, each in the shape of one
of its South-Brazilian members, into the woodlands of the Paraná; while
_Cyclorhis_, another genus also widely spread over South and Central
America, has two representatives within our area. One of these latter is
well known in the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres; the other is only found
in the extreme north of the Republic.
21. VIREOSYLVIA CHIVI (Vieill.).
(CHIVI GREENLET.)
+Contramaestre gaviero+, _Azara, Apunt._ ii. p. 34. +Sylvia chivi+,
_Vieill. N. D._ xi. p. 174. +Vireosylvia chivi+, _Baird, Rev. A.
B._ p. 337; _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 160 (Buenos Ayres);
_Berl. et Jher. Zeitschr. ges. Orn._ 1885, p. 115. +Vireo chivi+,
_Gadow, Cat. B._ viii. p. 295.
_Hab._ South America, from Colombia down to Buenos Ayres.
A single specimen of this Greenlet was found in a collection made by Mr.
Haslehurst near Buenos Ayres. As the species occurs in Rio Grande do
Sul (_Berlepsch_) and Paraguay (_Azara_), its occasional appearance in
Eastern Argentina is quite probable. Whether the bird is really distinct
from the widespread _Vireo olivaceus_ seems to be a question which is
not yet finally settled.
Azara, describing this species, says it is one of the commonest in
deep woods, where it moves about among the terminal twigs, without
ever rising to the tops of the trees or flying down to the brush or the
ground. It is active, and extremely restless in manner; and in searching
after and taking the small insects and spiders on which it lives
it climbs about the twigs, assuming every position, and frequently
suspending itself, head downwards, by its feet. It has a full
pleasing voice of considerable power, heard incessantly in the woods,
particularly in the love-season. The nest is a slender beautiful
structure, even surpassing that of the Humming-birds, constructed of
thin dry leaves outside, smoothly attached to the rest with spiders'
webs, while the inside is formed of fine fibres and cotton.
22. HYLOPHILUS PŒCILOTIS, Max.
(BROWN-HEADED WOOD-BIRD.)
+Hylophilus pœcilotis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 12; _Scl.
Ibis_, 1881, p. 300; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 595 (Misiones);
_Gadow, Cat. B._ viii. p. 308.
_Description._--Crown of head and nape rich rufous-brown; all the
rest of the upper parts, including the entire tail and wing-coverts
and the outer webs of the remiges, rich olive-green; cheeks and
upper throat whitish; ear-coverts blackish, with white central
streaks; under wing-coverts, axillaries, inner margin of remiges,
and under tail-coverts lemon-yellow; rest of underparts dull yellow,
washed with olive on the breast and flanks, and inclining to pale
ochreous on the abdomen; bill dark flesh-colour; feet hazel: total
length 4·5 inches, wing 2·2, tail 2·2. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Southern Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.
This South-Brazilian species was met with by White near San Javier, in
the province of Misiones, in June 1881.
23. CYCLORHIS OCHROCEPHALA.
(OCHRE-HEADED GREENLET-SHRIKE.)
[Plate III. Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: Fig. 1. CYCLORHIS OCHROCEPHALA.}
" 2. " ALTIROSTRIS. }]
+Cyclorhis viridis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 472; _Scl. et
Salv. Nomencl._ p. 13; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 58 (Punta
Lara); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 595 (Buenos Ayres); _Gadow,
Cat. B._ viii. p. 318. +Cyclorhis ochrocephala+, _Tsch. Arch. f.
Nat._ 1845, pt. i. p. 362; _Berl. et Jher. Zeitschr. ges. Orn._
1885, p. 116.
_Description._--Above olive-green; cap brownish ochraceous, more or
less rufescent; front and superciliaries chestnut-red; sides of head
clear grey, beneath pale buff; breast and flanks yellow; throat
greyish white; bill reddish grey, feet grey; eye reddish: total
length 7·0 inches, wing 3·4, tail 2·8. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Middle districts of Argentina.
This species is not uncommon in the woods along the shores of the Plata,
and may be easily known to any person penetrating them by its loud
"cheerful soliloquy," for that phrase of Mr. Barrows, the North-American
writer on birds, well describes the artless, light-hearted song which it
utters at intervals while it roams about in the deep foliage, and which
reminds one of the careless whistling of a boy, whistling merely to
express his gaiety, but without having any particular tune in his mind.
It is migratory, and extends its range south of Buenos Ayres.
24. CYCLORHIS ALTIROSTRIS, Salvin.
(DEEP-BILLED GREENLET-SHRIKE.)
[Plate III. Fig. 2.]
+Cyclorhis altirostris+, _Salv. Ibis_, 1880, p. 352; _Gadow, Cat. B._
viii. p. 319. +Cyclorhis viridis+, _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn.
Cl._ viii. p. 88 (Concepcion, Entrerios); _Berl. et Jher.
Zeitschr. ges. Orn._ 1885, p. 116.
_Description._--Above olive-green; head more or less rufescent;
front and superciliaries chestnut-red; sides of head grey, beneath
pale ochraceous; breast and sides yellow; throat greyish; bill short
and thick, pale reddish, with a black blotch at the base of the
lower mandible; feet reddish: total length 6·5 inches, wing 3·3,
tail 3·0. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Paraguay and Northern Argentina.
This species was met with by Durnford near Salta in June 1878. He
describes the iris as "light rufous; upper mandible dark slate, under
mandible, legs, and feet pale slate."
Mr. Salvin founded his _C. altirostris_ upon Durnford's specimens, but
Graf v. Berlepsch is of opinion that this species is the "_Habia verde_"
of Azara, and should consequently bear the name "_viridis_" of Vieillot.
This is perhaps correct, but at the same time it would only make fresh
confusion to transfer to this species the name hitherto usually applied
to the preceding bird. We prefer, consequently, to let it stand under
Mr. Salvin's name "_altirostris_."
Fam. VIII. HIRUNDINIDÆ, or SWALLOWS.
The cosmopolitan family of Swallows, of which about eighty species
are known, is well developed in the New World, where some thirty
representatives occur in various parts. In Argentina the occurrence of
eight Swallows has been recorded. Three of them belong to the group of
Purple Martins (_Progne_), which is restricted to the New World, and
of the remainder four are members of genera entirely restricted to the
Neotropical Region. The genus _Petrochelidon_, of which one species
is met with in La Plata, has alone representatives in the Eastern
Hemisphere.
25. PROGNE FURCATA, Baird[3].
(PURPLE MARTIN.)
+Progne purpurea+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 548 (Patagonia);
_Scl. P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 605; _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 14;
_Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 32 (Chupat), 1878, p. 392 (Central
Patagonia); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 595 (Buenos Ayres).
+Progne elegans+, _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 89
(Bahia Blanca). +Progne furcata+, _Baird, Rev. A. B._ p. 278;
_Sharpe, Cat. A. B._ x. p. 175.
_Description._--Uniform deep purple-blue; on each side of the back a
small concealed tuft of white feathers; tail-feathers black, washed
with blue: total length 7·7 inches, wing 5·55, tail 3·3. _Female_:
upper parts dull purple; head, neck, and lower parts blackish brown.
_Hab._ Argentina and Patagonia.
The Purple Martin is occasionally seen in the eastern provinces of La
Plata when migrating, but has not been found nesting anywhere so far
north as Buenos Ayres. I met with it breeding at Bahia Blanca on the
Atlantic coast, and on the Rio Negro, where it is very common. It
arrives in Patagonia late in September, and leaves before the middle of
February. On the 14th of that month I saw one flock flying north, but it
was the last. It breeds in holes under the caves of houses or in walls,
and its nest is like that of _P. chalybea_; but many also breed in holes
in the steep banks of the Rio Negro. They do not, however, excavate
holes for themselves, but take possession of natural crevices and old
forsaken burrows of the Burrowing Parrot (_Conurus patachonicus_).
In size, flight, manners, and appearance the Purple Martin closely
resembles the following species, the only difference being in the dark
plumage of the under surface. The language of the two birds is also
identical; the loud excited scream when the nest is approached, the
various other notes when the birds sweep about in the air, and the
agreeably modulated and leisurely-uttered song are all possessed by the
two species without the slightest difference in strength or intonation.
This circumstance appears very remarkable to me, because, though two
species do sometimes possess a few notes alike, the greater part of
their language is generally different; also because birds of the same
species in different localities vary more in language than in any other
particular. This last observation, however, applies more to resident
than to migratory species.
[3] [I here follow Mr. Sharpe in considering the Purple Martin of
Argentina and Patagonia separable from the closely allied northern
species of North America. But I am altogether sceptical about its
occurrence in Chili, which Dr. Philippi expressly diaries (P. Z. S.
1868 p. 534) and for which I know of no good authority.--P. L. S.]
26. PROGNE CHALYBEA (Gm.).
(DOMESTIC MARTIN.)
+Progne chalybea+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 606 (Buenos Ayres); _Scl.
et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 14; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 595 (Buenos
Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 88 (Concepcion);
_Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 178. +Progne domestica+, _Burm. La-Plata
Reise_, ii. p. 477; _Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 177.
_Description._--Entire upper parts deep purple-blue; lesser and
median wing-coverts the same; wing- and tail-feathers black, glossed
with steel-blue; throat, fore neck, and chest ash colour; breast,
abdomen, and under tail-coverts pure white; bill and feet black:
total length 8 inches, wing 5·7, tail 3·2. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Central and South America.
This species, distinguished from the Purple Martin by its white
underparts, ranges from Mexico to Buenos Ayres, the extreme limit of
its range being about 250 miles south of that city. It was well called
_Golondrina domestica_ by Azara, being preeminently domestic in its
habits. It never breeds in banks as the Purple Martin often does, or in
the domed nests of other birds in trees, a situation always resorted to
by the Tree-Martin, and occasionally by the Common Swallow; but is so
accustomed to the companionship of man as to make its home in populous
towns as well as in country-houses. It arrives in Buenos Ayres about the
middle of September, and apparently resorts to the same breeding-place
every year. A hole under the eaves is usually selected, and the nest is
roughly built of dry grass, hair, feathers, and other materials. When
the entrance to its breeding-hole is too large, it partially closes it
up with mud mixed with straw; if there be two entrances it stops up one
altogether. The bird does not often require to use mud in building; it
is the only one of our Swallows that uses such a material at all. The
eggs are white, long, pointed, and five in number.
In the season of courtship this Martin is a noisy pugnacious bird, and
always, when quitting its nest, utters an exceedingly loud startling cry
several times repeated. It also has a song, uttered both when resting
and on the wing, composed of several agreeably modulated notes, and in
that thick rolling intonation peculiar to our Swallows. This song does
not sound loud when near, yet it can be distinctly heard when the bird
appears but a speck in the distance. I may here remark that, with the
exception of the _Petrochelidon pyrrhonota_, which possesses a sharp
squeaky voice, like the Swallows of Europe, all our Hirundines have soft
voices: their usual twittering when they are circling about resembles
somewhat the chirping of the English House-Sparrow in tone, but besides
these notes they possess a song more pleasing to the ear.
Before leaving in February these birds congregate in parties of from
twenty to four or five hundred, usually on the broad leafy top of an old
ombú tree.
27. PROGNE TAPERA (Linn.).
(TREE-MARTIN.)
+Progne tapera+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 606 (Buenos Ayres); _Scl.
et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 14; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 168 (Buenos
Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 595 (Catamarca); _Barrows,
Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 89 (Concepcion); _Sharpe, Cat. B._
x. p. 180. +Cotyle tapera+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 477.
_Description._--Entire upper parts dull brown; tail-feathers
blackish brown; throat ashy white; fore neck and chest ashy brown
in the centre and dark brown on the sides, as are also the flanks;
abdomen white; bill and feet horn-colour: total length 7 inches,
wing 5·5, tail 2·6. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina.
The Tree-Martin is more slender and has a greater extent of wing than
the Purple Martins; and, instead of the beautiful dark purple (their
prevailing colour), its entire upper plumage is dusky brown, the under
surface white. But if these differences of structure and hue merely
serve to show that it is not a very near relative of the other species,
those exhibited in its habits remove it very far indeed from them.
The Tree-Martin is a very garrulous bird, and no sooner arrives early in
September, than we are apprised of the circumstance by the notes which
the male and female incessantly sing in concert, fluttering and waving
their wings the while, and seeming quite beside themselves with joy at
their safe arrival; for invariably they arrive already mated. Their
language is more varied, the intonation bolder and freer than that of
our other Swallows. The length of the notes can be varied at pleasure;
some are almost harsh, others silvery or liquid, as of trickling drops
of water; they all have a glad sound; and many have that peculiar
character of some bird-notes of shaping themselves into words.
This Martin is never seen to alight on the ground or on the roofs of
houses, but solely on trees; and when engaged in collecting materials
for its nest, it sweeps down and snatches up a feather or straw without
touching the surface. It breeds only in the clay-ovens of the Oven-bird
(_Furnarius rufus_). I, at least, have never seen them breed in any
other situation after observing them for a great many summers. An
extraordinary habit! for, many as are the species that possess the
parasitical tendency of breeding in other birds' nests, none of them
confine themselves to the nest of a single species excepting the bird
I am describing. It must, however, be understood that my knowledge of
this bird has been acquired in Buenos Ayres, where I have observed it;
and as this Martin possesses a wider range in South America than the
Oven-birds, it is more than probable that in other districts it builds
in different situations.
On arriving in spring each pair takes up its position on some tree,
and usually on a particular branch; a dead branch extending beyond the
foliage is a favourite perch. Here they spend much of their time, never
appearing to remain long absent from it, and often, when singing their
notes together, fluttering about it with a tremulous uncertain flight,
like that of a hovering butterfly. About three weeks after first
arriving they begin to make advances towards the Oven-bird's nest that
stands on the nearest post or tree; and if it be still occupied by the
rightful owners, after much time has been spent in sporting about and
reconnoitring it, a feud begins which is often exceedingly violent and
protracted for many days.
In seasons favourable to them the Oven-birds build in autumn and winter,
and breed early in spring; so that their broods are out of their
clay-houses by the end of October or earlier; when this happens, the
Swallow that breeds in November quietly takes possession of the forsaken
fortress. But accidents will happen, even to the wonderful fabric of
the Oven-bird. It is sometimes destroyed and must be rebuilt; or its
completion has perhaps been retarded for months by drought, or by the
poor condition of the birds in severe weather; or the first brood has
perhaps perished, destroyed by an opossum or other enemy. November, and
even December, may thus arrive before some pairs have hatched their
eggs; and it is these unfortunate late breeders that suffer from the
violence of the marauding Swallows. I have often witnessed the wars of
these birds with the deepest interest; and in many ovens that I have
opened I have found the eggs of the Oven-birds buried under the nests
of the Swallows. After the Swallows have taken up a position near
the coveted oven, they occasionally fly towards and hover about it,
returning again to their stand. By-and-by, instead of returning as at
first, they take to alighting at the entrance of the coveted home; this
is a sort of declaration of war, and marks the beginning of hostilities.
The Oven-birds, full of alarm and anger, rush upon and repel them as
often as they approach; they retire before this furious onset, but not
discomfited, and only warbling out their gay seemingly derisive notes in
answer to the outrageous indignant screams of their enemies. Soon they
return; the scene is repeated; and this desultory skirmishing is often
continued for many days.
But at length the lawless invaders, grown bolder, and familiar with his
strength and resources, will no longer fly from the master of the house;
desperate struggles now frequently take place at the entrance, the birds
again and again dropping to the ground clutched fiercely together, and
again hurrying up only to resume the combat. Victory at last declares
itself for the aggressors, and they busy themselves carrying in
materials for their nest, screaming their jubilant notes all the time
as if in token of triumph. The brave and industrious Oven-birds,
dispossessed of their home, retire to spend their childless summer
together, for the male and female never separate; and when the autumn
rains have supplied them with wet clay, and the sense of defeat is worn
off, they cheerfully begin their building-operations afresh.
This is not, however, the invariable result of the conflict. To the
superior swiftness of the Martin the Oven-bird opposes greater strength,
and, it might be added, a greater degree of zeal and fury than can
animate its adversary. The contest is thus nearly an equal one; and the
Oven-bird, particularly when its young are already hatched, is often
able to maintain its own. But the Martins never suffer defeat; for, when
unable to take the citadel by storm, they fall back on their dribbling
system of warfare, which they keep up till the young birds leave the
nest, when they take possession before it has grown cold.
The Martin makes its own nest chiefly of large feathers, and lays four
eggs, long, pointed, and pure white.
It will be remarked that in all its habits above mentioned this bird
differs widely from the two preceding species. It also differs greatly
from them in its manner of flight. The Purple Martins move with
surprising grace and celerity, the wings extended to their utmost; they
also love to sail in circles high up in the air, or about the summits of
tall trees, and particularly during a high wind. At such times several
individuals are usually seen together, and all seem striving to outvie
each other in the beauty of their evolutions.
The Tree-Martin is never seen to soar about in circles; and though when
hawking after flies and moths it sweeps the surface of the grass with
amazing swiftness, at other times it has a flight strangely slow and of
a fashion peculiar to itself: the long wings are depressed as much as
those of a Wild Duck when dropping on to the water, and are constantly
agitated with tremulous flutterings, short and rapid as those of a
butterfly.
Neither is this bird gregarious like all its congeners, though
occasionally an individual associates for a while with Swallows of
another species; but this only when they are resting on fences or trees,
for as soon as they take flight it leaves them. Once or twice, when for
some mysterious cause the autumnal migration has been delayed long past
its usual time, I have seen them unite in small flocks; but this is very
rare. As a rule they have no meetings preparatory to migration, but
skim about the fields and open plains in un-Swallow-like solitude, and
suddenly disappear without having warned us of their intended
departure.
28. PETROCHELIDON PYRRHONOTA (Vieill.).
(RED-BACKED ROCK-MARTIN.)
+Petrochelidon pyrrhonota+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 14; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1877, p. 169; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 595 (Buenos
Ayres); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 193. +Cotyle pyrrhonota+, _Burm.
La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 477 (Tucuman).
_Description._--Above glossy dark steel-blue; lower back and rump
cinnamon-rufous; the upper tail-coverts brown, with grey margins;
wings black; tail black, with greenish gloss; crown steel-blue;
forehead sandy buff; cheeks and sides of face chestnut, spreading
to the sides of the hind neck; chin chestnut; the lower throat
steel-blue; fore neck, chest, and sides of body and flanks light
ashy brown; centre of breast and abdomen white, tinged with brown;
under tail-coverts, also under wing-coverts and axillaries, ashy
brown: total length 5·3 inches, wing 4·35, tail 2·05. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ South America.
This species does not breed in Buenos Ayres, and is only seen there in
spring, flying south or south-west, and again in much larger numbers on
its return journey in autumn. On the Rio Negro, in Patagonia, I did
not meet with it, and suppose its summer resort must be south of that
locality; and, judging from the immense numbers visible in some seasons,
I should think that they must, in their breeding-place in Patagonia,
occupy a very extensive area. They do not seem to be as regular in
their movements as other Swallows here; some years I have observed them
passing singly or in small parties during the entire hot season: usually
they begin to appear, flying north, in February; but in some years not
until after the middle of March. They are not seen passing with a rapid
flight in close flocks, but straggle about, hawking after flies: first
one bird passing, then two or three, and a minute or two later half a
dozen, and so on for a greater part of the day. So long as the weather
continues warm they journey in this leisurely manner; but I have known
them to continue passing till April, after all the summer migrants had
left us, and these late birds flew by with great speed in small close
flocks, directly north, as if their flight had been guided by the
magnetic needle.
While flying this species continually utters sharp twitterings and
grinding and squealing notes of various lengths.
29. TACHYCINETA LEUCORRHOA (Vieill.).
(WHITE-RUMPED SWALLOW.)
+Hirundo leucorrhoa+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, pp. 606, 845 (Buenos
Ayres); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 14; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877,
p. 32 (Chupat), 1878, p. 392 (Central Patagonia); _White, P. Z.
S._ 1882, p. 596 (Corrientes); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._
viii. p. 89 (Concepcion). +Cotyle leucorrhoea+, _Burm. La-Plata
Reise_, ii. p. 478 (Paraná). +Tachycineta leucorrhous+, _Sharpe,
Cat. B._ x. p. 114.
_Description._--Above glossy dark green; rump white; quills black,
washed with green; upper tail-coverts dark green; tail-feathers
black with greenish gloss; base of forehead white, extending a
little backward over the lores; cheeks and whole under surface
white; flanks and sides washed with smoky brown; axillaries and
under tail-coverts pale smoky brown; bill and feet black: total
length 5·5 inches, wing 4·45, tail 2·0. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.
This is the most abundant and best known of our Swallows; a pretty bird
in its glossy coat of deep green, and rump and under surface snowy
white; exceedingly restless in its disposition, quick and graceful in
its motions; social, quarrelsome, garrulous, with a not unmusical song,
beginning with long, soft, tremulous notes, followed by others shorter
and more hurried, and sinking to a murmur. They are the last of all our
migrants to leave us in autumn, and invariably reappear in small numbers
about the houses on every warm day in winter. Probably many individuals
in Buenos Ayres remain through the winter in sheltered situations, to
scatter over the surrounding country whenever there comes a warm bright
day. I once saw three together, skimming over the plains, on one of the
coldest days I ever experienced on the pampas, the thermometer having
stood at 29° Fahr. that morning.
Further south their migration is more strict; and on the Rio Negro, in
Patagonia, from March to August I did not meet with a single individual.
In Buenos Ayres the autumnal migration of the Hirundines begins about
the middle of February, and from that date vast numbers of this Swallow
are seen travelling north, and, in some seasons, they continue passing
for over a month. One autumn, in April, several days after the Swallows
had all disappeared, flocks of the Common Swallow began again to appear
flying north, and for ten days afterwards they continued to pass in
large numbers. They would stoop to dip themselves in a pool where I
observed them, and then alight on the reeds and bushes to rest, and
appeared quite tired with their journey, rising reluctantly when
approached, and some allowing me to stand almost within arm's length
of them without stirring. I had never before observed any later or
supplementary migration like this; for, as a rule, the causes which in
some years delay the departure of birds seems to affect them all alike.
Possibly these late birds come from some remote district, where
exceptionally cold weather had retarded breeding-operations.
The White-rumped Swallow sometimes lays in a tree, in the large nest,
previously abandoned, of the Leñatero (_Anumbius acuticaudatus_).
Its favourite site is, however, a hole in a wall, sheltered by the
overhanging tiles or thatch; for though it does not go much into towns,
as Azara has remarked, it is very domestic, and there is not a house on
the pampas, however humble it be, but some of these birds are about it,
sportively skimming above the roof, or curiously peering under the
eaves, and incessantly uttering their gurgling happy notes.
For a period of a month to six weeks before building begins they seem to
be holding an incessant dispute, reminding one in their scolding tones
of a colony of contentious English House-Sparrows, only the Swallow
has a softer, more varied voice, and frequently, even when hotly
quarrelling, he pauses to warble out his pretty little song, with its
sound like running water. However many eligible chinks and holes there
may be, the contention is always just as great amongst them, and is
doubtless referable to opposing claims to the best places. The excited
twittering, the incessant striving of two birds to alight on the same
square inch of wall, the perpetual chases they lead each other round
and round the house, always ending exactly where they began, tell of
clashing interests and of great unreasonableness on the part of some
amongst them. By-and-by the quarrel assumes a more serious aspect;
friends and neighbours have apparently intervened in vain; all the
arguments of which Swallows are capable have been exhausted, and, a
compromise of claims being more impossible than ever, fighting begins.
Most vindictively do the little things clutch each other and fall to the
earth twenty times an hour, where they often remain struggling for a
long time, heedless of the screams of alarm their fellows set up above
them; for often, while they thus lie on the ground punishing each other,
they fall an easy prey to some wily pussy who has made herself
acquainted with their habits.
When these feuds are finally settled, they address themselves diligently
to the great work and build a rather big nest. They are not neat or
skilful workers, but merely stuff a great quantity of straw and other
light materials into the breeding-hole, and line the nest with feathers
and horsehair. On this soft but disorderly bed the female lays from five
to seven pure white eggs.
All those species that are liable at any time to become the victims of
raptorial birds are very much beholden to this Swallow, as he is the
most vigilant sentinel they possess. When the hurrying Falcon is still
far off, and the other birds unsuspicious of his approach, the Swallows
suddenly rush up into the sky with a wild rapid flight to announce the
evil tidings with distracted screams. The alarm spreads swift as light
through the feathered tribes, which, on all sides, are in terrified
commotion, crouching in the grass, plunging into thickets, or mounting
upwards to escape by flight. I have often wondered at this, since this
swift-winged and quick-doubling little bird is the least likely to fall
a prey himself.
They possess another habit very grateful to the mind of every early
riser. At the first indication of dawn, and before any other wild bird
has broken the profound silence of night, multitudes of this Swallow, as
if at the signal of a leader, begin their singing and twittering, at the
same time mounting upwards into the quiet dusky sky. Their notes at this
hour differ from the hurried twittering uttered during the day, being
softer and more prolonged, and, sounding far up in the sky from so many
throats, the concert has a very charming effect, and seems in harmony
with the shadowy morning twilight.
30. ATTICORA CYANOLEUCA (Vieill.).
(BANK-SWALLOW.)
+Atticora cyanoleuca+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 479; _Scl. et
Salv. Nomencl._ p. 14; _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 844 (Buenos
Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1876, p. 158 (Buenos Ayres), 1877,
p. 32 (Chupat), p. 170 (Buenos Ayres), 1878, p. 392 (Central
Patagonia); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 596 (Catamarca); _Barrows,
Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 90 (Concepcion, Bahia Blanca);
_Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 186.
_Description._--Above dark glossy blue; quills and tail-feathers
black; cheeks and under surface of body pure white, the sides of the
neck blue, descending in a half-crescent on the sides of the chest;
sides of body and flanks brown; under tail-coverts black; bill and
feet black: total length 4·7 inches, wing 4·05, tail 2·2. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ Central and South America.
This diminutive dark-plumaged species is the smallest of our Hirundines.
In Buenos Ayres they appear early in September, arriving before the
Martins, but preceded by the Common Swallow. They are bank-birds,
breeding in forsaken holes and burrows, for they never bore into
the earth themselves, and are consequently not much seen about the
habitations of man. They sometimes find their breeding-holes in the
banks of streams, or, in cultivated districts, in the sides of ditches,
and even down in wells. But if in such sites alone fit receptacles for
their eggs were met with, the species, instead of one of the commonest,
would be rare indeed with us; for on the level pampas most of the
water-courses have marshy borders, or at most but low and gently
sloping banks. But the burrowing habits of two other animals--the
Vizcacha (_Lagostomus trichodactylus_), the common large rodent
of the pampas, and the curious little bird called Minera (_Geositta
cunicularia_)--have everywhere afforded the Swallows abundance of
breeding-places on the plains, even where there are no streams or other
irregularities in the smooth surface of the earth.
The Minera bores its hole in the sides of the Vizcacha's great burrow,
and in this burrow within a burrow the Swallow lays its eggs and rears
its young, and is the guest of the Vizcacha, and as much dependent on it
as the House-Wren and the Domestic Swallow on man; so that in spring,
when this species returns to the plains, it is in the villages of the
Vizcachas that we see them. There they live and spend the day, sporting
about the burrows, just as the Common Swallow does about our houses; and
to a stranger on the pampas one of these villages, with its incongruous
bird and mammalian inhabitants, must seem a very curious sight in the
evening. Before sunset the old male Vizcachas come forth to sit gravely
at the mouths of their great burrows. One or two couples of Mineras,
their little brown bird-tenants, are always seen running about on the
bare ground round the holes, resting at intervals with their tails
slowly moving up and down, and occasionally trilling-out their shrill
laughter-like cry. Often a pair of Burrowing-Owls also live in the
village, occupying one of the lesser disused burrows; and round them all
flit half a dozen little Swallows, like twilight-moths with long black
wings. It is never quite a happy family, however, for the Owls always
hiss and snap at a Vizcacha if he comes too near; while the little
Swallows never become reconciled to the Owls, but perpetually flutter
about them, protesting against their presence with long complaining
notes.
The nest, made of dry grass lined with feathers, is placed at the
extremity of the long, straight, cylindrical burrow, and contains
five or six white pointed eggs. I have never seen these Swallows
fighting with the Minera to obtain possession of the burrows, for
this industrious little bird makes itself a fresh one every spring,
so that there are always houses enough for the Swallows. After the
young have flown, they sit huddled together on a weed or thistle-top,
and the parents continue to feed them for many days.
As in size and brightness of plumage, so in language is the Bank-Swallow
inferior to other species, its only song being a single, weak, trilling
note, much prolonged, which the bird repeats with great frequency when
on the wing. Its voice has ever a mournful, monotonous sound, and even
when it is greatly excited and alarmed, as at the approach of a fox or
hawk, its notes are neither loud nor shrill. When flying they glide
along close to the earth, and frequently alight on the ground to rest,
which is contrary to the custom of other Swallows. Like other species
of this family, they possess the habit of gliding to and fro before a
traveller's horse, to catch the small twilight-moths driven up from the
grass. A person riding on the pampas usually has a number of Swallows
flying round him, and I have often thought that more than a hundred were
before my horse at one time; but, from the rapidity of their motions, it
is impossible to count them. I have frequently noticed individuals of
the four most common species following me together; but after sunset,
and when the other species have long forsaken the open grassy plain for
the shelter of trees and houses, the diminutive Bank-Swallow continues
to keep the traveller company. At such a time, as they glide about in
the dusk of evening, conversing together in low tremulous tones, they
have a peculiarly sorrowful appearance, seeming like homeless little
wanderers over the great level plains.
When the season of migration approaches they begin to congregate in
parties not very large, though sometimes as many as one or two hundred
individuals are seen together; these companies spend much of their time
perched close together on weeds, low trees, fences, or other slightly
elevated situations, and pay little heed to a person approaching, but
seem preoccupied or preyed upon by some trouble that has no visible
cause.
The time immediately preceding the departure of the Swallows is indeed
a season of very deep interest to the observer of nature. The birds in
many cases seem to forget the attachment of the sexes and their songs
and aerial recreations; they already begin to feel the premonitions of
that marvellous instinct that urges them hence: not yet an irresistible
impulse, it is a vague sense of disquiet; but its influence is manifest
in their language and gestures, their wild manner of flight, and their
listless intervals.
The little Bank-Swallow disappears immediately after the Martins. Many
stragglers continue to be seen after the departure of the main body; but
before the middle of March not one remains, the migration of this
species being very regular.
31. ATTICORA FUCATA (Temm.).
(BROWN MARTIN.)
+Cotyle fucata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 478 (Mendoza);
_Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 14; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 596
(Corrientes), 1883, p. 37 (Cordova). +Atticora fucata+, _Sharpe,
Cat. B._ x. p. 188.
_Description._--Above brown; primary-coverts and quills blackish
brown; tail-feathers dark brown; crown of head deep rufous, becoming
clearer on the nape; cheeks, throat, and breast pale tawny; sides of
body brown, tinged with rufous; centre of breast, abdomen, and under
tail-coverts white; thighs, under wing-coverts, and axillaries
brown: total length 4·6 inches, wing 4·15, tail 2·0. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ Guiana, Brazil, and Northern Argentina.
This Swallow is common near Mendoza, according to Prof. Burmeister.
White obtained it in May 1881 at Santo Tomé, Corrientes, and in 1882 at
Cosquin near Cordova. At Cosquin the first individual was seen on July
20th, but towards the end of August large numbers were observed, mostly
skimming over the river.
32. STELGIDOPTERYX RUFICOLLIS (Vieill.).
(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.
33. EUPHONIA NIGRICOLLIS (Vieill.).
(BLACK-NECKED TANAGER.)
+Euphonia nigricollis+, _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 61. +Lindo azul y oro
cabeza celeste+, _Azara, Apunt._ i. p. 390. +Euphonia aureata+,
_d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 267 (Corrientes).
_Description._--Above glossy purplish black; rump yellow; cap and
nape blue; front black; below orange-yellow, throat and sides of
the head black; axillaries pale yellow; under wing-coverts whitish,
inner margins of wing-feathers pale cinereous; bill black; feet pale
brown: whole length 4·5 inches, wing 2·7, tail 1·5. _Female_ above
olive-green, rather lighter on the rump; cap blue; front chestnut,
with a narrow dark margin between it and the blue cap; below
yellowish olive-green, brighter on the belly.
_Hab._ South America from Colombia to Northern Argentina.
This Tanager was obtained by d'Orbigny in Southern Corrientes.
34. EUPHONIA CHLOROTICA (Linn.).
(PURPLE-AND-YELLOW TANAGER.)
+Euphonia chlorotica+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 17; _White, P. Z.
S._ 1882, p. 596 (Misiones, Catamarca); _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 64.
_Description._--Above dark purple-black; front half of the cap
yellow; below yellow, throat purple-black; tail beneath black,
with a large white patch on the inner webs of the two exterior
tail-feathers; under surface of wings black, with a large white
patch on the inner webs of the remiges; bill and feet black: whole
length 3·3 inches, wing 2·1, tail 1·2. _Female_ above greyish
olive-green, with a yellowish tinge on the front and rump; below
rather more yellowish, with the centre of the breast and belly pale
ashy, flanks and crissum pale yellow; under wing-coverts and inner
margins of wing-feathers whitish.
_Hab._ Guiana, Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.
White obtained examples of this species at Concepcion and Catamarca. At
the former place it was noticed feeding on the fruit of a giant cactus.
35. PIPRIDEA MELANONOTA (Vieill.).
(DARK-BACKED TANAGER.)
+Pipridea melanonota+, _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 92. +Pica de punza azul
y canela+, _Azara, Apunt._ i. p. 413.
_Description._--Above violaceous blue; while interscapular region
darker, blackish; wings and tail black, edged with blue; narrow
front, lores, and sides of the head deep velvety black, well
defined; body beneath and under wing-coverts clear ochraceous; under
surfaces of wings and tail blackish; bill black; feet brown: whole
length 5·8 inches, wing 3·1, tail 2·2. _Female_ above dark brown,
tinged with blue on the head and rump; below like the male.
_Hab._ South America from Venezuela to Paraguay and Northern Argentina.
This Tanager, which was found by Azara in Paraguay, occurs in Tucuman.
An adult male obtained by Herr Schulz in this province is in the
collection of Hans, Graf von Berlepsch.
36. STEPHANOPHORUS LEUCOCEPHALUS (Vieill.).
(WHITE-CAPPED TANAGER.)
[Plate IV.]
[Illustration: STEPHANOPHORUS LEUCOCEPHALUS.]
+Stephanophorus leucocephalus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 20;
_Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 170 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._
1882, p. 597 (Misiones); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii.
p. 90 (Concepcion); _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 143. +Stephanophorus
cœruleus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 480 (Paraná).
_Description._--Uniform deep blue; cap silky white, with a small
crimson crest; bill brownish black, feet brown: whole length 7
inches, wing 4, tail 3·3. _Female_ similar, but not quite so bright
in colour.
_Hab._ Southern Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.
Azara gave the generic name _Lindo_ (beautiful) to the Tanagers, and
this species he named the "Blue White-headed Beautiful," the entire
plumage being of a very lovely deep corn-flower blue, except a cap of
silvery-white feathers on the head, with a crimson spot on the forehead,
looking like a drop of blood.
It is a summer bird in Buenos Ayres, where it makes its appearance in
spring in the woods bordering on the Plata river, and is usually seen
singly or in pairs. The nest is built in a tree ten or twelve feet from
the ground, and is somewhat shallow and lined with soft dry grass.
The female lays four eggs, white and spotted with deep red. During
incubation the male sits concealed in the thick foliage close by,
amusing itself by the hour with singing, its performance consisting of
chattering disconnected notes uttered in so low a tone as to make one
fancy that the bird is merely trying to recall some melody it has
forgotten, or endeavouring to construct a new one by jerking out
a variety of sounds at random. The bird never gets beyond this
unsatisfactory stage, however, and must be admired for its exquisite
beauty alone.
37. TANAGRA SAYACA, Linn.
(BLUE TANAGER.)
+Tanagra cyanoptera+, _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 59 (Buenos Ayres);
_Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 91 (Concepcion); _Scl.
Cat. B._ xi. p. 157 (part.). +Tanagra sayaca+, _Burm. La-Plata
Reise_, ii. p. 479 (Paraná); _Berl. Zeitschr. ges. Orn._ 1885,
p. 119, _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 158.
_Description._--Bluish grey, paler below; wings and tail blackish,
edged with greenish blue; lesser wing-coverts dull greenish blue,
like the edgings of the wings; bill plumbeous, feet brown: whole
length 6·0 inches, wing 3·6, tail 2·7. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ S.E. Brazil and Argentina.
In the 'Catalogue of Birds' I referred the Argentine Blue Tanager to _T.
cyanoptera_, though expressing a doubt upon the subject. I am now
disposed to adopt Graf. v. Berlepsch's view that the Argentine species
rather belongs to _T. sayaca_.--P. L. S.
This species migrates as far south as Buenos Ayres, and appears in
spring, in small flocks or parties of three or four birds, in the woods
on the shores of the Plata. The male utters a series of peculiar
squealing notes by way of song.
38. TANAGRA BONARIENSIS (Gm.).
(BLUE-AND-YELLOW TANAGER.)
+Tanagra bonariensis+, _Berl. Zeitschr. ges. Orn._ 1885, p. 119;
_Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 164. +Tanagra striata+, _Burm. La-Plata
Reise_, ii. p. 480 (Buenos Ayres, Mendoza, Cordova); _Scl. et
Salv. Nomencl._ p. 21; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 170 (Buenos
Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 596 (Catamarca); _Barrows,
Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 91 (Concepcion).
_Description._--Lores, region round the eyes, and back black; rump
orange; head all round and edging of wings and tail blue; abdomen
yellow, passing into orange on the breast; bill horn-colour; feet
brown: whole length 7 inches, wing 3·6, tail 2·8. _Female_ greyish
brown; beneath paler, tinged with yellowish olive on the rump and
throat.
_Hab._ South Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentine Republic, and Bolivia.
The plumage of the male of this fine Tanager is rich blue above and
yellow beneath; the upper plumage of the female is a uniform dull
olive-green, the breast and belly buff-colour.
It is a migratory species, which appears in Buenos Ayres in small flocks
in summer. Both sexes have a long, sharp, reedy call-note; the male also
possesses a song composed of notes with a peculiar bleating sound.
39. PYRANGA AZARÆ, d'Orb.
(AZARA'S TANAGER.)
+Pyranga azaræ+, _Durnford, Ibis_, 1880, p. 353 (Tucuman); _White, P.
Z. S._ 1883, p. 37 (Cordova); _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 186. +Pyranga
coccinea+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 479 (Paraná, Mendoza).
+Pyranga saira+, _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 91
(Concepcion).
_Description._--Above dull rosy red; interscapulium and wing-edgings
with cinereous tinge; below much brighter, nearly uniform rosy red,
duller on the sides; bill plumbeous; feet brown: total length 7·2
inches, wing 3·8, tail 3·1. _Female_ greyish olive; beneath yellow,
passing into cinereous on the flanks and belly.
_Hab._ Argentine Republic, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia.
This scarlet Tanager appears occasionally in the northern and eastern
provinces of Argentina.
40. TRICHOTHRAUPIS QUADRICOLOR (Vieill.).
(FOUR-COLOURED TANAGER.)
+Trichothraupis quadricolor+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 23; _White,
P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 597 (Misiones); _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 220.
_Description._--Above greyish olive; a large, recumbent, vertical
crest bright yellow; sides of the head, wings, and tail black; below
pale fulvous; under wing-coverts and a cross-bar near the base of
the wing-feathers white; bill whitish, plumbeous at base; feet
pale brown: total length 6·0 inches, wing 3·3, tail 2·9. _Female_
similar, but without the vertical crest.
_Hab._ Southern Brazil, Paraguay, and N.E. Argentina.
This species was met with by White in the dense forests of Misiones.
41. THLYPOPSIS RUFICEPS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(RED-CAPPED TANAGER.)
+Thlypopsis ruficeps+, _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 231.
_Description._--Above cinereous; cap bright chestnut-red; beneath
yellow, flanks tinged with cinereous; under wing-coverts white; bill
plumbeous, feet pale brown: whole length 5 inches, wing 2·5, tail
2·0.
_Hab._ Bolivia and Tucuman.
Herr Schulz obtained specimens of this Bolivian species in Tucuman.
42. BUARREMON CITRINELLUS, Cab.
(YELLOW-STRIPED TANAGER.)
+Buarremon citrinellus+, _Cab. Journ. f. Orn._ 1883, p. 109; _Scl.
Cat. B._ xi. p. 270.
_Description._--Above olive-green, darker on the head; wings and
tail blackish brown, edged with olive; a broad superciliary stripe
commencing on the front on each side, and another commencing at the
gape, bright yellow, leaving in the middle a broad patch of dark
olive; beneath yellow, breast and flanks olivaceous; throat yellow,
bordered on each side by a dark olive mystacal stripe; bill black;
feet brown: whole length 6·5 inches, wing 2·8, tail 2.
_Hab._ Tucuman.
This is a rather aberrant species of _Buarremon_, as yet only known from
Tucuman, where it was discovered by Schulz.
43. ARREMON ORBIGNII, Sclater.
(D'ORBIGNY'S TANAGER.)
+Arremon orbignii+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 25; _White, P. Z. S._
1882, p. 597 (Catamarca); _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 274.
_Description._--Above olive-green; wings and tail blackish, edged
with olive; head black, superciliaries white, vertical stripe and
nape cinereous; beneath white, with a narrow but distinct pectoral
band; sides cinereous; bend of wing yellow; bill yellow, with the
upper half of the upper mandible black; feet brown: total length 5·7
inches, wing 2·8, tail 2·6.
_Hab._ Bolivia and Northern Argentina.
Specimens of this Tanager were obtained by White on the Sierras of
Totoral, near Catamarca, in July 1880. The iris is marked as "blue."
44. SALTATOR SIMILIS, d'Orb. et Lafr.
(ALLIED SALTATOR.)
+Saltator similis+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 290, t. xxviii.
fig. 2 (Corrientes); _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 287. +Saltator
superciliaris+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 597 (Corrientes)?
_Description._--Above cinereous; interscapulium and greater
wing-coverts and secondaries suffused with olive-green;
superciliaries white; below pale fulvous; throat white, bordered
on each side by a black line; flanks passing into cinereous;
under wing-coverts pale fulvous; bill plumbeous; feet brown:
whole length 8·5 inches, wing 4·0, tail 4·0. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ S.E. Brazil and Eastern Argentina.
This Saltator was first described from specimens obtained at Rincon de
Luna in Corrientes by d'Orbigny, but no recent collectors appear to have
met with it in the Argentine Republic.
45. SALTATOR CÆRULESCENS, Vieill.
(GREYISH SALTATOR.)
+Saltator cærulescens+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 480 (Paraná);
_Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 26; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 59
(Buenos Ayres); _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 353 (Salta); _White, P.
Z. S._ 1882, p. 597 (Salta); _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 290.
_Description._--Above cinereous, wings and tail rather darker; short
superciliaries white; beneath pale cinereous; throat white, with a
blackish rictal stripe on each side; fore neck slightly tinged with
fulvous; middle of belly whitish; lower belly and crissum strongly
suffused with fulvous; under wing-coverts pale fulvous; bill black;
feet brown: total length 8·5 inches, wing 4·3, tail 4·1. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina.
Mr. Durnford found this Saltator "pretty common" near Baradero, on low
scrubby ground near water, and afterwards obtained it near Salta. White
records it as "very abundant" near Oran.
46. SALTATOR AURANTIIROSTRIS, Vieill.
(YELLOW-BILLED SALTATOR.)
+Saltator aurantiirostris+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 288 (Corrientes);
_Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 481 (Mendoza, Cordova, Tucuman,
Paraná); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 26; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882,
p. 508 (Catamarca); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 91
(Concepcion); _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 292.
_Description._--Above cinereous, with a slight olivaceous suffusion;
head rather darker; sides of head and throat black; superciliary
stripe, commencing above the eye, white; beneath pale cinereous
mixed with fulvous, a well-marked guttural collar joining the sides
of the throat black; ends of the outer rectrices more or less varied
with white; bill clear orange; feet greyish brown: whole length
7·5 inches, wing 3·6, tail 3·5. _Female_ similar, less brightly
coloured, and with the guttural collar almost or altogether absent.
_Hab._ Paraguay, Uruguay, and Northern Argentina.
In Corrientes d'Orbigny found this Saltator breeding in the month of
November. It frequents the shrubs and bushes in the neighbourhood of the
houses, and makes an open nest of roots, not of very neat construction.
The eggs are two or three, greenish blue, slightly spotted at the larger
end with blackish and reddish zigzag markings. The egg is figured in
d'Orbigny's 'Voyage' (pl. xxviii. fig. 3).
White tells us that this species is not uncommon in Catamarca, and
Barrows met with it at Concepcion in Entrerios.
Fam. X. FRINGILLIDÆ, or FINCHES.
The extensive family of Finches, which has numerous representatives in
every part of the world, is well represented in the Argentine Republic.
Within the limits assigned to the present work forty-six species of his
group are already known to occur, and it is probable that this number
will be somewhat increased when the Argentine avifauna is thoroughly
worked out.
Most of the genera to which the Argentine Finches belong are forms
peculiar to the Neotropical Region, or at all events to the New World.
The genus _Chrysomitris_, which contains our Siskin and other Old-World
species, is the only one which has a wider distribution.
One of the most characteristic forms of Argentine Fringillidæ is
_Poospiza_, of which seven species are met with within the limits of
the Republic, while _Lophospingus_, _Donacospiza_, _Gubernatrix_, and
_Saltatricula_ are Fringilline types peculiar to Argentina.
47. PHEUCTICUS AUREIVENTRIS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(BLACK-AND-YELLOW THICK-BILL.)
+Pheucticus aureiventris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 27; _White, P.
Z. S._ 1882, p. 598 (Salta); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ xii. p. 55.
_Description._--Above, also head, throat, and chest, black; lesser
wing-coverts yellow; two spots on the greater coverts and the base
of the primaries white; tail black, the three outer feathers on each
side tipped with white; belly and under wing-coverts bright yellow;
sides sparsely spotted with black; bill and feet black: total length
8·7 inches, wing 4·5, tail 3·5. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Bolivia and Northern Argentina.
Examples of this fine species, originally discovered by d'Orbigny in
Bolivia, were obtained by White in the forests of Salta.
48. GUIRACA CYANEA (Linn.).
(INDIGO FINCH.)
+Guiraca cyanea+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 27; _White, P. Z. S._
1882, p. 598 (Catamarca). +Guiraca cyanea argentina+, _Sharpe,
Cat. B._ xii. p. 73.
_Description._--Indigo-blue; lesser wing-coverts azure-blue; wing-
and tail-feathers black; forehead azure-blue, and head washed with
the same colour; bill and feet black: total length 6·8 inches, wing
3·6, tail 2·9. _Female_ brown; beneath brighter and rufescent.
_Hab._ Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.
White found this bird "not uncommon around Andalgala in Catamarca, in
hedges and thickets." Mr. Sharpe separates the Argentine bird as a
subspecies, from its larger size.
49. GUIRACA GLAUCOCÆRULEA (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(GLAUCOUS FINCH.)
+Guiraca glaucocærulea+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 139
(Buenos Ayres), _iid. Nomencl._ p. 27; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877,
p. 170 (Buenos Ayres); _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 353 (Salta);
_Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 92 (Concepcion);
_Sharpe, Cat. B._ xii. p. 75. +Coccoborus glaucocæruleus+,
_Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 488 (Paraná).
_Description._--Uniform glaucous blue; wings and tail blackish, the
feathers edged with light blue: total length 5·7 inches, wing 2·9,
tail 2·3.
_Hab._ Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina.
This is a rare Finch, and its massive beak and rich blue plumage give to
it a highly interesting appearance; but about its habits I have little
to tell, for it is essentially a bird of the wild forest, seldom coming
near the abodes of man, and being, moreover, shy in disposition, it is
difficult to observe it even in its haunts. It is migratory, and is
usually seen singly or in pairs, or in small companies of four or five
individuals. The male sings, but his performance is merely a confused
medley of chattering notes, uttered in so low a tone that they can
scarcely be heard at a distance of twelve yards.
50. ORYZOBORUS MAXIMILIANI, Cab.
(PRINCE MAX.'S FINCH.)
+Oryzoborus maximiliani+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 488
(Tucuman); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ xii. p. 78.
_Description._--Black; large alar speculum, axillaries, and under
wing-coverts white; bill pale yellow; feet brown: total length 5·8
inches, wing 2·9, tail 2·5. _Female_ brown; beneath brownish
ochraceous.
_Hab._ S. Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.
This Finch is stated by Burmeister to occur near Tucuman.
51. SPERMOPHILA PALUSTRIS, Barrows.
(MARSH FINCH.)
+Spermophila palustris+, _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 82
(Concepcion); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ xii. p. 112.
_Description._--Above, from bill to rump, clear bluish ash; below,
from bill to middle of breast, including lower eyelid, ear-coverts,
and sides of neck, pure white; rest of underparts, rump, and upper
tail-coverts bright chestnut-red; wings and tail blackish brown,
edged with whitish; inner secondaries black, their tips and outer
edges broadly white; a white patch across the base of all the
primaries except the first two; bill and feet black, iris dark:
total length 4·50 inches, wing 2·18, tail 1·70. _Female_ above
uniform greenish olive, obscurely streaked with dusky; below light
yellowish buff; wings and tail nearly as in male, but duller.
This small and beautiful Finch was discovered by Mr. Barrows in February
1880, on the Lower Uruguay. It inhabits the marshes, where the males
are frequently seen pursuing each other in the pairing-season,
occasionally pausing on the top of some tall grass to pour out their
delightful song. In character this resembles that of the Black-headed
Goldfinch; but has, Mr. Barrows says, a variety and sweetness far beyond
the powers of that bird.
It is just possible that Mr. Barrows's Finch may be Azara's unidentified
_Chipiu pardo y canela_ (Apuntamientos, vol. i. no. 143), which has the
same habits, living in the dense reed-beds of the Paraguayan marshes,
and is also a delightful singer,--superior to the Goldfinch or Canary,
Azara says.
52. SPERMOPHILA MELANOCEPHALA (Vieill.).
(BLACK-HEADED FINCH.)
+Spermophila melanocephala+, _Sharpe, Cat. B._ xii. p. 118.
_Description._--Above black; rump and lesser wing-coverts bright
rufous; large loral spot on each side white; wings and tail black;
alar speculum white; beneath, throat white, band across the breast
black; belly pale rufous; flanks and crissum dark rufous; under
wing-coverts white; bill and feet black: whole length 5·0 inches,
wing 2·4, tail 2·2.
_Hab._ Paraguay and Argentina.
A specimen of this species, now in the British Museum, was obtained by
Durnford at Punta Lara in October 1875.
53. SPERMOPHILA CÆRULESCENS (Vieill.).
(SCREAMING FINCH.)
+Spermophila cærulescens+, _Scl. Ibis_, 1871, p. 12; _Scl. et Salv.
Nomencl._ p. 28; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 508 (Buenos Ayres);
_Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 92 (Concepcion);
_Sharpe, Cat. B._ xii. p. 126. +Sporophila ornata+, _Burm.
La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 488 (Mendoza, Paraná). +Spermophila
ornata+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 632; _Durnford, Ibis_,
1877, p. 170 (Buenos Ayres); _Salv. Ibis_, 1880, p. 353 (Salta).
_Description._--Above pale smoky brown; front and lores black;
beneath, chin and upper part of throat black, with a distinct white
mystacal stripe on each side; fore neck white; broad band across the
chest black; abdomen white, slightly varied with grey and black on
the flanks; under wing-coverts white; bill pale horn-colour; feet
brown: whole length 4·8 inches, wing 2·3, tail 1·9. _Female_ pale
olive-brown; wings and tail darker; beneath lighter, tinged with
ochraceous; middle of the belly almost white.
_Hab._ Southern Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Bolivia.
This species is a summer visitor in Buenos Ayres, and is one of the last
to arrive and first to depart of our migrants. These birds are always
most abundant in plantations, preferring peach-trees, but do not
associate in flocks: they are exceedingly swift and active, overflowing
with life and energy, their impetuous notes and motions giving one the
idea that they are always in a state of violent excitement. The male has
a loud, startled chirp, also a song composed of eight or ten notes,
delivered with such vehemence and rapidity, that they run into each
other and sound more like a scream than a song. There is not a more
clever architect than this species; and while many _Synallaxes_ are
laboriously endeavouring to show how stately a mansion of sticks a
little bird can erect for itself, the Screaming Finch has successfully
solved the problem of how to construct the most perfect nest for
lightness, strength, and symmetry with the fewest materials. It is a
small, cup-shaped structure, suspended hammock-wise between two slender
upright branches, and to which it is securely attached by fine hairs and
webs. It is made of thin, pale-coloured, fibrous roots, ingeniously
woven together--reddish or light-coloured horse-hair being sometimes
substituted; and so little material is used that, standing under the
tree, a person can easily count the eggs through the bottom of the nest.
Its apparent frailness is, however, its best protection from the prying
eyes of birds and mammals that prey on the eggs and young of small
birds; for it is difficult to detect this slight structure, through
which the sunshine and rain pass so freely. So light is the little
basket-nest that it may be placed on the open hand and blown away with
the breath like a straw; yet so strong that a man can suspend his weight
from it without pulling it to pieces. The eggs are three in number,
white and spotted with black, sometimes bluish-brown spots are mingled
with the black.
54. PAROARIA CUCULLATA (Lath.).
(CARDINAL FINCH.)
+Paroaria cucullata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 482 (Paraná,
Tucuman); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 30; _Durnford, Ibis_,
1877, p. 171 (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 19 (Buenos
Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 598 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows,
Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 129 (Concepcion).
_Description._--Above grey; wing- and tail-feathers blackish grey;
head all round, crest, and throat brilliant scarlet, the scarlet
extending downwards to the chest; below white, the white colour
extending up the sides of the neck; nape spotted with white: total
length 8·0 inches, wing 4·0, tail 3·5. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina.
This well-known species is perhaps the finest Finch the Argentines have.
The entire upper plumage is clear grey, the under surface pure white;
but its chief glory is its crest, which, with the anterior part of the
head and the throat, is of the most vivid scarlet. The song has little
variety, but is remarkably loud, and has that cheerful ring which most
people admire in their caged pets, possibly because it produces the idea
in the listener's mind that the songster is glad to be a prisoner. As a
cage-bird this Finch enjoys an extraordinary popularity; and a stranger
in Buenos Ayres, seeing the numbers that are exposed for sale by the
bird-dealers in the markets of that city, might fancy that a Cardinal in
a cage is considered a necessary part of the _ménage_ of every house in
the country. This large supply of caged birds comes from South Brazil,
Paraguay, and the north-eastern part of the Argentine country, where the
Cardinals are most abundant and unite in large flocks. Probably they are
not snared, but taken when young from the nest, as most of the birds
exposed for sale are in immature plumage.
The Cardinal in a wild state is found as far south as the province of
Buenos Ayres, but it is there a scarce bird. It breeds, Mr. Gibson
writes, at the end of October, and makes a shallow nest of twigs,
vine-tendrils, and horse-hair. The eggs are four; ground-colour white
or tinged with faint brown or greenish, and spotted with brown, more
densely at the large end.
55. PAROARIA CAPITATA (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(LESSER CARDINAL FINCH.)
+Paroaria capitata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 482; _Scl. et
Salv. Nomencl._ p. 30; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 598.
_Description._--Above black; head bright scarlet, the black and red
divided by white, crescent-shaped marks on the neck, narrowing to a
point on the nape; throat black, the black extending downward to the
chest; below white; bill and feet yellowish horn-colour: total
length 6·6 inches, wing 3·0, tail 2·6.
_Hab._ Paraguay and Bolivia.
Dr. Burmeister tells us this species is not uncommon near Paraná, where
it occurs in small flocks on the river-bank, and is often seen on the
stones at the river's edge.
56. CORYPHOSPINGUS CRISTATUS (Gm.).
(RED-CRESTED FINCH.)
+Coryphospingus cristatus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 30; _Salvin,
Ibis_, 1880, p. 354 (Salta); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 598
(Salta).
_Description._--Above black, washed with red; rump crimson; wing-
and tail-feathers black; forehead black; crest vivid scarlet; whole
under surface fine crimson: total length 5·5 inches, wing 2·6, tail
2·3. _Female_ above brown, with scarlet tinge on the rump; beneath
salmon-colour, whitish on the throat.
_Hab._ Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.
Both Durnford and White obtained specimens of this bird in the province
of Salta; White's examples were met with in open country, dotted with
thickets of low brushwood, to which the bird resorts.
57. LOPHOSPINGUS PUSILLUS (Burm.).
(DARK-CRESTED FINCH.)
+Lophospiza pusilla+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 483.
+Lophospingus pusillus+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1878, p. 195 (Cordova).
+Coryphospingus pusillus+, _Salv. Ibis_, 1880, p. 354, pl. ix.
fig. 1 (Tucuman).
_Description._--Above grey; sides of head and crest blackish; broad
superciliaries white; wings blackish, edged with whitish grey; tail
blackish, lateral rectrices with broad white tips; beneath greyish
white, clearer on the throat and middle of the belly; bill dark
horn-colour; lower mandible whitish; feet pale brown: whole length
5·0 inches, wing 2·5, tail 2·4.
_Hab._ Northern Argentina.
58. DONACOSPIZA ALBIFRONS (Vieill.).
(LONG-TAILED REED-FINCH.)
+Donacospiza albifrons+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 632
(Buenos Ayres), _iid. Nomencl._ p. 30; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877,
p. 171 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 38 (Cordova);
_Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 38 (Pampas). +Poospiza
albifrons+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 484 (Paraná).
_Description._--Above yellowish grey, the back striped with
blackish; lesser wing-coverts clear grey; greater coverts and
wing-feathers black, edged with brown; head nearly the same as the
back, somewhat grey on the cheek, the crown and nape washed with
olive-brown; superciliary stripe and under surface buff; bill and
feet horn-colour: total length 6·0 inches, wing 2·5, tail 3·0.
_Hab._ Paraguay, Uruguay, and La Plata.
The slender body, great length of tail, and the hue of the plumage,
assimilating to that of sere decaying vegetation, might easily lead one
into mistaking this Finch for a _Synallaxis_ where these birds are
abundant.
I have met with it in the marshy woods and reed-beds along the shores of
the Plata, but it is a shy, rare bird in Buenos Ayres. I have followed
it about, hoping to hear it utter a song or melodious note, but it had
only a little chirp. I would not, however, on this account pronounce it
to be the one silent member of a voiceful family, as my acquaintance
with it is so very slight.
59. POOSPIZA NIGRORUFA (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(BLACK-AND-CHESTNUT WARBLING FINCH.)
+Poospiza nigrorufa+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 484 (Paraná);
_Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 30; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 171
(Buenos Ayres); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 38 (Rio
Sauce); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 129
(Concepcion).
_Description._--Entire upper parts black, faintly washed with olive;
superciliary stripe pale straw-colour; two outer tail-feathers
on each side tipped with white; throat and under surface bright
chestnut; centre of abdomen white; under tail-coverts pale buff:
total length 5·8 inches, wing 2·5, tail 2·2. _Female_: upper parts
not so dark as in male; underparts light buff, mottled and striped
with blackish.
_Hab._ South Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.
This sweet-voiced little songster appears in Buenos Ayres at the end
of September; it is a common bird in grounds abounding in bushes and
scattered trees, and, in its bright ruddy breast and dark upper
plumage, has some resemblance to the English Robin; only it has a very
conspicuous straw-coloured line above the eye. Its voice also, in purity
and sweetness of tone, is not unlike that of the Robin; but the
song, composed of six unvarying notes, is uttered in a deliberate,
business-like manner at regular intervals, and is monotonous. Never more
than two birds are seen together; they feed on the ground in humid
situations, the male frequently seeking a perch to sing. The nest is
made on the round, or in a close bush near the surface; the eggs have a
pale bluish ground-colour, irregularly marked with black and very dark
brown spots, and in some instances clouded with faint grey.
60. POOSPIZA WHITII, Scl.
(WHITE'S WARBLING FINCH.)
+Poospiza whitii+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 43, pl. ix.
_Description._--Above clear grey, very faintly washed with olive;
tail black, the outer feathers on each side tipped with white, as in
_P. erythrophrys_; patch between bill and eye, the anterior half of
superciliary stripe, and chin white; hinder part of superciliary
stripe and under surface chestnut; middle of belly white; under
tail-coverts buff: total length 5·5 inches, wing 2·4, tail 2·6.
_Female_ similar, but breast pale rufous; abdomen white; sides grey
and buff.
_Hab._ Province of Cordova, Rep. Arg.
This species has only been obtained by the late Mr. E. W. White. He met
with specimens of it at Cosquin, Cordova, in June, July, and August,
1882. It has been dedicated to its discoverer, who has so largely
augmented our knowledge of the Argentine avifauna, and whose premature
death was a veritable loss for science.
61. POOSPIZA ERYTHROPHRYS, Scl.
(RED-BROWED WARBLING FINCH.)
+Poospiza erythrophrys+, _Scl. Ibis_, 1881, p. 599, pl. xvii. fig. 1;
_White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 599 (Catamarca).
_Description._--Above grey, faintly washed with olive; greater
wing-coverts tipped with white; wing-feathers blackish, edged with
grey; tail blackish grey, the two outer feathers on each side tipped
with white, and on the outer feather the white extending down
the outer web to the base of the tail; superciliary stripe and
whole under surface light chestnut, paler on the abdomen; under
tail-coverts buff: total length 5·5 inches, wing 2·5, tail 2·3.
_Hab._ Northern Argentina.
This pretty species is another of White's discoveries. He first met
with it in the Sierra of Totoral, Catamarca, and subsequently about 20
miles north of Buenos Ayres.
62. POOSPIZA ASSIMILIS, Cab.
(RED-FLANKED WARBLING FINCH.)
+Poospiza assimilis+, _Cab. Mus. Hein._ i. p. 137; _White, P. Z. S._
1882, p. 599 (Misiones). +Poospiza lateralis+, _Barrows, Bull.
Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 130 (Concepcion).
_Description._--Above grey, slight superciliary mark whitish; middle
of back and wings washed with rufous; rump bright rufous; tail
blackish, two lateral pairs of rectrices broadly tipped with white;
beneath grey, white in the middle of the belly; flanks and crissum
bright rufous; under wing-coverts greyish white; bill horn-colour,
lower mandible yellowish; feet pale brown; whole length 5·0 inches,
wing 2·5, tail 2·4.
_Hab._ Northern Argentina.
White found this species abundant amongst the thick weeds and grass in
the outskirts of Concepcion. He took it for _P. thoracica_, from which
it differs in its rufous rump. It is more like _P. lateralis_.
63. POOSPIZA ORNATA (Landb.).
(PRETTY WARBLING FINCH.)
+Phrygilus ornatus+, _Landb. Journ. f. Orn._ 1865, p. 405. +Poospiza
ornata+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 30.
_Description._--Above grey; back more or less varied with chestnut;
long superciliaries ochreous white; wings blackish, coverts edged
with white, tail black, lateral rectrices broadly tipped with white;
beneath dark chestnut, lighter on the middle of the belly; bill and
feet dark brown; whole length 5·2 inches, wing 2·4, tail 2·3.
_Female_ similar, but paler in colour, especially below.
_Hab._ Mendoza.
64. POOSPIZA TORQUATA (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(RINGED WARBLING FINCH.)
+Poospiza torquata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 484 (Mendoza);
_Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 30; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 599
(Santiago del Estero); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 38
(R. Colorado).
_Description._--Above grey; wings blackish, the greater wing-coverts
tipped with white; tail-feathers black, the two outer on each side
tipped with white; from the bill, a broad white stripe extends
above the eye to the nape; crown grey; sides of head black; beneath
white, the chest crossed with a broad black band; under tail-coverts
rufous: total length 5·3 inches, wing 2·5, tail 2·3.
_Hab._ Bolivia and Argentina.
White met with a male of this species in September 1881, at San Pedro,
in the province of Santiago. Burmeister found it near Mendoza in the
valleys of Sierra de Uspallata.
65. POOSPIZA MELANOLEUCA (Vieill.).
(WHITE-AND-GREY WARBLING FINCH.)
+Poospiza melanoleuca+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 484 (Entrerios);
_Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 30; _Salv. Ibis_, 1880, p. 354, pl.
ix. fig. 2 (Tucuman); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 599 (Salta);
_Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 130 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above, head and neck blackish; back grey; wings and
tail blackish, three outer rectrices on each side tipped with white;
beneath white; sides washed with grey, breast and belly also faintly
tinged with grey: whole length 5·1 inches, wing 2·3, tail 2·0.
_Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Argentina.
White says that in Salta "this bird frequents the gardens in the
vicinity of the houses, where it vigorously pursues the ants amongst the
branches of the trees." Mr. Barrows says that near Concepcion it had the
general motions and appearance of a Titmouse, thus differing widely from
the other members of the genus.
66. PHRYGILUS GAYI (Eyd. et Gerv.).
(GAY'S FINCH.)
+Phrygilus gayi+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 487 (Mendoza);
_Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 31; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 599
(Catamarca).
_Description._--Above, head all round, neck, and wing-coverts grey;
back and upper tail-coverts olive-green; wings and tail black;
beneath, throat grey, breast and belly yellow, washed with olive;
crissum and under tail-coverts white; bill and feet black: whole
length 6·0 inches, wing 3·5, tail 2·3. _Female_: above obscure
olive-green, below yellow.
_Hab._ Chili and Western Argentina.
Burmeister says that this Chilian species is found in the valleys of the
Sierras near Mendoza.
67. PHRYGILUS CANICEPS (Burm.).
(GREY-HEADED FINCH.)
+Phrygilus caniceps+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 487; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1878, p. 393 (Chupat); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._
viii. p. 130 (Sierra de la Ventana).
_Description._--Above, head, neck, wing- and upper tail-coverts grey;
back olivaceous yellow, washed with red; wing and tail-feathers
black, edged with grey; beneath, throat grey, breast and belly
orange-yellow; crissum and under tail-coverts white; bill
horn-colour; feet light brown: whole length 6·8 inches, wing 3·6,
tail 2·9.
_Hab._ Argentina.
Of this species, discovered by Dr. Burmeister near Mendoza, Mr. Barrows
writes:--"Only met with on the Sierra de la Ventana, where it was
abundant in flocks, some of which numbered as many as a hundred
individuals. When found near the base of the sierra they were almost
always associated with the common _Zonotrichia_. Although most of them
had not finished moulting, they were constantly singing, and seemed
perfectly contented with their desolate surroundings."
68. PHRYGILUS DORSALIS, Cab.
(RED-BACKED FINCH.)
+Phrygilus dorsalis+, _Cab. Journ. f. Orn._ 1883, p. 109.
_Description._--Ashy grey; back rusty red; wing-coverts blackish;
chin, lower belly, and crissum whitish: whole length 6·5 inches,
wing 3·7, tail 2·6.
_Hab._ Tucuman.
Schulz discovered this species on the Cerro Vayo of Tucuman, near the
snow-line. It reminds one of the North-American species of _Junco_ in
its coloration.
69. PHRYGILUS UNICOLOR (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(SLATY FINCH.)
+Phrygilus unicolor+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 31; _Cab. J. f. O._
1878, p. 195 (Cordova). +Phrygilus rusticus+, _Burm. La-Plata
Reise_, ii. p. 487 (Mendoza).
_Description._--Above nearly uniform slaty grey, below paler, whiter
on the middle of the belly; bill dark horn-colour, feet clear brown:
whole length 6·0 inches, wing 3·6, tail 2·6. _Female_ cinereous,
with blackish shaft-spots above and below; paler on the middle of
the belly.
_Hab._ Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Chili, Bolivia, and
Northern Argentina.
70. PHRYGILUS FRUTICETI (Kittl.).
(MOURNING FINCH.)
+Phrygilus fruticeti+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii, p. 487 (Cordillera
of Mendoza); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 31; _Hudson, P. Z. S._
1872, p. 537 (Rio Negro); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 393
(Chupat); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 39 (R. Colorado,
R. Negro). +Emberiza luctuosa+, _Eyd. et Gerv. Mag. de Zool._,
1836, _Ois_, pl. 72.
_Description._--Grey, with minute black markings on the head and
neck, and broader stripes on the back; greater coverts and wings
black, the feathers edged with grey, and a band of white spots
across the coverts; tail black; beneath, throat, and upper part of
breast black, many feathers tipped with grey, giving the chest a
mottled appearance; lower part of breast and belly grey, mottled
below the chest with a few black spots; centre of abdomen and under
tail-coverts white; beak yellow; feet flesh-colour: total length 7·3
inches, wing 4·0, tail 3·2. _Female_ obscure grey and without the
black colour on the throat and chest.
_Hab._ Peru, Bolivia, Chili, and Argentine Republic.
This Finch is common on the western slopes of the Andes as far north as
Peru; it is also found in the Mendoza district and throughout Patagonia.
It is very abundant on the Rio Negro, especially in the immediate
neighbourhood of the Carmen settlements, for, like the Chingolo and
other fringilline species, it is beneficially affected by cultivation.
Though not possessing any bright tints, it is a very charming bird,
tuneful, elegant in form, graceful and buoyant in its motions. When
approached it utters a series of low ticking sounds, and at intervals a
peculiar long squealing note. The song of the male is very agreeable,
and curiously resembles that of the Cachila Pipit (_Anthus correndera_).
It usually sits on a twig near the ground, and at intervals soars up
to a height of ten or twenty yards, and utters its song while gliding
slowly downwards with depressed wings and outspread tail. It sings
throughout the year; in bright weather its notes are heard all day long,
but on cold, cloudy, or wet days only after sunset. In the warm season
they live in pairs, and in the autumn unite in flocks of as many as two
or three hundred individuals, and have a strong undulating flight.
71. PHRYGILUS CARBONARIUS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(BLACKISH FINCH.)
+Phrygilus carbonarius+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 487; _Döring,
Expl. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 38.
_Description._--Above grey, with brownish-black stripes; wings dusky
brown; tail-feathers black; below black, with minute grey marks on
the throat and bosom; sides dull grey: total length 5·5 inches, wing
2·9, tail 2·2.
_Hab._ Bolivia, Argentina, and Patagonia.
This species is said to be about one third less than _Phrygilus
fruticeti_ in size, but to resemble it closely in colour. Dr. Döring
found it abundant in Patagonia between the rivers Colorado and Negro,
where it was seen during the cold season in flocks, associating with
_Zonotrichia canicapilla_. Burmeister met with it in the Sierra de
Uspallata, near Mendoza.
72. GUBERNATRIX CRISTATELLA (Vieill.).
(YELLOW CARDINAL.)
+Gubernatrix cristatella+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 482
(Paraná); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 31; _White, P. Z. S._ 1883,
p. 38 (Cordova); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 130
(Concepcion, Entrerios).
_Description._--Above light olive-green, the back marked with a few
black stripes; four middle tail-feathers black, edged with olive,
all the rest of the tail-feathers bright yellow, tipped with dull
olive; broad superciliaries and lower part of the head bright
yellow; crown, crest, and throat velvet-black, the black extending
to the chest; beneath yellow, washed with olive-green on the breast
and sides; bill and feet black: total length 8·0 inches, wing 3·8,
tail 3·7. _Female_ less brightly coloured; white on the head where
the male is yellow; breast grey.
_Hab._ Paraguay and Argentine Republic.
The Yellow Cardinal is a graceful sprightly bird, with a strong
melodious voice, and is one of our favourite cage-birds. It visits
Buenos Ayres in small flocks in spring, but is a rare bird with us.
There is little variety in its song, which is composed of four or five
mellow notes of great power, and in tone somewhat like the whistle of
the Blackbird of Europe.
73. DIUCA GRISEA (Less.).
(DIUCA FINCH.)
+Diuca vera+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 483 (Mendoza). +Diuca
grisea+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 31.
_Description._--Above grey, sides of head darker; wings and tail
blackish, edged with grey; lateral rectrices tipped with white;
below grey, whole chin and throat and middle of the belly white;
lower flanks and crissum stained with rufous; bill plumbeous; feet
dark hazel: whole length 6·3 inches, wing 3·3, tail 2·6. _Female_
similar, but tinged with brownish, and colours more obscure.
_Hab._ Chili and Western Argentina.
This well-known Chilian species is said by Burmeister to be not
unfrequent near Mendoza and along the range of the Cordilleras.
74. DIUCA MINOR, Bp.
(LESSER DIUCA FINCH.)
+Diuca minor+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 483 (San Louis,
Cordova); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 31; _Hudson, P. Z. S._
1872, p. 537 (Rio Negro); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 393 (Tombo
Point, Pat.); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 39 (R.
Colorado, R. Negro); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii.
p. 131 (Concepcion, Entrerios).
_Description._--Grey; head, neck, and back faintly washed with
brown; wings blackish, the feathers edged with brownish grey;
tail-feathers black, tipped with white on the inner webs; beneath,
from the bill to the chest, white; upper part of breast and sides
grey; rest of the under surface white; a bright chestnut spot on
the flanks: whole length 6·5 inches, wing 3·2, tail 2·6. _Female_
similar, but less bright than male.
_Hab._ Argentina and Patagonia.
This pretty little grey-and-white Finch is common on the Chilian side
of the Andes and throughout Patagonia, and also occurs in the Mendoza
district. It is a tuneful bird, lively, social, and frolicsome in
disposition; in autumn and winter uniting in flocks of from fifty to
three or four hundred individuals; swift of flight, and when on the wing
fond of pursuing its fellows and engaging in mock battles. The song of
the male is very pleasing, the voice having more depth and mellowness
than is usual with the smaller fringilline singers, which, as a rule,
have thin, reedy, and tremulous notes. In summer it begins singing
very early, even before the faintest indication of coming daylight is
visible, and at that dark silent hour the notes may be heard at a great
distance and sound wonderfully sweet and impressive. During the cold
season, when they live in companies, the singing-time is in the evening,
when the birds are gathered in some thick-foliaged tree or bush which
they have chosen for a winter roosting-place. This winter-evening song
is a hurried twittering, and utterly unlike the serene note of the male
bird heard on summer mornings. A little while after sunset the flock
bursts into a concert, which lasts several minutes, sinking and growing
louder by turns, and during which it is scarcely possible to distinguish
the notes of individuals. Then follows an interval of silence, after
which the singing is again renewed very suddenly and as suddenly ended.
For an hour after sunset, and when all other late singers, like the
_Mimus_, have long been silent, this fitful impetuous singing is
continued. Close by a house on the Rio Negro, in which I spent several
months, there were three very large chañar bushes, where a multitude
of Diuca Finches used to roost, and they never missed singing in the
evening, however cold or rainy the weather happened to be. So fond were
they of this charming habit, that when I approached the bushes or stood
directly under them, the alarm caused by my presence would interrupt the
performance only for a few moments, and presently they would burst into
song again, the birds all the time swiftly pursuing each other amongst
the foliage, often within a foot of my head.
The eggs, Darwin says (Zool. Voy. 'Beagle,' iii. p. 93), are pointed,
oval, pale dirty green, thickly blotched with pale dull brown, becoming
confluent and entirely coloured at the broad end.
75. CATAMENIA ANALIS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(RED-STAINED FINCH.)
+Catamenia analis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 488 (Mendoza);
_Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 31; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 599
(Catamarca). +Spermophila analis+, _Sharpe, Cat. B._ xii. p. 106.
_Description._--Above clear grey; wing-feathers black, edged with
grey; tail black, a large white blotch on the central part of each
feather, the two middle feathers excepted; beneath grey, palest on
the belly; under tail-coverts rufous: whole length 5·0 inches, wing
2·8, tail 2·2. _Female_, above obscure brownish buff, striped with
blackish; beneath dirty white.
_Hab._ Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina.
Burmeister met with this Finch on the sierras near Mendoza, and White
obtained a single specimen in Catamarca.
76. CATAMENIA INORNATA (Lafr.).
(PLAIN-COLOURED FINCH.)
+Sporophila rufirostris+, _Landb. J. f. O._ 1865, p. 404 (Mendoza).
+Catamenia inornata+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 31.
+Spermophila inornata+, _Sharpe, Cat. B._ xii. p. 104.
_Description._--Above dull grey, clearer on the rump; wings and
tail blackish, wing-feathers edged with grey; beneath grey, under
tail-coverts bright chestnut; bill red; feet brown: whole length 5·0
inches, wing 2·5, tail 2·2.
_Hab._ Bolivia and N. Argentina.
Examples of this species were obtained by Weisshaupt near Mendoza in
1871.
77. ZONOTRICHIA PILEATA (Bodd.).
(CHINGOLO SONG-SPARROW.)
+Zonotrichia pileata+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 139, _iid.
Nomencl._ p. 31; _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 355 (Salta); _Gibson,
Ibis_, 1880, p. 28 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 600
(Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 131
(Concepcion). +Zonotrichia matutina+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii.
p. 486.
_Description._--Above dusky grey, striped with blackish brown; the
top of the head from the bill to the nape grey; a whitish stripe
from the eye to the nape; between the stripe and the grey on the
crown black; a narrow chestnut ring round the neck, widening to a
large patch on the sides of the chest, the patch bordered with black
on its lower part; beneath, throat white; breast and belly ashy
white; bill and feet light horn-colour: whole length 5·7 inches,
wing 2·8, tail 2·2. _Female_ similar, but duller in colour and a
trifle smaller.
_Hab._ Central and South America.
The common, familiar, favourite Sparrow over a large portion of the
South-American continent is the "_Chingolo_." Darwin says that "it
prefers inhabited places, but has not attained the air of domestication
of the English Sparrow, which bird in habits and general appearance it
resembles." As it breeds in the fields on the ground, it can never be
equally familiar with man, but in appearance it is like a refined copy
of the burly English Sparrow--more delicately tinted, the throat being
chestnut instead of black; the head smaller and better proportioned, and
with the added distinction of a crest, which it lowers and elevates at
all angles to express the various feelings affecting its busy little
mind.
On the treeless desert pampas the Chingolo is rarely seen, but wherever
man builds a house and plants a tree there it comes to keep him company,
while in cultivated and thickly settled districts it is excessively
abundant, and about Buenos Ayres it literally swarms in the fields and
plantations. They are not, strictly speaking, gregarious, but where food
attracts them, or the shelter of a hedge on a cold windy day, thousands
are frequently seen congregated in one place; when disturbed, however,
these accidental flocks immediately break up, the birds scattering
abroad in different directions.
The Chingolo is a very constant singer, his song beginning with the dawn
of day in spring, and continuing until evening; it is very short, being
composed of a chipping prelude and four long notes, three uttered in a
clear thin voice, the last a trill. This song is repeated at brief
intervals, as the bird sits motionless, perched on the disc of a
thistle-flower, the summit of a stalk, or other elevation; and where the
Chingolos are very abundant, the whole air, on a bright spring morning,
is alive with their delicate melody; only one must pause and listen
before he is aware of it, otherwise it will escape him, owing to its
thin ethereal character, the multitudinous notes not mingling but
floating away, as it were, detached and scattered, mere gossamer webs of
sound that very faintly impress the sense. They also sing frequently at
night, and in that dark silent time their little melody sounds strangely
sweet and expressive. The song varies greatly in different districts;
thus, in Bahia Blanca it is without the long trill at the end, and in
other localities I have found it vary in other ways.
The Chingolos pair about the end of September, and at that time their
battles are frequent, as they are very pugnacious. The nest is made
under a thistle or tuft of grass, in a depression in the soil, so that
the top of the nest is on a level with the surface of the ground. The
nest is mostly made and lined with horse-hair, the eggs four or five,
pale blue, and thickly spotted with dull brown. Sometimes, though very
rarely, a nest is found in a bush or on a stump several feet above the
ground. Two broods are reared in the season, the first in October, the
second in February or March. I have known these birds to breed in April
and May, and these very late nests escape the infliction of parasitical
eggs. When the nest is approached or taken, the Chingolos utter no
sound, but sit in dumb anxiety, with tail expanded and drooping wings.
78. ZONOTRICHIA CANICAPILLA, Gould.
(PATAGONIAN SONG-SPARROW.)
+Zonotrichia canicapilla+, _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 33 (Chupat), et
1878, p. 393 (Centr. Patag.); _Sclater, Ibis_, 1877, p. 46, pl.
1. fig. 1; _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 39 (R. Colorado,
R. Negro).
_Description._--Head grey, with narrow white superciliaries; in
other respects like _Zonotrichia pileata_: total length 6·3 inches,
wing 3·2, tail 2·6.
_Hab._ Patagonia.
Durnford found this species common and abundant on the Chupat River and
in the interior of Patagonia. It has a pretty song, and sings in the
evening and during the night when the moon is shining. It nests among
coarse grass and herbage, making an unpretending structure of the former
material, which is lined with fibres. It lays four eggs, pale green,
thickly striated with light reddish-brown spots running into each other,
and most numerous at the large end.
79. ZONOTRICHIA STRIGICEPS, Gould.
(STRIPE-HEADED SONG-SPARROW.)
+Zonotrichia strigiceps+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 486 (Paraná,
Santa Fé); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 31; _Scl. Ibis_, 1877, p.
47, pl. 1. fig. 2.
_Description._--Above light brownish grey, striped with black;
centre of crown ash-grey, under the grey a broad rufous stripe,
beneath which is a narrow grey superciliary stripe; behind the eye
a rufous mark; beneath, throat white, breast pale grey; sides and
belly yellowish grey; middle of belly white: whole length 6·2
inches, wing 2·6, tail 2·6.
_Hab._ Argentina and Patagonia.
80. ZONOTRICHIA HYPOCHONDRIA (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(RED-FLANKED SONG-SPARROW.)
+Emberiza hypochondria+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 361, t. 45. fig. 1.
+Zonotrichia hypochondria+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 486
(Mendoza).
_Description._--Brownish grey, head darker; superciliaries white;
wings brownish black, edged with greyish rufous; tail brownish
black, four external pairs of rectrices with a long white mark on
the inner web, the outer pair with the outer web also margined with
white; beneath, throat and neck white; sides of head, mystacal line,
neck and breast-band plumbeous; belly dirty white; flanks chestnut:
whole length 6·0 inches, wing 2·8, tail 2·0.
_Hab._ Bolivia and Western Argentina.
Prof. Burmeister, who met with this species near Mendoza, says it is a
true _Zonotrichia_, and not a _Poospiza_, as sometimes considered.
81. COTURNICULUS PERUANUS (Bp.).
(YELLOW-SHOULDERED SONG-SPARROW.)
+Coturniculus manimbe+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 486 (Paraná);
_White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 600 (Corrientes); _Döring, Exp. al Rio
Negro, Zool._ p. 40 (R. Colorado); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn.
Cl._ viii. p. 131 (Concepcion). +Coturniculus peruanus+, _Scl. et
Salv. Nomencl._ p. 32.
_Description._--Above grey, mottled with rufous-brown; wing-feathers
black, edged with rufous; tail-feathers black, edged with dull grey;
a patch between the bill and eye and the shoulders bright yellow;
beneath, throat whitish; breast and belly and sides dull grey, white
on the middle of the belly; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length
4·9 inches, wing 2·4, tail 1·9. _Female_ similar, but less bright,
the yellow spot on the head scarcely perceptible.
_Hab._ Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina.
The prevailing colour of this little field-sparrow is grey, marked and
mixed with fuscous and brown; the shoulder and space between the beak
and eye are yellow. It is a common species in the northern portion of
the Argentine country, and appears now to be gradually extending its
range southwards. Many years ago I first noticed it on the pampas north
of Buenos Ayres; afterwards I found it in the immediate neighbourhood
of that city; then it began to spread over the plains to the south,
appearing every spring in greater numbers, but it is still far from
common. It has, I fancy, a limited migration, as I could never find one
in winter. It is solitary, and frequents open plains and fields; lives
on the ground, and never alights on a tree. The male has a favourite
perch, a tall weed or post, where he spends a great deal of his time,
repeating his song at intervals of half a minute; it is short and
pleasing, and has a slight resemblance to the song of the Yellow-Hammer,
but is more delicate and melodious. When approached, the bird flies down
and conceals itself in the grass.
82. SALTATRICULA MULTICOLOR, Burm.
(MANY-COLOURED GROUND-FINCH.)
[Plate V.]
[Illustration: SALTATRICULA MULTICOLOR.]
+Saltatricula multicolor+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 481
(Paraná); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 32; _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880,
p. 355 (Salta); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 600 (Catamarca).
_Description._--Above grey, faintly tinged with olivaceous on the
head, neck, and back; a short white stripe behind the eye; beneath
the stripe and lower part of neck velvet-black; wings blackish;
tail-feathers black, tipped with white; beneath, throat white,
breast grey; sides and belly pale chestnut; middle of belly and
under tail-coverts white; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length
6·6 inches, wing 2·9, tail 3·0. _Female_ similar, but not so bright.
_Hab._ North and Western Argentina.
To Dr. Burmeister we owe the discovery of this brilliant Finch, as of
so many other Argentine species. He met with it at Paraná, in the bushy
lands east of the city, and obtained five specimens. White found it near
Andalgala in Catamarca, on trees, feeding on the insects in the flowers
and on seeds; and Durnford collected specimens near Salta.
Examples of this species were also obtained by Weisshaupt near Mendoza
(_cf._ Salvin, Ibis, 1880, p. 355).
83. EMBERNAGRA PLATENSIS (Gm.).
(RED-BILLED GROUND-FINCH.)
+Embernagra platensis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 485 (Paraná);
_Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 140 (Buenos Ayres), 1872, p.
548 (Rio Negro), _iid. Nomencl._ p. 32; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877,
p. 172 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 600 (Buenos
Ayres, Corrientes); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 40 (R.
Colorado, R. Negro); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 132
(Concepcion, Entrerios).
_Description._--Above dull olive-green, striped with blackish; wings
silky olive-green, the inner webs of the feathers black; edge of
wings yellow; tail-feathers dull olive-green; beneath, throat and
breast grey; belly buff; beak bright red; feet pinkish horn-colour:
total length 8·8 inches, wing 3·7, tail 3·8. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ South Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.
In this Finch the plumage is alike in both sexes. Above it is dusky
olive-green, beneath grey; the beak is of a fine bright red. In
Argentina this bird is most common in the littoral forests along the
Plata, but ranges as far south as the Rio Negro in Patagonia. It does
not migrate, nor associates in flocks; but the sexes are faithful, and
the male and female are invariably together, and appear to be very fond
of each other's society. They have a loud, sharp alarm chirp or cry,
which bursts from the bird with the startling suddenness of a sneeze
from a human being; also a confused unmelodious song, which always
reminds me, in its hurry, vehemence, and peculiar sound, of the gobbling
of a turkey-cock. They are not shy, but when approached sit jerking
their tails about, and uttering loud chirps as if greatly excited. The
flight is very curious; the bird springs up with great suddenness, and
with tail erect, and the long legs dangling down like a Rail's, proceeds
by a series of irregular jerks, violently shutting and opening its
wings. They breed on the ground under the grass, and conceal their nest
so well that I doubt whether the parasitical _Molothrus_ ever finds it.
I have, at all events, never seen them followed by the young of
_Molothrus_ demanding food.
As a rule, small seed-eating birds are beneficially affected by the
presence of man; thus our common _Zonotrichia_ and other sparrows and
finches have become excessively numerous in the most thickly-settled
districts. With the Red-billed Finch, however, just the contrary has
happened; and since I have known this species it has disappeared from
many localities where it was once quite common. Azara's name for this
species, _Habia de bañado_, signifies that it is a marsh bird; but
though now found chiefly in marshy situations, it was once common enough
over the entire pampas region, before the great plains were settled
on by Europeans. The bird is very badly protected by nature against
raptorial species, owing to its very conspicuous red beak, its habit of
perching on the summit of tall plants and other elevated positions, its
loud impetuous voice, which invites attention, and the weak eccentric
flight, which challenges pursuit. It is essential to its safety that it
should have, in the open country it frequents, a dense grass cover into
which it can plunge on the slightest alarm. Where cattle are introduced,
the original pampas-grass, which afforded the suitable conditions,
disappears, giving place to the soft, perishable grasses, clovers,
and thistles of Europe. Where these changes take place, the bird
cannot escape from its enemies and quickly disappears; while many
Dendrocolaptine species inhabiting the same situations are saved by
their inconspicuous protective colouring, sharp wedge-like bodies, and
swift mouse-like motions on the ground. In marshy places on the pampas,
abounding with long aquatic grasses and reed-beds, the Red-bill still
maintains its existence, but from its old habitat on the open grassy
plains, where it was once the dominant Finch, it has utterly vanished.
84. EMBERNAGRA OLIVASCENS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(OLIVE GROUND-FINCH.)
+Embernagra olivascens+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 285; _Burm. La-Plata
Reise_, ii. p. 485 (Mendoza); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 32;
_Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 355; _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._
p. 40 (R. Colorado).
_Description._--Similar to _Embernagra platensis_, but the back
unstriped, and the olive hue somewhat purer; also the abdomen of a
paler buff: total length 8·1 inches, wing 3·7, tail 4·0. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ Bolivia, Western Argentina, and Patagonia.
This species, which was met with by Dr. Burmeister near Mendoza, was
found by Dr. Döring as far south as the Rio Colorado, on the pampas.
85. EMBERIZOIDES SPHENURUS (Vieill.).
(WEDGE-TAILED GROUND-FINCH.)
+Embernagra macroura+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 285. +Emberizoides
macrurus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 485 (Paraná).
+Emberizoides sphenurus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 33.
_Description._--Above yellowish brown, striped with black; shoulders
edged with yellow; wing-feathers blackish, edged with olive-green;
tail-feathers blackish, edged with pale brown; beneath pale
ochraceous brown, white on the throat and middle of the belly;
bill and feet pale horn-colour: whole length 8·0 inches, wing 3·1,
tail 4·0.
_Hab._ Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina.
Burmeister met with this species near Paraná and in other parts of
Northern Argentina.
86. HÆMOPHILA WHITII (Sharpe).
(WHITE'S GROUND-FINCH.)
+Zonotrichia whitii+, _Sharpe, Cat. B._ xiii. p. 608, pl. xiii.
+Zonotrichia strigiceps+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 38
(Cordova).
_Description._--Above, head and neck grey, variegated with dark
chestnut; back yellowish brown with black stripes; wings and tail
blackish, the feathers edged with pale brown; beneath, throat and
belly white, breast pale grey; sides yellowish brown; bill dark
horn-colour, lower mandible whitish; feet light horn-colour: whole
length 6·0 inches, wing 2·5, tail 2·8.
_Hab._ Northern Argentina.
This species has been based by Mr. Sharpe on a specimen, obtained
by White near Cordova, which was wrongly determined as _Zonotrichia
strigiceps_--a species that it somewhat resembles in its upper plumage.
87. CHRYSOMITRIS ICTERICA (Licht.).
(BLACK-HEADED SISKIN.)
+Chrysomitris barbata+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 140 (Buenos
Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 172 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P.
Z. S._ 1882, p. 600 (Catamarca, Misiones); _Döring, Exp. al Rio
Negro, Zool._ p. 40 (R. Sauce, R. Colorado, R. Negro); _Barrows,
Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 132 (Concepcion). +Chrysomitris
magellanica+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 489; _Gibson, Ibis_,
1880, p. 30 (Buenos Ayres); _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 355 (Salta).
+Chrysomitris icterica+, _Sharpe, Cat. B._ xii. p. 217.
_Description._--Above light olive-green; lesser wing-coverts same as
the back; wings black, a broad bright yellow band across the base
of the feathers; rump yellow; upper tail-coverts olive-green;
tail-feathers yellow at the base and black at the ends; head all
round and throat velvety black; beneath and under wing-coverts
bright yellow: total length 5·0 inches, wing 3·0, tail 1·8. _Female_
without the black on the head, otherwise similar to the male, but
less bright.
_Hab._ Brazil and Argentina.
This beautiful little golden-plumaged Finch, the male distinguished from
his consort by a brighter yellow colour and a black head, is extremely
common throughout the entire length of the Argentine country from
Brazil to Patagonia. In the Buenos-Ayrean district it probably has a
partial migration, as small flocks are seen to arrive in spring; but
further south, in Patagonia, it appears to be strictly resident. In
settled districts they are always more abundant than in the woods, and
they have a special predilection for poplar groves, and always prefer a
poplar to build in. They go in small flocks, seldom more than about a
dozen birds together, have a rapid, undulating flight, feed chiefly
on the ground like most Finches, and also frequently alight in the
seeding-time on plants like the lettuce and _Sonchus asper_ (a common
weed) and, clinging to the stem, dexterously pick off the seed,
scattering the down about them in a little cloud. They are very tuneful,
restless, quick in their motions, apparently always in a light-hearted
merry mood. Being much admired for their song, they are often kept in
cages; and certainly, for cheerfulness and constancy in singing, they
take the foremost place amongst the Finches; but there is little
expression in the song, which is composed of a variety of short
twittering notes, uttered with great rapidity, as the bird sits perched
on a twig or undulates from tree to tree. Usually the notes flow in
a continuous stream, but occasionally the bird sings in a different
manner, making a pause of two or three seconds of silence after every
eight or ten short notes. When the female is on the nest the male
sometimes perches near her amongst the leaves and sings _sotto voce_,
apparently for her pleasure only, the notes being so low that, at a
distance of ten yards, they can scarcely be heard.
The nest is usually placed between the angle formed by a small branch
and the bole of the tree, and is a deep, well-made structure composed of
many materials, and lined with horsehair, down, or feathers. The eggs
are five, very small for the bird, pure white, and so frail that it is
not easy to take them from the nest without breaking them.
While engaged in building, the birds constantly utter a low, soft,
trilling note; and when the nest is approached they break out into long,
somewhat reedy notes, resembling those of the Canary, expressive of
alarm or curiosity.
88. CHRYSOMITRIS ATRATA (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(HALF-BLACK SISKIN.)
+Carduelis atratus+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 364, t. 48. fig. 2.
+Chrysomitris atrata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 490
(Mendoza); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ xii. p. 212.
_Description._--Black; concealed shoulder-spot, broad band on wing,
basal half of tail-feathers, belly, and under tail-coverts bright
yellow; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 5·4 inches, wing
2·9, tail 1·8.
_Hab._ Bolivia and N.W. Argentina.
Dr. Burmeister obtained two examples of this species in the Sierra of
Uspallata near Mendoza.
89. SYCALIS PELZELNI, Scl.
(YELLOW HOUSE-SPARROW.)
+Sycalis pelzelni+, _Scl. Ibis_, 1872, p. 42; _Scl. et Salv.
Nomencl._ p. 34; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 172 (Buenos Ayres).
_Description._--Above yellowish olive-green, the back sparsely
striped with blackish; wing- and tail-feathers black, edged with
yellow; forehead bright orange, the rest of the head like the back;
below bright yellow; under surfaces of wings and tail also yellow:
total length 5·4 inches, wing 2·7, tail 2·2. _Female_ dull brownish
grey mottled with blackish above; under surface whitish grey,
striped with dusky brown on the breast; wing- and tail-feathers
edged with yellow.
_Hab._ S. Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.
The Yellow "House-Sparrow," as this species is called, is the town-bird
of Buenos Ayres, but does not multiply greatly, nor is he familiar with
man, like his rough, sooty-plumaged, far-away London relation.
The forehead of the male is bright orange, the prevailing colour of the
entire plumage yellow, clouded with other hues. The female is grey,
marked with pale fuscous, and is less in size than her mate. They remain
with us all the year and live in pairs, the sexes in this species being
faithful. Sometimes they are seen associating in small flocks, but I am
inclined to believe that only the young unmated birds are gregarious. In
1867-8, during the cholera epidemic in Buenos Ayres, the Sparrows all
disappeared from the town, and I was told by the manager of a large
steam flour-mill in the town that the birds had not gone away, but had
died. They were found dead all about the mill where they had been very
abundant. My informant was a careful observer, and I have no doubt that
he was correct in what he told me.
In spring and summer the male sings frequently with great energy, but
without much melody. After a hurried prelude of sharp chirps and trills,
he pours out a continuous stream of sound, composed of innumerable brief
notes, high and shrill as those of a bat, wounding the ear with their
excessive sharpness, and emitted so rapidly that the whole song is more
like that of a cicada than of a bird. This piercing torrent of sound is
broken at intervals by a long grave note, or half a dozen short rapid
notes in a lower key, which come as an agreeable relief.
In towns they build in walls, like the English Sparrow; in country
places they always select the domed nest of some Dendrocolaptine species
to breed in. Possibly in some districts where I have not been, this
Sparrow selects other breeding-sites; my experience is that outside of
a town it never lays anywhere but in some domed nest, and at home I
frequently put up boxes for them in the trees, but they would not notice
them, though the Wrens and Swallows were glad to have them. Sometimes
they make choice of the large fabric of the _Anumbius acuticaudatus_,
called Leñatero in the vernacular; but their claim to this nest (even
when the Leñateros are out of it) is frequently disputed by other
species which possess the same habit as this Sparrow, but are more
powerful than he. Their favourite breeding-place is, however, the solid
earthen structure of the Oven-bird; and it is wonderful to see how
persistently and systematically they labour to drive out the lawful
owners--birds so much larger and more powerful than themselves. Early in
spring, and before the advent of the Tree-Martins, the pair of Sparrows
begin haunting the neighbourhood of the oven they have elected to take
possession of, usually one pretty high up in a tree. As the season
advances their desire towards it increases, and they take up their
position on the very tree it is in; and finally a particular branch
near the oven, commanding a good view of the entrance, is chosen for a
permanent resting-place. Here they spend a great portion of their
time in song, twitterings, and loving dalliance, and, if attentively
observed, they are seen with eyes ever fixed on the coveted abode. As
the need for a receptacle for the eggs becomes more urgent they grow
bolder, and in the absence of the owners flit about the oven, alight
on it, and even enter it. The Oven-bird appears to drive them off with
screams of indignation, but the moment he retires they are about it
again, and, even when it contains eggs or young birds, begin impudently
carrying in feathers, straws, and other materials for a nest, as if they
were already in undisputed possession. At this stage the Tree-Martins
(_Progne tapera_) perhaps appear to complicate matters; and even if
these last comers do not succeed in ousting the Oven-birds, they are
sure to seize the oven when it becomes vacant, and the Sparrows, in
spite of their earlier claim, are left out in the cold. But they do not
take their defeat quietly, or, rather, they do not know when they are
beaten, but still remain to harrass their fellow-pirates, just as they
did the Oven-birds before, bringing straws and feathers in their
beaks, and when forced to drop these materials and chased from the
neighbourhood with great noise and fury by the Tree-Martins, it is only
to return undaunted in a few minutes, bringing more straws and feathers.
This Sparrow makes a rather large nest, neatly lined with horsehair,
and lays five eggs, long, pointed, the entire surface thickly marked
with deep chocolate-brown.
In rural districts this species is comparatively rare, not more than one
or two couples being seen about each habitation; and I scarcely think it
would be too much to say that there are four or five thousand Chingolos
for every individual Yellow Sparrow. Yet it is a hardy little bird, well
able to hold its own, subsists on the same kind of food and lays as many
eggs as the _Zonotrichia_; and it possesses, moreover, a great advantage
over the dominant species in placing its nest out of the reach of the
parasitical _Molothrus_, the destroyer of about fifty per cent. of the
Chingolo's eggs. I can only attribute the great disparity in the numbers
of the two species to the fact that the Yellow House-Sparrow will breed
only (out of towns) in nests not easily taken, and to the stubborn
pertinacity which leads it to waste the season in these vain efforts,
while the other species is rearing its brood. This is a blunder of
instinct comparable to that of the Minera (_Geositta cunicularia_),
mentioned by Darwin in the 'Voyage of a Naturalist,' where the bird made
its hole in a mud wall a few inches wide, and on coming out on the other
side simply went back and made another hole, and then another, unable to
understand that the wall had not the requisite width.
In such a case as the Yellow House-Sparrow presents, in which the colour
of the sexes differs, the female being without any of the brighter
hues found in the male, and which makes an elaborate nest and lays
deeply-coloured eggs, it is impossible not to believe that the bird
originally built in exposed situations, and subsequently--perhaps in
very recent times--acquired the habit of breeding in dark holes. The
frequent destruction of the exposed nest, and an abundance of vacant
domed nests, into which some individuals occasionally penetrated to
breed, would lead to the acquisition of such a nesting-habit; for the
birds inheriting it would have an advantage and be preserved, while
those persisting in the old habit of building exposed nests would
perish. Domed nests made by Dendrocolaptine birds are very abundant
even now, and it is probable that, before the country became settled by
Europeans, they were very much more numerous. Darwin, speaking of the
Oven-bird's habit of always placing its oven in the most conspicuous and
(to man) accessible places, predicts, and truly I believe, that this
habit will eventually cause the extinction of the species; for when the
country becomes more thickly settled, the bird-nesting boys will destroy
all the ovens. Probably when the Oven-birds were more abundant the
Sparrows could always find vacant ovens to breed in, until a habit of
breeding almost exclusively in these safe and convenient bird-built
houses was acquired; and the present seemingly stupid persistence of
the birds in struggling to get possession of those already occupied by
stronger species, only shows that the habit or instinct has not been
modified to suit a change in the conditions--_i. e._ a diminishing
number of ovens to breed in, with, perhaps, the increase of other
stronger species possessing the same habit. But while the instinct thus
survives too strongly in the country birds, many individuals have taken
to a town life, and acquired the new habit of breeding in holes in brick
walls. Probably this race of town birds will eventually colonize the
rural districts, and usurp the place of the country birds, which will
then be placed at a disadvantage.
90. SYCALIS LUTEA (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(YELLOW SEED-FINCH.)
+Sycalis chloropis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 489 (Mendoza and
Catamarca), +Sycalis lutea+, _Scl. Ibis_, 1872, p. 46, pl. ii.
fig. 2.
_Description._--Dark yellow; rump and body below brighter; wings
and tail brownish black, edged with yellow; under wing-coverts pale
yellow; inner margins of wing-feathers pale brown: whole length 5·5
inches, wing 3·2, tail 2·1. _Female_ similar, but duller and more
brownish.
_Hab._ Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina.
Prof. Burmeister obtained examples of this species near Mendoza. In my
revision of the genus published in 1872, I referred the specimens (upon
some of which Prof. Burmeister based his species _S. chloropis_) to _S.
uropygialis_. I now find that this was an error, and that they really
belong to _S. lutea_.--P. L. S.
91. SYCALIS LUTEOLA (Sparrm.).
(MISTO SEED-FINCH.)
+Sycalis luteola+, _Scl. Ibis_, 1872, p. 44; _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._
p. 85; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 172 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p.
394 (Centr. Pat.); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 132
(Entrerios). +Sycalis luteiventris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii.
p. 489.
_Description._--Above light olive-green, marked with dusky stripes;
wing-feathers blackish, with pale brownish edges; tail-feathers the
same; beneath, throat and chest dusky buff, lower breast and belly
yellow; bill and feet horn-colour; total length 5·0 inches, wing
2·6, tail 2·0. _Female_ similar, but not so bright.
_Hab._ S. America, from Colombia to Chili.
This is a slender, graceful bird, less than the Canary in size, the
whole upper plumage yellowish olive, with dun markings, the lower
surface of a dull yellow. The female is a little smaller than the male,
and her colours are somewhat dimmer.
This species is resident and gregarious in the Argentine Republic,
and in autumn frequently congregates in flocks of several thousands.
They are not so universally distributed as the Chingolo, and are not
wood-birds, but frequent open plains abounding in thistles and other
coarse herbage, which affords them shelter. In cultivated districts,
where their food is most abundant, they are excessively numerous, and,
after the harvest has been gathered, frequent the fields in immense
flocks. While feeding, the flocks scatter over a large area of ground,
being broken up into small companies of a dozen or more birds, and at
such times are so intent on their food that a person can walk about
amongst them without disturbing them. They take flight very suddenly,
bursting into a thousand chirping, scolding notes, pursue each other
through the air, and, after wheeling about the field for a minute or
two, suddenly drop down into the grass again and are silent as before.
In August they begin to sing, here and there an individual being heard
in the fields; but when the weather grows warmer they repair to the
plantations in vast numbers, and, sitting on the branches, sing in
a concert of innumerable voices, which produces a great volume of
confused sound, and which often continues for hours at a time without
intermission.
By-and-by these pleasant choirs break up, the birds all scattering over
the plains and fields to woo and build, and it is then first discovered
that the male has a peculiar and very sweet song. Apart from his
fellows, he acquires a different manner of singing, soaring up from
his stand on the summit of a bush or stalk, and beginning his song the
moment he quits his perch. Ascending, he utters a series of long,
melodious notes, not loud, but very distinctly enunciated and increasing
in volume; at a height of fifty or sixty yards he pauses, the notes
becoming slower; then, as he descends with a graceful spiral flight, the
wings outstretched and motionless, the notes also fall, becoming lower,
sweeter, and more impressive till he reaches the earth. After alighting
the song continues, the notes growing longer, thinner, and clearer,
until they dwindle to the merest threads of sound, and cease to be
audible except to a person standing within a few yards of the songster.
The song is quite unique in character, and its great charm is in its
gradual progress from the somewhat thick notes at the commencement to
the thin, tremulous tones with which the bird returns to earth, and
which change again to the excessively attenuated sounds at the end.
The nest is deep, well-built, and well-concealed, sometimes resting
on the ground, but frequently raised above it. It contains five long,
pointed eggs, with a white or bluish-white ground-colour, and thickly
spotted with brown. I have, frequently found the eggs of the _Molothrus_
in its nest, but have never been able to see this Sparrow feeding, or
followed by, a young _Molothrus_. Possibly, if it ever hatches the
parasitical egg at all, the voracious young Cow-bird is starved by the
delicate food supplied by its foster-parents.
92. OROSPINA PRATENSIS, Cab.
(MEADOW SEED-FINCH.)
+Orospina pratensis+, _Cab. Journ. f. Orn._ 1883, p. 108, tab. i.
fig. 1.
_Description._--Cap dark greenish yellow; rump yellowish green;
remainder of upper parts dark brown, feathers of interscapulium and
of wings and tail edged with yellowish green; inner webs of the
outer pair of tail-feathers almost wholly white, the next pair with
a large white spot; under surface yellow, lightest on the throat,
middle of belly, and crissum; flanks greenish: total length 4·5
inches, wing 2·5, tail 1·8.
_Hab._ Tucuman.
Herr Schulz discovered this little Finch, which Dr. Cabanis has referred
to a new genus allied to _Sycalis_, upon the high Sierras of Tucuman,
where it was observed sitting on the stones.
Fam. XI. ICTERIDÆ, or TROUPIALS.
The Icteridæ or Troupials constitute a large group of Passerine birds
allied to our Starlings (_Sturnidæ_), of which they take the place in
the New World. They are at once structurally distinguishable from
the Starlings by having only 9 primaries in the wing, just as the
Mniotiltidæ of the New World are in a similar manner distinguishable
from the Sylviidæ.
In America the Icteridæ play an important part, numbering some 130
species, and extending throughout the two continents from north to
south. Of these, 15 species occur in Argentina, and amongst them are
three species of Cow-bird (_Molothrus_), remarkable for their parasitic
habits, of which Hudson's observations have enabled him to give a full
and, for the first time, a tolerably complete account.
93. AMBLYCERCUS SOLITARIUS (Vieill.).
(SOLITARY CASSIQUE.)
+Cassicus solitarius+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 36; _Barrows,
Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 133 (Entrerios); _Scl. Cat. B._
p. 326.
_Description._--Uniform black; bill white; feet black: total length
11 inches, wings 4·8, tail 4·5. _Female_ similar, but smaller.
_Hab._ Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.
Mr. Barrows obtained a single specimen of this species at Concepcion,
and others were seen. It was said to be an excellent song-bird, and to
be more abundant further up the Uruguay River.
94. MOLOTHRUS BONARIENSIS (Gm.).
(ARGENTINE COW-BIRD.)
+Molothrus bonariensis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 37; _Hudson,
P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 809, 1874, p. 153 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1877, pp. 33, 174 (Chupat); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p.
601 (Buenos Ayres); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 41
(Carhué); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 133
(Entrerios); _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 335. +Molothrus sericeus+,
_Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 494.
_Description._--Uniform shining purplish black; less lustrous on
wings and tail; bill and feet black: total length 7·5 inches, wing
4·5, tail 3·0. _Female_ dark ashy brown, beneath paler; slightly
smaller in size.
_Hab._ Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil.
This species is the _Tordo Comun_ of Azara, and is usually called
"_Tordo_" or "_Pajaro Negro_" by the Spanish, and "_Blackbird_" by
the English-speaking Argentines. A more suitable name, I think, is
the Argentine Cow-bird, which has been given to it by some writers
on ornithology, Cow-bird being the name of the closely allied
North-American species, _Molothrus pecoris_.
This Cow-bird is widely distributed in South America, and is common
throughout the Argentine country, including Patagonia, as far south as
Chupat. In Buenos Ayres it is very numerous, especially in cultivated
districts where there are plantations of trees. The male is clothed in a
glossy plumage of deep violaceous purple, the wings and tail being dark
metallic green; but seen at a distance or in the shade the bird looks
black. The female is inferior in size and has a dull, mouse-coloured
plumage, and black beak and legs. The males are much more numerous than
the females. Azara says that nine birds in ten are males; but I am
not sure that the disparity is so great as that. It seems strange and
contrary to Nature's usual rule that the smaller, shyer, inconspicuous
individuals should be in such a minority; but the reason is perhaps that
the _male eggs_ of the Cow-bird are harder-shelled than the _female
eggs_, and escape destruction oftener, when the parent bird exercises
its disorderly and destructive habit of pecking holes in all the eggs it
finds in the nests into which it intrudes.
The Cow-birds are sociable to a greater degree than most species, their
companies not breaking up during the laying-season; for, as they are
parasitical, the female merely steals away to drop her egg in any nest
she can find, after which she returns to the flock. They feed on the
ground, where in their movements and in the habit the male has of
craning out its neck when disturbed, they resemble Starlings. The male
has also a curious habit of carrying his tail raised vertically while
feeding. They follow the domestic cattle about the pastures, and
frequently a dozen or more birds may be seen perched along the back of a
cow or horse. When the animal is grazing they group themselves close to
its mouth, like chickens round a hen when she scratches up the ground,
eager to snatch up the small insects exposed where the grass is cropped
close. In spring they also follow the plough to pick up worms and grubs.
The song of the male, particularly when making love, is accompanied with
gestures and actions somewhat like those of the domestic Pigeon. He
swells himself out, beating the ground with his wings, and uttering a
series of deep internal notes, followed by others loud and clear; and
occasionally, when uttering them, he suddenly takes wing and flies
directly away from the female to a distance of fifty yards, and performs
a wide circuit about her in the air, singing all the time. The homely
object of his short-lived passion always appears utterly indifferent
to this curious and pretty performance; yet she must be even more
impressionable than most female birds, since she continues scattering
about her parasitical and often wasted eggs during four months in every
year. Her language consists of a long note with a spluttering sound, to
express alarm or curiosity, and she occasionally chatters in a low tone
as if trying to sing. In the evening, when the birds congregate on the
trees to roost they often continue singing in concert until it is quite
dark; and when disturbed at night the males frequently utter their song
while taking flight, reminding one of the _Icterus pyrrhopterus_, which
has only its usual melody to express fear and other painful emotions.
On rainy days, when they are driven to the shelter of trees, they will
often sing together for hours without intermission, the blending of
innumerable voices producing a rushing sound as of a high wind. At the
end of summer they congregate in flocks of tens of thousands, so that
the ground where they are feeding seems carpeted with black, and the
trees when they alight appear to have a black foliage. At such times
one wonders that many small species on which they are parasites do not
become extinct by means of their pernicious habit. In Buenos Ayres,
where they are most numerous, they have a migration, which is only
partial, however. It is noticeable chiefly in the autumn, and varies
greatly in different years. In some seasons it is very marked, when
for many days in February and March the birds are seen travelling
northwards, flock succeeding flock all day long, passing by with a swift
low undulating flight, their wings producing a soft musical sound; and
this humming flight of the migrating Cow-birds is as familiar to every
one acquainted with nature in Buenos Ayres as the whistling of the wind
or the distant lowing of cattle.
The procreant instinct of this _Molothrus_ has always seemed so
important to me, for many reasons, that I have paid a great deal of
attention to it; and the facts, or, at all events, the most salient of
them, which I have collected during several years of observation, I
propose to append here, classified under different headings so as to
avoid confusion and to make it easy for other observers to see at a
glance just how much I have learnt.
Though I have been familiar with this species from childhood, when I
used to hunt every day for their wasted eggs on the broad, clean walks
of the plantation, and removed them in pity from the nests of little
birds where I found them, I have never ceased to wonder at their strange
instinct, which in its wasteful destructive character, so unlike the
parasitical habit in other species, seems to strike a discordant note in
the midst of the general harmony of nature.
_Mistakes and Imperfections of the Procreant Instinct of_ Molothrus
bonariensis.
1. The Cow-birds, as we have seen, frequently waste their eggs by
dropping them on the ground.
2. They also occasionally lay in old forsaken nests. This I have often
observed, and to make very sure I took several old nests and placed them
in trees and bushes, and found that eggs were laid in them.
3. They also frequently lay in nests where incubation has actually
begun. When this happens the Cow-bird's egg is lost if incubation is far
advanced; but if the eggs have been sat on three or four days only, then
it has a good chance of being hatched and the young bird reared along
with its foster-brothers.
4. One female often lays several eggs in the same nest, instead of
laying only one, as does, according to Wilson, the _Molothrus pecoris_
of North America. I conclude that this is so from the fact that in
cases where the eggs of a species vary considerably in form, size, and
markings, each individual of the species lays eggs precisely or nearly
alike. So when I find two, three, or four eggs of the Cow-bird in one
nest all alike in colour and other particulars, and yet in half a
hundred eggs from other nests cannot find one to match with them, it is
impossible not to believe that the eggs found together, and possessing a
family likeness, were laid by the same bird.
5. Several females often lay in one nest, so that the number of eggs in
it frequently makes incubation impossible. One December I collected ten
nests of the Scissor-tail (_Milvulus tyrannus_) from my trees; they
contained a total of 47 eggs, 12 of the Scissor-tails and 35 of the
Cow-birds. It is worthy of remark that the _Milvulus_ breeds in October
or early in November, rearing only one brood; so that these ten nests
found late in December were of birds that had lost their first nests.
Probably three fourths of the lost nests of _Milvulus_ are abandoned in
consequence of the confusion caused in them by the Cow-birds.
6. The Cow-birds, male and female, destroy many of the eggs in the nests
they visit, by pecking holes in the shells, breaking, devouring, and
stealing them. This is the most destructive habit of the bird, and is
probably possessed by individuals in different degrees. I have often
carefully examined all the parasitical eggs in a nest, and after three
or four days found that these eggs had disappeared, others, newly laid,
being in their places. I have seen the female Cow-bird strike her beak
into an egg and fly away with it; and I have often watched the male bird
perched close by while the female was on the nest, and when she quitted
it seen him drop down and begin pecking holes in the eggs. In some nests
found full of parasitical eggs every egg has holes pecked in the shell,
for the bird destroys indiscriminately eggs of its own and of other
species.
_Advantages possessed by_ M. bonariensis _over its dupes._
After reading the preceding notes one might ask, If there is so much
that is defective and irregular in the reproductive instinct of _M.
bonariensis_, how does the species maintain its existence, and even
increase to such an amazing extent? for it certainly is very much more
numerous, over an equal area, than other parasitical species. For its
greater abundance there may be many reasons unknown to us. The rarer
species may be less hardy, have more enemies, be exposed to more perils
in their long migrations, &c. That it is able to maintain its existence
in spite of irregularities in its instinct is no doubt due to the fact
that its eggs and young possess many advantages over the eggs and young
of the species upon which it is parasitical. Some of these advantages
are due to those very habits of the parent bird which at first sight
appear most defective; others to the character of the egg and embryo,
time of evolution, &c.
1. The egg of the Cow-bird is usually larger, and almost invariably
harder-shelled than are the eggs it is placed with; those of the
Yellow-breast (_Pseudoleistes virescens_) being the one exception I am
acquainted with. The harder shell of its own egg, considered in relation
to the destructive egg-breaking habit of the bird, gives it the best
chance of being preserved; for though the Cow-bird never distinguishes
its own eggs, of which indeed it destroys a great many, a larger
proportion escape in a nest where many eggs are indiscriminately broken.
2. The vitality or tenacity of life appears greater in the embryo
Cow-bird than in other species; this circumstance also, in relation to
the egg-breaking habit and to the habit of laying many eggs in a nest,
gives it a further advantage. I have examined nests of the Scissor-tail,
containing many eggs, after incubation had begun, and have been
surprised at finding those of the Scissor-tail addled, even when placed
most advantageously in the nest for receiving heat from the parent bird,
while those of the Cow-bird contained living embryos, even when under
all the other eggs, and, as frequently happens, glued immovably to the
nest by the matter from broken eggs spilt over them.
The following instance of extraordinary vitality in an embryo
_Molothrus_ seems to show incidentally that in some species protective
habits, which will act as a check on the parasitical instinct, may be in
the course of formation.
Though birds do not, as a rule, seem able to distinguish parasitical
eggs from their own, however different in size and colour they may be,
they often do seem to know that eggs dropped in their nest before they
themselves have began to lay ought not to be there; and the nest, even
after its completion, is not infrequently abandoned on account of these
premature eggs. Some species, however, do not forsake their nests; and
though they do not throw the parasitical eggs out, which would seem the
simplest plan, they have discovered how to get rid of them and so save
themselves the labour of making a fresh nest. Their method is to add a
new deep lining, under which the strange eggs are buried out of sight
and give no more trouble. The _Sisopygis icterophrys_--a common
Tyrant-bird in Buenos Ayres--frequently has recourse to this expedient;
and the nest it makes being rather shallow the layer of fresh material,
under which the strange eggs are buried, is built upwards above the rim
of the original nest; so that this supplementary nest is like one saucer
placed within another, and the observer is generally able to tell from
the thickness of the whole structure whether any parasitical eggs
have been entombed in it or not. Finding a very thick nest one day,
containing two half-fledged young birds besides three addled eggs, I
opened it, removing the upper portion, or additional nest, intact, and
discovered beneath it three buried _Molothrus_ eggs, their shells
encrusted with dirt and glued together with broken egg-matter spilt over
them. In trying to get them out without pulling the nest to pieces I
broke them all; two were quite rotten, but the third contained a living
embryo, ready to be hatched, and very lively and hungry when I took it
in my hand. The young Tyrant-birds were about a fortnight old, and as
they hatch out only about twenty days after the parent-bird begins
laying, this parasitical egg with a living chick in it must have been
deeply buried in the nest for five or six weeks. Probably after the
young Tyrant-birds came out of their shells and began to grow, the
little heat from their bodies penetrating to the buried egg, served to
bring the embryo in it to maturity; but when I saw it I felt (like a
person who sees a ghost) strongly inclined to doubt the evidence of my
own senses.
3. The comparatively short time the embryo takes to hatch gives it
another and a great advantage; for, whereas the eggs of other small
birds require from fourteen to sixteen days to mature, that of the
Cow-bird hatches in eleven days and a half from the moment incubation
commences; so that when the female Cow-bird makes so great a mistake
as to drop an egg with others that have already been sat on, unless
incubation be very far advanced, it still has a chance of being hatched
before or contemporaneously with the others; but even if the others
hatch first, the extreme hardiness of the embryo serves to keep it alive
with the modicum of heat it receives.
4. Whenever the _Molothrus_ is hatched together with the young of its
foster-parents, if these are smaller than the parasite, as usually is
the case, soon after exclusion from the shell they disappear, and the
young Cow-bird remains sole occupant of the nest. How it succeeds in
expelling or destroying them, if it indeed does destroy them, I have not
been able too learn.
5. To all these circumstances favourable to the _Molothrus_ may be added
another of equal or even greater importance. It is never engaged with
the dilatory and exhaustive process of rearing its own young; and
for this reason continues in better condition than other species,
and, moreover, being gregarious and practising promiscuous sexual
intercourse, must lay a much greater number of eggs than other species.
In our domestic fowls we see that hens that never become broody lay a
great deal more than others. Some of our small birds rear two, others
only one brood in the season--building, incubation, and tending the
young taking up much time, so that they are usually from two to three
months and a half employed. But the Cow-bird is like the fowl that never
incubates, and continues dropping eggs during four months and a half.
From the beginning of September until the end of January the males are
seen incessantly wooing the females, and during most of this time eggs
are found. I find that small birds will, if deprived repeatedly of their
nests, lay and even hatch four times in the season, thus laying, if the
full complement be four, sixteen eggs. No doubt the Cow-bird lays a much
larger number than that; my belief is that every female lays from
sixty to a hundred eggs every season, though I have nothing but the
extraordinary number of wasted eggs one finds to judge from.
Before dismissing the subject of the advantages the _Molothrus_
possesses over its dupes, and of the real or apparent defects of its
instinct, some attention should be given to another circumstance, viz.,
the new conditions introduced by land-cultivation and their effect on
the species. The altered conditions have, in various ways, served to
remove many extraneous checks on the parasitical instinct, and the more
the birds multiply, the more irregular and disordered does the instinct
necessarily become. In wild districts where it was formed, and where
birds building accessible nests are proportionately fewer, the instinct
seems different from what it does in cultivated districts. Parasitical
eggs are not common in the desert, and even the most exposed nests there
are probably never overburdened with them. But in cultivated places,
where their food abounds, the birds congregate in the orchards and
plantations in great numbers, and avail themselves of all the nests,
ill-concealed as they must always be in the clean, open-foliaged trees
planted by man.
_Diversity in Colour of Eggs._
There is an extraordinary diversity in the colour, form, and disposition
of markings &c. of the eggs of _M. bonariensis_; and I doubt whether any
other species exists laying eggs so varied. About half the eggs one
finds, or nearly half, are pure unspotted white, like the eggs of birds
that breed in dark holes. Others are sparsely sprinkled with such
exceedingly minute specks of pale pink or grey, as to appear quite
spotless until closely examined. After the pure white, the most common
variety is an egg with a white ground, densely and uniformly spotted
or blotched with red. Another not uncommon variety has a very pale,
flesh-coloured ground, uniformly marked with fine characters, that look
as if inscribed on the shell with a pen. A much rarer variety has a pure
white shell with a few large or variously sized chocolate spots.
Perhaps the rarest variety is an egg entirely of a fine deep red;
but between this lovely marbled egg and the white one with almost
imperceptible specks, there are varieties without number; for there is
no such thing as characteristic markings in the eggs of this species,
although, as I have said before, the eggs of the same individual show a
family resemblance.
_Habits of the young_ M. bonariensis.
Small birds of all species, when first hatched, closely resemble each
other; after they are fledged the resemblance is less, but still
comparatively great; grey, interspersed with brown, is the colour of
most of them, or at least of the upper exposed plumage. There is also a
great similarity in their cries of hunger and fear--shrill, querulous,
prolonged, and usually tremulous notes. It is not, then, to be wondered
at that the foster-parents of the young _Molothrus_ so readily respond
to its cries, understanding the various expressions denoting hunger,
fear, pain, as well as when uttered by their own offspring. But the
young _Molothrus_ never understands the language of its foster-parents
as other young birds understand the language of their real parents,
rising to receive food when summoned, and concealing themselves or
trying to escape when the warning note is given. How does the young
_Molothrus_ learn to distinguish, even by sight, its foster-parent from
any other bird approaching the nest? It generally manifests no fear even
at a large object. On thrusting my fingers into any nest, I find young
birds, if still blind or but recently hatched, will hold up and open
their mouths expecting food; but in a very few days they learn to
distinguish between their parents and other objects approaching them,
and to show alarm even when not warned of danger. Consider the different
behaviour of three species that seldom or never warn their offspring of
danger. The young of _Synallaxis spixi_, though in a deep domed nest,
will throw itself to the ground, attempting thus to make its escape.
The young of _Mimus patagonicus_ sits close and motionless, with closed
eyes, mimicking death. The young of our common _Zenaida_, even before
it is fledged, will swell itself up and strike angrily at the intruder
with beak and wings; and, by making so brave a show of its inefficient
weapons, it probably often saves itself from destruction. But any thing
approaching the young _Molothrus_ is welcomed with fluttering wings and
clamorous cries, as if all creatures were expected to minister to its
necessities.
December 24.--To-day I found a young _Molothrus_ in the nest of
_Spermophila cærulescens_; he cried for food on seeing my hand approach
the nest; I took him out and dropped him down, when, finding himself on
the ground, he immediately made off, half-flying. After a hard chase I
succeeded in recapturing him, and began to twirl him about, making him
scream, so as to inform his foster-parents of his situation, for they
were not by at the moment. I then put him back in, or rather upon, the
little cradle of a nest, and plucked half-a-dozen large measure-worms
from an adjacent twig. The worms I handed to the bird as I drew them
from the cases, and with great greediness he devoured them all,
notwithstanding the ill-treatment he had just received, and utterly
disregarding the wild excited cries of his foster-parents, just arrived
and hovering within three or four feet of the nest.
Last summer I noticed a young Cow-bird in a stubble-field, perched on
the top of a slender dry stalk; as it was clamouring at short intervals,
I waited to see what bird would come to it. It proved to be the
diminutive _Hapalocercus flaviventris_; and I was much amused to see the
little thing fly directly to its larger foster-offspring and, alighting
on its back, drop a worm into the upturned open mouth. After remaining a
moment on its singular perch, the Flycatcher flew away, but in less than
half a minute returned and perched again on the young bird's back. I
continued watching them until the _Molothrus_ flew off, but not before I
had seen him fed seven or eight times in the same manner.
In the foregoing anecdotes may be seen the peculiar habits of the young
_Molothrus_. As the nests in which it is hatched, from those of the
little _Serpophaga_ and Wren to those of _Mimus_, vary so much in size
and materials, and are placed in such different situations, the young
_Molothrus_ must have in most of them a somewhat incongruous appearance.
But in the habits of the young bird is the greatest incongruity or
inadaptation. When the nest is in a close thicket or forest, though much
too small for the bird, and although the bird itself cannot understand
its foster-parents, and welcomes all things that, whether with good or
evil design, come near it, the unfitness is not so apparent as when the
nest is in open fields and plains.
The young _Molothrus_ differs from the true offspring of its
foster-parents in its habit of quitting the nest as soon as it is
able, trying to follow the old bird, and placing itself in the most
conspicuous place it can find, such as the summit of a stalk or weed,
and there demanding food with frequent and importunate cries. Thus the
little Flycatcher had acquired the habit of perching on the back of its
charge to feed it, because parent birds invariably perch above their
young to feed them, and the young Cow-bird prevented this by always
sitting on the summit of the stalk it perched on. The habit is most
fatal on the open and closely cropped pampas inhabited by the Cachila
(_Anthus correndera_). In December, when the Cachila Pipit rears its
second brood, the _Milvago chimango_ also has young, and feeds them
almost exclusively on the young of various species of small birds. At
this season the Chimango destroys great numbers of the young of the
Cachila and of _Synallaxis hudsoni_. Yet these birds are beautifully
adapted in structure, coloration, and habits to their station. It thus
happens that in districts where the _Molothrus_ is abundant, their eggs
are found in a majority of the Cachilas' nests: and yet to find a young
Cow-bird out of the nest is a rare thing here, for as soon as the young
birds are able to quit the nest and expose themselves they are all or
nearly all carried off by the Chimangos.
_Conjectures as to the Origin of the Parasitic Instinct in_ M.
bonariensis.
Darwin's opinion that the "immediate and final cause of the Cuckoo's
instinct is that she lays her eggs not daily, but at intervals of two
or three days" ('Origin of Species'), carries no great appearance of
probability with it; for might it not just as reasonably be said that
the parasitic instinct is the immediate and final cause of her laying
her eggs at long intervals? If it is favourable to a species with the
instinct of the Cuckoo (and it probably is favourable) to lay eggs at
longer intervals than other species, then natural selection would avail
itself of every modification in the reproductive organs that tended to
produce such a result, and make the improved structure permanent. It
is said ('Origin of Species,' chapter vii.) that the American Cuckoo
lays also at long intervals, and has eggs and young at the same
time in its nest, a circumstance manifestly disadvantageous. Of the
_Coccyzus melanocoryphus_, the only one of our three _Coccyzi_ whose
nesting-habits I am acquainted with, I can say that it never begins to
incubate till the full complement of eggs are laid--that its young are
hatched simultaneously. But if it is sought to trace the origin of the
European Cuckoo's instinct in the nesting-habits of American _Coccyzi_,
it might be attributed not to the aberrant habit of perhaps a single
species, but to another and more disadvantageous habit common to
the entire genus, viz., their habit of building exceedingly frail
platform-nests from which the eggs and young very frequently fall. By
occasionally dropping an egg in the deep, secure nest of some other
bird, an advantage would be possessed by the birds hatched in them, and
in them the habit would perhaps become hereditary. Be this as it may
(and the one guess is perhaps as wide of the truth as the other), there
are many genera intermediate between _Cuculus_ and _Molothrus_ in which
no trace of a parasitic habit appears; and it seems more than probable
that the analogous instincts originated in different ways in the two
genera. As regards the origin of the instinct in _Molothrus_, it will
perhaps seem premature to found speculations on the few facts here
recorded, and before we are acquainted with the habits of other members
of the genus. That a species should totally lose so universal an
instinct as the maternal one, and yet avail itself of that affection in
other species to propagate itself, seems a great mystery. Nevertheless,
I cannot refrain from all conjecture on the subject, and will go so far
as to suggest what may have been at least one of the many concurrent
causes that have produced the parasitic instinct. The apparently
transitional nesting-habits of several species, and one remarkable habit
of _M. bonariensis_, seem to me to throw some light on a point bearing
intimately on the subject, viz., the loss of the nest-making instinct in
this species.
Habits vary greatly; were it not so, they would never seem so well
adapted to the conditions of life as we find them, since the conditions
themselves are not unchangeable. Thus it happens that, while a species
seems well adapted to its state in its habits, it frequently seems not
so well adapted in its relatively immutable structure. For example,
without going away from the pampas, we find a Tringa with the habits of
an upland Plover, a Tyrant-bird (_Pitangus bellicosus_) preying on mice
and snakes, another Tyrant-bird (_Myiotheretes rufiventris_) Plover-like
in its habits, and finally a Woodpecker (_Colaptes campestris_) that
seeks its food on the ground like a Starling; yet in none of these--and
the list might be greatly lengthened--has there been anything like a
modification of structure to keep pace with the altered manner of life.
But, however much the original or generic habits of a species may have
become altered--the habits of a species being widely different from
those of its congeners, also a want of correspondence between structure
and habits (the last being always more suited to conditions than the
first) being taken as evidence of such alteration--traces of ancient and
disused habits frequently reappear. Seemingly capricious actions too
numerous, too vague, or too insignificant to be recorded, improvised
definite actions that are not habitual, apparent imitations of the
actions of other species, a perpetual inclination to attempt something
that is never attempted, and attempts to do that which is never
done--these and other like motions are, I believe, in many cases to be
attributed to the faint promptings of obsolete instincts. To the same
cause many of the occasional aberrant habits of individuals may possibly
be due--such as of a bird that builds in trees occasionally laying
on the ground. If recurrence to an ancestral type be traceable in
structure, coloration, language, it is reasonable to expect something
analogous to occur in instincts. But even if such casual and often
aimless motions as I have mentioned should guide us unerringly to the
knowledge of the old and disused instincts of a species, this knowledge
of itself would not enable us to discover the origin of present ones.
But assuming it as a fact that the conditions of existence, and the
changes going on in them, are in every case the fundamental cause of
alterations in habits, I believe that in many cases a knowledge of the
disused instincts will assist us very materially in the inquiry. I will
illustrate my meaning with a supposititious case. Should all or many
species of _Columbidæ_ manifest an inclination for haunting rocks and
banks, and for entering or peering into holes in them, such vague and
purposeless actions, connected with the facts that all Doves build
simple platform-nests (like _Columba livia_ and others that build on a
flat surface), also lay white eggs (the rule being that eggs laid in
dark holes are white, exposed eggs coloured), also that one species, _C.
livia_, does lay in holes in rocks, would lead us to believe that the
habit of this species was once common to the genus. We should conclude
that an insufficiency of proper breeding-places, _i. e._ new external
conditions, first induced Doves to build in trees. Thus _C. livia_ also
builds in trees where there are no rocks; but, when able, returns to its
ancestral habits. In the other species we should believe the primitive
habit to be totally lost from disuse, or only to manifest itself in a
faint uncertain manner.
Now, in _Molothrus bonariensis_ we see just such a vague, purposeless
habit as the imaginary one I have described. Before and during the
breeding-season the females, sometimes accompanied by the males, are
seen continually haunting and examining the domed nests of some of the
Dendrocolaptidæ. This does not seem like a mere freak of curiosity,
but their persistence in their investigations is precisely like that
of birds that habitually make choice of such breeding-places. It is
surprising that they never do actually lay in such nests, except when
the side or dome has been accidentally broken enough to admit the light
into the interior. Whenever I set boxes up in my trees, the female
Cow-birds were the first to visit them. Sometimes one will spend half a
day loitering about and inspecting a box, repeatedly climbing round
and over it, and always ending at the entrance, into which she peers
curiously, and when about to enter starting back, as if scared at the
obscurity within. But after retiring a little space she will return
again and again, as if fascinated with the comfort and security of such
an abode. It is amusing to see how pertinaciously they hang about the
ovens of the Oven-birds, apparently determined to take possession of
them, flying back after a hundred repulses, and yet not entering them
even when they have the opportunity. Sometimes one is seen following a
Wren or a Swallow to its nest beneath the eaves, and then clinging to
the wall beneath the hole into which it disappeared. I could fill many
pages with instances of this habit of _M. bonariensis_, which, useless
though it be, is as strong an affection as the bird possesses. That it
is a recurrence to a long disused habit, I can scarcely doubt; at least,
to no other cause that I can imagine can it be attributed; and, besides,
it seems to me that if _M. bonariensis_, when once a nest-builder, had
acquired the semiparasitical habit of breeding in domed nests of other
birds, such a habit might conduce to the formation of the instinct which
it now possesses. I may mention that twice I have seen birds of this
species attempting to build nests, and that on both occasions they
failed to complete the work. So universal is the nest-making instinct,
that one might safely say the _M. bonariensis_ had once possessed it,
and that in the cases I have mentioned it was a recurrence, too weak to
be efficient, to the ancestral habit. Another interesting circumstance
may be adduced as strong presumptive evidence that _M. bonariensis_ once
made itself an open exposed nest as _M. badius_ occasionally does--viz.,
the difference in colour of the male and female; for whilst the former
is rich purple, the latter possesses an adaptive resemblance in colour
to nests and to the shaded interior twigs and branches on which nests
are usually built. How could such an instinct have been lost? To say
that the Cow-bird occasionally dropped an egg in another bird's nest,
and that the young hatched from these accidental eggs possessed some
(hypothetical) advantage over those hatched in the usual way, and
that the parasitical habit so became hereditary, supplanting the
original one, is an assertion without any thing to support it, and
seems to exclude the agency of external conditions. Again the want
of correspondence in the habits of the young parasite and its
foster-parents would in reality be a disadvantage to the former; the
unfitness would be as great in the eggs and other circumstances; for
all the advantages the parasite actually possesses in the comparative
hardness of the egg-shell, rapid evolution of the young, &c., already
mentioned, must have been acquired little by little through the slowly
accumulating process of natural selection, but subsequently to the
formation of the original parasitical inclination and habit. I am
inclined to believe that _M. bonariensis_ lost the nest-making
instinct by acquiring that semiparasitical habit, common to so many
South-American birds, of breeding in the large covered nests of the
Dendrocolaptidæ. We have evidence that this semiparasitical habit does
tend to eradicate the nest-making one. The _Synallaxes_ build great
elaborate domed nests, yet we have one species (_S. ægithaloides_) that
never builds for itself, but breeds in the nests of other birds of the
same genus. In some species the nesting-habit is in a transitional
state. _Machetornis rixosa_ sometimes makes an elaborate nest in the
angle formed by twigs and the bough of a tree, but prefers, and almost
invariably makes choice of, the covered nest of some other species or of
a hole in the tree. It is precisely the same with our Wren, _Troglodytes
furvus_. The Yellow House-Sparrow (_Sycalis pelzelni_) invariably breeds
in a dark hole or covered nest. The fact that these three species
lay coloured eggs, and the first and last very darkly coloured eggs,
inclines one to believe that they once invariably built exposed nests,
as _M. rixosa_ still occasionally does. It may be added that those
species that lay coloured eggs in dark places construct and line their
nests far more neatly than do the species that breed in such places but
lay white eggs. As with _M. rixosa_ and the Wren, so it is with the
Bay-winged _Molothrus_; it lays mottled eggs, and occasionally builds a
neat exposed nest; yet so great is the partiality it has acquired for
large domed nests, that whenever it can possess itself of one by dint
of fighting, it will not build one for itself. Let us suppose that the
Cow-bird also once acquired the habit of breeding in domed nests, and
that through this habit its original nest-making instinct was completely
eradicated, it is not difficult to imagine how in its turn this instinct
was also lost. A diminution in the number of birds that built domed
nests, or an increase in the number of species and individuals that
breed in such nests, would involve _M. bonariensis_ in a struggle for
nests, in which it would probably be defeated. In Buenos Ayres the
White-rumped Swallow, the Wren, and the Yellow Seed-finch prefer the
ovens of the _Furnarius_ to any other breeding-place, but to obtain
them are obliged to struggle with _Progne tapera_; for this species has
acquired the habit of breeding exclusively in the ovens. They cannot,
however, compete with the _Progne_; and thus the increase of one species
has, to a great extent, deprived three other species of their favourite
building-place. Again, _Machetornis rixosa_ prefers the great nest of
the _Anumbius_; and when other species compete with it for the nest they
are invariably defeated. I have seen a pair of _Machetornis_ after they
had seized a nest attacked in their turn by a flock of six or eight
Bay-wings; but, in spite of the superior numbers, the fury of the
_Machetornis_ compelled them to raise the siege.
Thus some events in the history of our common _Molothrus_ have perhaps
been accounted for, if not the most essential one--the loss of the
nest-making instinct from the acquisition of the habit of breeding in
the covered nests of other birds, a habit that has left a strong trace
in the manners of the species, and perhaps in the pure white unmarked
eggs of so many individuals; finally, we have seen how this habit may
also have been lost. But the parasitical habit of the _M. bonariensis_
may have originated when the bird was still a nest-builder. The origin
of the instinct may have been in the occasional habit, common to so
many species, of two or more females laying together; the progenitors of
all the species of _Molothrus_ may have been early infected with this
habit, and inherited with it a facility for acquiring their present one.
_M. pecoris_ and _M. bonariensis_, though their instincts differ, are
both parasitic on a great number of species; _M. rufoaxillaris_ on _M.
badius_; and in this last species two or more females frequently lay
together. If we suppose that the _M. bonariensis_, when it was a
nest-builder, or reared its own young in the nests it seized, possessed
this habit of two or more females frequently laying together, the young
of those birds that oftenest abandoned their eggs to the care of another
would probably inherit a weakened maternal instinct. The continual
intercrossing of individuals with weaker and stronger instincts would
prevent the formation of two races differing in habit; but the whole
race would degenerate, and would only be saved from filial extinction by
some individuals occasionally dropping their eggs in the nests of other
species, perhaps of a _Molothrus_, as _M. rufoaxillaris_ still does,
rather than of birds of other genera. Certainly in this way the
parasitic instinct may have originated in _M. bonariensis_ without that
species ever having acquired the habit of breeding in the covered dark
nests of other birds. I have supposed that they once possessed it only
to account for the strange attraction such nests have for them, which
seems like a recurrence to an ancestral habit.
95. MOLOTHRUS RUFOAXILLARIS, Cassin.
(SCREAMING COW-BIRD.)
[Plate VI. Fig. 2.]
[Illustration: Fig. 1. MOLOTHRUS BADIUS. ad. }
" 2. " RUFO-AXILLARIS. pull. }]
+Molothrus rufoaxillaris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 37; _Hudson,
P. Z. S._ 1874, p. 161 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p.
174 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 601 (Catamarca);
_Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 134 (Entrerios); _Scl.
Cat. B._ xi. p. 338.
_Description._--Silky black, washed with purple; wings and tail with
a slight greenish gloss; a chestnut spot on the axillaries; bill and
feet black: whole length 8·0 inches, wing 4·5, tail 3·3. _Female_
similar, but somewhat smaller.
_Hab._ Argentina and Uruguay.
This bird has no vulgar name, not being distinguished from the Common
Cow-bird by the country people. The English name of Screaming Cow-bird,
which I have bestowed on it, will, I think, commend itself as
appropriate to those who observe this bird, for they will always and
at any distance be able to distinguish it from the species it resembles
so nearly by listening to its impetuous screaming notes, so unlike
anything in the language of the Common Cow-bird.
The Screaming Cow-bird is larger than the allied species. The female is
less than the male in size, but in colour they are alike, the entire
plumage being deep blue-black, glossy, and with purple reflections; and
under the wing at the joint there is a small rufous spot. The beak is
very stout, the plumage loose, and with a strong, musky smell; the
œsophagus remarkably wide.
It is far less common than the other species of _Molothrus_, but is
not rare, and ranges south to the Buenos-Ayrean pampas, where a few
individuals are usually found in every large plantation; and, like the
_M. badius_, it remains with us the whole year. It is not strictly
gregarious, but in winter goes in parties, never exceeding five or
six individuals, and in the breeding-season in pairs. One of its most
noteworthy traits is an exaggerated hurry and bustle thrown into all its
movements. When passing from one branch to another, it goes by a series
of violent jerks, smiting its wings loudly together; and when a party of
them return from the fields they rush wildly and loudly screaming to the
trees, as if pursued by a bird of prey. They are not singing-birds; but
the male sometimes, though rarely, attempts a song, and utters, with
considerable effort, a series of chattering unmelodious notes. The
chirp with which he invites his mate to fly has the sound of a loud and
smartly-given kiss. His warning or alarm-note when approached in the
breeding-season has a soft and pleasing sound; it is, curiously enough,
his only mellow expression. But his most common and remarkable vocal
performance is a cry beginning with a hollow-sounding internal note, and
swelling into a sharp metallic ring; this is uttered with tail and wings
spread and depressed, the whole plumage raised like that of a strutting
turkey-cock, whilst the bird hops briskly up and down on its perch as if
dancing. From its puffed-out appearance, and from the peculiar character
of the sound it emits, I believe that, like the Pigeon and some other
species, it has the faculty of filling its crop with air, to use it
as a "chamber of resonance." The note I have described is quickly and
invariably followed by a scream, harsh and impetuous, uttered by the
female, though both notes always sound as if proceeding from one bird.
When on the wing the birds all scream together in concert.
The food of this species is chiefly minute seeds and tender buds; they
also swallow large caterpillars and spiders, but do not, like their
congeners, eat hard insects.
I became familiar, even as a small boy, with the habits of the Screaming
Cow-bird, and before this species was known to naturalists, but could
never find its nest, though I sought diligently for it. I could never
see the birds collecting materials for a nest, or feeding their
grown-up young like other species, and this might have made me suspect
that they did not hatch their own eggs; but it never occurred to me that
the bird was parasitical, I suppose because in summer they are always
seen in pairs, the male and female being inseparable. Probably this is
the only parasitical species in which there is conjugal fidelity. I also
noticed that, when approached in the breeding-season, the pair always
displayed great excitement and anxiety, like birds that have a nest, or
that have selected a site on which to build one. But year after year the
end of the summer would arrive, the birds reunite in parties of half a
dozen, and the mystery remain unsolved. At length, after many years,
fortune favoured me, and while observing the habits of another species
(_Molothrus badius_), I discovered by chance the procreant habits of the
Screaming Cow-birds; and as these observations throw some light on the
habits of _M. badius_, I think it best to transcribe my notes here in
full.
A pair of Leñateros (_Anumbius acuticaudatus_) have been nearly all the
winter building a nest on an acacia tree sixty yards from the house; it
is about 27 inches deep, and 16 or 18 in circumference, and appears now
nearly finished. I am sure that this nest will be attacked before long,
and I have resolved to watch it closely.
September 28.--To-day I saw a Bay-wing (_M. badius_) on the nest; it
climbed over it, deliberately inspecting every part with the critical
air of a proprietor who had ordered its construction, taking up and
rearranging some sticks and throwing others away from the nest. While
thus engaged, two common Cow-birds (_M. bonariensis_), male and female,
came to the tree; the female dropped on to the nest, and began also to
examine it, peering curiously into the entrance and quarrelling with the
first bird. After a few minutes she flew away, followed by her glossy
consort. The Bay-wing continued its strange futile work until the owners
of the nest appeared, whereupon it hopped aside in its usual slow
leisurely manner, sang for a few moments, then flew away. The similarity
in the behaviour of the two birds struck me very forcibly; in the great
interest they take in the nests of other birds, especially in
large covered nests, the two species are identical. But when the
breeding-season comes their habits begin to diverge: then the Common
Cow-bird lays in nests of other species, abandoning its eggs to their
care; while the Bay-wings usually seize on the nests of other birds
and rear their own young. Yet, as they do occasionally build a neat
elaborate nest for themselves, the habit of taking possession of the
nests of other birds is, most likely, a recently acquired one, and
probably its tendency is to eradicate the original building instinct.
October 8.--This morning, while reading under a tree, my attention was
aroused by a shrill note, as of a bird in distress, issuing from the
neighbourhood of the Leñatero's nest; after hearing it repeated at
intervals for over twenty minutes, I went to ascertain the cause. Two
Bay-wings flew up from the ground under the nest, and on searching
in the rank clover growing under the tree, I discovered the female
Leñatero, with plumage wet and draggled, trembling and appearing half
dead with the rough treatment she had experienced. I put her in the
sun, and after half an hour, hearing her mate calling, she managed to
flutter feebly away to join him. The persecutors had dragged her out
of the nest, and would, no doubt, have killed her, had I not come so
opportunely to the rescue.
Since writing the above, I have continued to watch the nest. Both the
Bay-wings and Leñateros left it for some days. Six days after picking up
the ill-treated female, the Leñateros came back and resumed possession.
Four days later the Bay-wings also came back; but on finding the
nest still occupied, they took possession of an unfinished oven of
an Oven-bird on another tree within twenty yards of the first, and
immediately began carrying in materials with which to line it. When they
had finished laying I took their five eggs, at the same time throwing
down the oven, and waited to see what their next move would be. They
remained on the spot singing incessantly, and still manifesting anxiety
when approached. I observed them four days, and then was absent from
home as many more; on returning, I found that the Leñateros had once
more disappeared, and that the nest was now held by the Bay-wings. I
also noticed that they had opened an entrance very low down at the side
of the nest which they were using; no doubt they had killed and thrown
out the young Leñateros.
It was now early in November, the height of the breeding-season, and
numbers of Common Cow-birds constantly visited the nest; but I was
particularly interested in a pair of Screaming Cow-birds that had also
began to grow fond of it, and I resolved to watch them closely. As they
spent so much of their time near the nest, showing great solicitude
when I approached it, I strongly hoped to see them breed in it, if the
Bay-wings could only be got rid of. The Screaming Cow-birds would
not, or dared not, attack them; and, as I always think that the worst
possible use one can put a little bird to is to shoot it, I could not
help them by destroying the Bay-wings. I therefore resolved to take
their eggs, hoping that that would cause them to leave in disgust.
When I was satisfied from their movements that they had finished laying,
I got up to the nest, and was astonished to find _ten_ eggs instead of
five, as I had confidently expected; for, though the Common Cow-birds
had paid a great deal of attention to the nest, I knew the Bay-wings
would not allow _them_ to lay in it.
The ten eggs in the nest were all unmistakably Bay-wing's eggs; and
having observed before that several females do occasionally lay
together, I concluded that in this case two females had laid in the
nest, though I had only seen two birds--male and female. After taking
the ten eggs the Bay-wings still remained, and in a very short time they
appeared to be laying again. When I had reason to think that the full
complement was laid, I visited the nest and found five eggs in it; these
I also took, and concluded that the second female had probably gone
away, after having been deprived of her first clutch. During all
this time the Screaming Cow-birds remained in the neighbourhood and
occasionally visited the tree; but to my very great surprise the
Bay-wings still stubbornly remained, and by-and-by I found that they
were going to lay again--the fourth time! When I next visited the nest
there were two eggs in it; I left them and returned three days later,
expecting to find five eggs, but found seven! certainly more than one
female had laid in the nest on this occasion. After taking these last
seven eggs the Bay-wings left; and though the Screaming Cow-birds
continued to make occasional visits to the nest, to my great
disappointment they did not lay in it.
April 12.--To-day I have made a discovery, and am as pleased with it as
if I had found a new planet in the sky. The mystery of the Bay-wings'
nest twice found containing over the usual complement of eggs is cleared
up, and I have now suddenly become acquainted with the procreant
instinct of the Screaming Cow-bird. I look on this as a great piece of
good fortune; for I had thought that the season for making any such
discovery was already over, as we are so near to winter.
The Bay-wings are so social in their habits that they always appear
reluctant to break up their companies in the breeding-season; no sooner
is this over, and while the young birds are still fed by the parents,
all the families about a plantation unite into one flock. About a month
ago all the birds about my home had associated in this way together, and
went in a scattered flock, frequenting one favourite feeding-spot very
much, a meadow about fifteen minutes' walk from the house. The flock was
composed, I believe, of three families, sixteen or eighteen birds in
all: the young birds are indistinguishable from the adults; but I knew
that most of these birds were young hatched late in the season, from
their incessant strident hunger-notes. I first observed them about the
middle of March. A week ago, while riding past the meadow where they
were feeding, I noticed among them three individuals with purple spots
on their plumage. They were at a distance from me, and I naturally
concluded that they were young Common Cow-birds (_M. bonariensis_),
casually associating with the Bay-wings. I was surprised to see them,
for the young male _M. bonariensis_ always acquires the purple plumage
before March, so that these individuals were changing colour five weeks
after the usual time. To-day, while out with my gun, I came upon the
flock, and noticed four of the birds assuming the purple plumage, two
of them being almost entirely that colour; but I also noticed with
astonishment that they had bay- or chestnut-coloured wings, also that
those with least purple on them were marvellously like the Bay-wings in
the mouse-coloured plumage of the body and the dark tail. I had seen
these birds before the purple plumage was acquired, and there was then
not the slightest difference amongst them, the adults and their supposed
offspring being alike; now some of them appeared to be undergoing the
process of a transmutation into another species! I at once shot the four
spotted birds along with two genuine Bay-wings, and was delighted to
find that the first were young Screaming Cow-birds.
I must now believe that the extra eggs twice found in the nest of the
Bay-wings were those of the Screaming Cow-bird, that the latter species
lays chiefly in the nests of the former, that the eggs of the two
species are identical in form, size, and colour, each bird also laying
five, and that, stranger still, the similarity is as perfect in the
young birds as it is in the eggs.
April 15.--This morning I started in quest of the Bay-wings, and
observed one individual, that had somehow escaped detection the day
before, assuming the purple dress. This bird I shot; and after the flock
had resettled a short distance off, I crept close up to them, under the
shelter of a hedge, to observe them more narrowly. One of the adults was
closely attended by three young birds; and these all, while I watched
them, fluttered their wings and clamoured for food every time the old
bird stirred on its perch. The three young birds seemed precisely alike;
but presently I noticed that one of them had a few minute purple spots,
and on shooting this one I found it to be a young _M. rufoaxillaris_,
while the other two were true young Bay-wings.
The hunger-cry of the young _M. badius_ (Bay-wing) is quite different
from that of the young _M. bonariensis_: the cry of the latter is a
long, shrill, two-syllabled note, the last syllable being prolonged into
a continuous squeal when the foster-parent approaches with food; the cry
of the young _M. badius_ is short, reedy, tremulous, and uninflected.
The resemblance of the young _M. rufoaxillaris_ to its foster-brothers
in language and plumage is the more remarkable when we reflect that the
adult bird in its habits, gestures, guttural notes, also in its deep
purple plumage, comes much nearer to _M. bonariensis_ than to _M.
badius_. It seems impossible for mimicry to go further than this. A
slight difference in size is quite imperceptible when the birds are
flying about; while in language and plumage the keenest ornithologist
would not be able to detect a difference. But it may be questioned
whether this is really a case of an external resemblance of one species
to another acquired by natural selection for its better preservation.
Possibly the young _M. rufoaxillaris_, in the first stage of its
plumage, exhibits the ancestral type--that of the progenitor of both
species. If _M. badius_ belonged to some other group--_Sturnella_ or
_Pseudoleistes_, for instance--it would scarcely be possible to
doubt that the resemblance of the young _M. rufoaxillaris_ to its
foster-brothers resulted from mimicry; but as both species belong to
the limited, well-defined group _Molothrus_, the resemblance may be
ascribed to community of descent.
Formerly I believed that though _M. badius_ is constantly seen rearing
its own young, they also occasionally dropped their eggs in the nests
of other birds. I could not doubt that this was the case after having
witnessed a couple of their young following a Yellowbreast and being
fed by it. I must now alter my opinion, for what then appeared to be
proof positive is now no proof at all, for those two birds were probably
the young of _M. rufoaxillaris_. There are, however, good reasons for
believing that _M. rufoaxillaris_ is parasitical almost exclusively
on _M. badius_. I have spoken of the many varieties of eggs _M.
bonariensis_ lays. Those of _M. badius_ are a trifle less in size,
in form elliptical, densely and uniformly marked with small spots
and blotches of dark reddish colour, varying to dusky brown; the
ground-colour is white, but sometimes, though rarely, pale blue. It is
not possible to confound the eggs of the two species. Now, ever since
I saw, many years ago, the Yellowbreast feeding the supposed young
Bay-wings, I have looked out for the eggs of the latter in other
birds' nests. I have found hundreds of nests containing eggs of _M.
bonariensis_, but never one with an egg of _M. badius_, and, I may now
add, never one with an egg of _M. rufoaxillaris_. It is wonderful that
_M. rufoaxillaris_ should lay only in the nests of _M. badius_; but
the most mysterious thing is that _M. bonariensis_, indiscriminately
parasitical on a host of species, never, to my knowledge, drops an egg
in the nest of _M. badius_, unless it be in a forsaken nest! Perhaps
it will be difficult for naturalists to believe this; for if the
_M. badius_ is so excessively vigilant and jealous of other birds
approaching its nest as to succeed in keeping out the subtle, silent,
grey-plumaged, omnipresent female _M. bonariensis_, why does it not also
keep off the far rarer, noisy, bustling, conspicuously coloured _M.
rufoaxillaris_? I cannot say. The only explanation that has occurred to
me is that _M. badius_ is sagacious enough to distinguish the eggs of
the common parasite, and throws them out of its nest. But this is
scarcely probable, for I have hunted in vain under the trees for the
ejected eggs; and I have never found the eggs of _M. badius_ with holes
pecked in the shells, which would have been the case had a _M.
bonariensis_ intruded into the nest.
With the results just recorded I felt more than satisfied, though so
much still remained to be known; and I looked forward to the next summer
to work out the rich mine on which I had stumbled by chance. Unhappily,
when spring came round again ill-health kept me a prisoner in the city,
and finding no improvement in my condition, I eventually left Buenos
Ayres at the close of the warm season to try whether change of climate
would benefit me. Before leaving, however, I spent a few days at home,
and saw enough then to satisfy me that my conclusions were correct. Most
of the birds had finished breeding, but while examining some nests of
_Anumbius_ I found one which Bay-wings had tenanted, and which for some
reason they had forsaken leaving _ten_ unincubated eggs. They were all
like Bay-wings' eggs, but I have no doubt that five of them were eggs of
_M. rufoaxillaris_. During my rides in the neighbourhood I also found
two flocks of Bay-wings, each composed of several families, and amongst
the young birds I noticed several individuals beginning to assume the
purple plumage, like those of the previous autumn. I did not think it
necessary to shoot more specimens.
The question, why _M. badius_ permits _M. rufoaxillaris_ to use its
nest, while excluding the allied parasite, _M. bonariensis_, must
be answered by future observers; but before passing from this very
interesting group (_Molothrus_) I wish to make some general remarks on
their habits and their anomalous relations to other species.
It is with a considerable degree of repugnance that we regard the
parasitical instincts in birds; the reason it excites such a feeling is
manifestly because it presents itself to the mind as--to use the words
of a naturalist of the last century, who was also a theologian, and
believed the Cuckoo had been created with such a habit--"a monstrous
outrage on the maternal affection, one of the first great dictates of
nature." An _outrage_, since each creature has been endowed with this
all-powerful affection for the preservation of its own, and not another,
species; and here we see it, by a subtle process, an unconscious
iniquity, turned from its purpose, perverted and made subservient to the
very opposing agency against which it was intended as a safeguard!
The formation of such an instinct seems indeed like an unforeseen
contingency in the system of nature, a malady strengthened, if not
induced, by the very laws established for the preservation of health,
and which the _vis medicatrix_ of nature is incapable of eliminating.
Again, the egg of a parasitical species is generally so much larger,
differing also in coloration from the eggs it is placed with, whilst
there is such an unvarying dissimilarity between the young bird and
its living or murdered foster-brothers, that, unreasoning as we know
instinct, and especially the maternal instinct, is, we are shocked at
so glaring and flagrant an instance of its blind stupidity.
In the competition for place, the struggle for its existence, said with
reason to be most deadly between such species as are most nearly allied,
the operations are imperceptible, and the changes are so gradual,
that the diminution and filial disappearance of one species is never
attributed to a corresponding increase in another more favoured species
over the same region. It is not as if the regnant species had invaded
and seized on the province of another, but appears rather as if they had
quietly entered on the possession of an inheritance that was theirs by
right. Mighty as are the results worked out by such a process, it is
only by a somewhat strained metaphor that it can be called a _struggle_.
But even when the war is open and declared, as between a raptorial
species and its victims, the former is manifestly driven by necessity.
And in this case the species preyed on are endowed with peculiar
sagacity to escape its persecutions; so that the war is not one of
extermination, but, as in a border war, the invader is satisfied with
carrying off the weak and unwary stragglers. Thus the open, declared
enmity is in reality beneficial to a species; for it is sure to cut
off all such individuals as might cause its degeneration. But we can
conceive no necessity for such a fatal instinct as that of the Cuckoo
and Cow-bird destructive to such myriads of lives in their beginning.
And inasmuch as their preservation is inimical to the species on which
they are parasitical, there must also here be a struggle. But what kind
of struggle? Not as in other species, where one perishes in the combat
that gives greater strength to the victor, but an anomalous struggle in
which one of the combatants has made his adversary turn his weapons
against himself, and so seems to have an infinite advantage. It is
impossible for him to suffer defeat; and yet, to follow out the
metaphor, he has so wormed about and interlaced himself with his
opponent that as soon as he succeeds in overcoming him he also must
inevitably perish. Such a result is perhaps impossible, as there are so
many causes operating to check the undue increase of any one species:
consequently the struggle, unequal as it appears, must continue for
ever. Thus, in whatever way we view the parasitical habit, it appears
cruel, treacherous, and vicious in the highest degree. But should we
attempt to mentally create a perfect parasitical instinct (that is, one
that would be thoroughly efficient with the least possible prejudice
to or injustice towards another species; for the preservation of the
species on which the parasite is dependent is necessary to its own) by
combining in imagination all known parasitical habits, eliminating every
offensive quality or circumstance, and attributing such others in their
place as we should think fit, our conception would probably still fall
short in simplicity, beauty, and completeness of the actual instinct of
_M. rufoaxillaris_. Instead of laying its eggs promiscuously in every
receptacle that offers, it selects the nest of a single species; so that
its selective instinct is related to the adaptive resemblance in its
eggs and young to those of the species on which it is parasitical. Such
an adaptive resemblance could not of course exist if it laid its eggs in
the nests of more than one species, and it is certainly a circumstance
eminently favourable to preservation. Then, there not being any such
incongruity and unfitness as we find in nests into which other parasites
intrude, there is no reason here to regard the foster-parents' affection
as blind and stupid; the similarity being close enough to baffle the
keenest sagacity. Nor can the instinct here appear in the light of an
outrage on the maternal affection; for the young _M. rufoaxillaris_
possesses no advantage over its foster-brothers. It is not endowed
with greater strength and voracity to monopolize the attentions of
the foster-parent or to eject the real offspring; but being in every
particular precisely like them, it has only an equal chance of being
preserved. To this wonderful parasitical instinct we may well
apply Darwin's words, when speaking of the architecture of the
hive-bee:--"Beyond this stage of perfection natural selection could
not lead."
96. MOLOTHRUS BADIUS, Vieill.
(BAY-WINGED COW-BIRD.)
[Plate VI. Fig. 1.]
+Molothrus badius+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 495 (Paraná and
Tucuman). _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 37; _Hudson, P. Z. S._
1874, p. 163 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 174
(Buenos Ayres); _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 338.
_Description._--Dull grey, beneath rather paler; wings chestnut;
tips of primaries, inner portions of secondaries, and tail blackish;
bill and feet black: total length 7·6 inches, wing 3·5, tail 3·0.
_Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia.
In this species the sexes are alike; the plumage of the body is
grey-drab colour, with a black spot between the eye and beak; tail
dark, the quills cinnamon-colour; beak and legs black. Azara describing
it under the name of _Tordo pardo roxiso_, says it is a rare bird, so
that it has probably greatly increased since his time, as it is now
quite common in the Plata district.
The Bay-wings usually go in small flocks, numbering from ten to thirty
individuals, and are not migratory, but in winter they travel about a
great deal from place to place without extending their journeys more
than a few miles in any direction. They are fond of coming about houses,
and are frequently seen pecking at the fresh meat hanging out of doors;
and, like other birds of the same tribe, feed chiefly on the ground.
They spend a great portion of their time on trees, are familiar with man
and inactive, and in their motions singularly slow and deliberate. Their
language is varied. Curiosity or alarm is expressed by trilling notes,
and before quitting a tree all the birds of a flock ceremoniously invite
each other to fly with long clear notes, powerful enough to be heard a
quarter of a mile away.
They also sing a great deal in all seasons, the song being composed
of soft, clear, rather sweet notes, variously modulated, uttered in a
leisurely manner, and seeming to express a composed frame of mind, all
the birds in a flock singing in concert. During the cold season the
flock always finds some sheltered sunny spot on the north side of a
woodpile or hedge, where they spend several hours every day, sitting
still and singing in their usual quiet, soft style.
Their extreme sociability affects their breeding-habits, for sometimes
the flock does not break up in spring, and several females lay in
one nest together; but whether the birds are paired or practice a
promiscuous intercourse, I have not been able to discover. They have
a great partiality for the large domed nests made by the _Anumbius
acuticaudatus_, called Leñatero in the vernacular. One summer a flock of
about ten Bay-wings took possession of a Leñatero's nest on one of my
trees, and after a few days I took fourteen eggs from it. Though the
birds hopped, chirping round me, manifesting great solicitude, the eggs
were quite cold, and had I left them many more would have been laid, no
doubt; but as they were piled up three or four deep in the nest they
could never have been hatched.
As a rule, however, the flock breaks up into pairs; and then a neat,
well-made nest is built in the fork of a branch, lined with horsehair;
or, oftener still, a Leñatero's nest is seized, the Bay-wings fighting
with great spirit to get possession, and in it, or on it, their own nest
is made. Like their relations, the Common Cow-bird, they seem strongly
attracted by domed nests, and yet shrink from laying in the dark
interior; as a rule when they have captured a Leñatero's nest they break
a hole in the side and so admit the light and form an easy entrance.
One summer a pair of Bay-wings attacked a Leñatero's nest on one of my
trees; the fighting was kept up for three or four days, and then at the
foot of the tree I found five young Leñateros, fully fledged, which had
been pecked to death and thrown out of the nest.
The eggs of the Bay-wing are five in number, nearly round, and densely
marked with dusky reddish brown.
Once I observed two young Bay-wings following a Yellow-breast
(_Pseudoleistes virescens_) with their usual peculiar hunger-cry,
and while I watched them they were fed several times by their
foster-parents. Naturally I concluded that the Bay-winged Cow-bird
is sometimes parasitical on other species, but I never saw anything
afterwards to confirm me in that belief, and I believe now that I was
mistaken, and that the young Bay-wings were not _real_ Bay-wings, but
the young of _Molothrus rufoaxillaris_.
97. AGELÆUS THILIUS (Mol.).
(YELLOW-SHOULDERED MARSH-BIRD.)
+Agelæus thilius+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 492 (Mendoza, S.
Juan, Catamarca); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 37; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1876, p. 159 (Buenos Ayres), 1877, p. 33 (Chupat), p. 174
(Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 394 (Chupat); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882,
p. 602 (Buenos Ayres); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 40
(Colorado); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 134
(Entrerios); _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 343.
_Description._--Black; lesser upper and under wing-coverts yellow;
bill and feet black: whole length 5·5 inches, wing 3·6, tail 2·7.
_Female_: above pale brown striated with black; distinct
superciliaries white; beneath paler, cineraceous white with
black striations; smaller, and bill shorter.
_Hab._ S. Peru, Chili, Paraguay, and Argentina.
This bird is abundant everywhere on the pampas, and does not migrate,
but inhabits marshy situations in summer, building its nest amongst the
rushes, and in winter ranges over the country. The male is entirely
of an intense black, except the shoulders, which are pure yellow; the
female is dull grey with fuscous markings, and, as was long ago remarked
by Azara, the grey-plumaged are very much more numerous than the black
individuals. The young birds are like the females, and possibly do
not acquire the full black plumage until the second year, which would
account for the great number of grey birds.
These birds are extremely sociable, being seen in flocks all the year
round, even during the breeding-season; in winter a great many males
separate themselves from the females, and are found associating together
in flocks of from thirty to forty individuals.
They feed on the ground, keeping to the moist borders of marshes during
summer; they avoid woods, but occasionally alight on trees, where they
all sing in concert. The song, when an individual is heard singing
alone, is, though limited in its range, very sweet, some of the notes
being remarkable for their purity and expression. The bird sits on a
rush or stalk while singing, and makes a long pause after every note or
two, as if to make the most of its limited repertory. There is in the
song one rich full note, which, to my mind, is unequalled for plaintive
sweetness, and I am therefore surprised that Azara says only of this
species that it sings passably well--'_canta razonablemente_.'
The nest is neatly made of dry grasses, and attached to the rushes
growing in the water. The eggs are four, pointed, and spotted at the
larger end with dull brown and black on a white ground.
98. AGELÆUS FLAVUS (Gm.).
(YELLOW-HEADED MARSH-BIRD.)
+Xanthosomus flavus+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 632 (Buenos
Ayres); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 37; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 59
(Buenos Ayres); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 41
(Carhué); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 134
(Entrerios). +Agelæus flavus+, _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 346.
_Description._--Black; head and rump, bend of the wing, and body
beneath bright yellow; bill and feet black: whole length 6·7 inches,
wing 4·2, tail 3·2. _Female_: above brown, slightly striated;
eyebrows, rump, and body beneath yellowish; bill and feet brown.
_Hab._ Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina.
Azara called this bird _Cabeza amarilla_, or Yellow-head. It is found
throughout the eastern provinces of the Argentine country, ranging south
to about the thirty-sixth degree of latitude, and is also common in the
Banda Oriental.
The dull-plumaged birds are always very much more numerous than the
bright-coloured males, though Azara strangely asserts that the sexes
are alike. In Buenos Ayres, where it is called "Naranjo" by the country
people in allusion to its orange tints, it is very well known on account
of its yellow plumage, which looks so wonderfully brilliant in the
sunshine, and its partiality for cultivated districts, where it follows
the plough to pick up worms, and frequents the orchard to sing,
associating with the common Cow-bird and Yellow-breast. It remains all
the year, and is very sociable, going in flocks of from twenty to fifty
individuals, which when they settle on the trees all sing in concert,
pouring out their few peculiar notes with great power and emphasis.
Even in the breeding-season these companies do not always break up, and
frequently several pairs have nests near together. The nest is usually
built in a cardoon thistle, two or three feet above the ground, and is
made of dry grass. The eggs are four, pointed, white or with a bluish
tinge, and speckled irregularly with deep brown, the spots being closer
and sometimes confluent at the broad end.
Concerning the plumage of this species Mr. Barrows writes:--"Late in
March, 1881, we found this species in large flocks on the Pigué, and it
was a beautiful sight to see a hundred or more fluttering about among
the snowy plumes of the pampas grass, and displaying their rich black
and yellow dress. Unlike most other birds obtained at that time, their
plumage seemed nearly as bright and fresh as in summer."
99. AGELÆUS RUFICAPILLUS, Vieill.
(RED-HEADED MARSH-BIRD.)
+Agelæus ruficapillus+, _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 347. +Xanthosomus
ruficapillus+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 159 (Buenos
Ayres); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 37; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 602
(Salta, Catamarca). +Chrysomus frontalis+, _Burm. La-Plata
Reise_, ii. p 492 (Paraná).
_Description._--Glossy blue-black; crown of head and middle of
throat dark chestnut; bill and legs black: whole length 7·5 inches,
wing 3·7, tail 2·9.
_Hab._ Argentina and Paraguay.
The sexes are alike in this species: the crown of the head is rufous,
and with this exception the whole plumage a rich glossy blue-black. The
beauty of the bird and its delicate, plaintive voice would no doubt make
it a favourite with man if he saw more of it, only it lives and breeds
in marshes, and does not come near his habitations. The Red-heads are
gregarious and migratory. The flock can scarcely be said to break up in
the breeding-season, as the birds all make their nests near together in
the reeds. The nest is placed about one or two feet above the water, is
about six inches in depth, and made of leaves and aquatic grasses woven
together. The eggs are four, pointed, with a white or pale bluish
ground, and spotted with black at the larger end.
The song of the Red-head is quite unique in character. It begins with a
low, hollow-sounding note, then the voice changes to a clear, sorrowful
tone, rising in a rapid succession of short notes, and falling again in
longer ones.
After the breeding-season the birds fly about in flocks of two or three
hundred individuals, and sing in concert on the trees.
Their chirp has a peculiar metallic sound, and can be imitated by
tapping on the edge of a copper bell with the finger-nail.
100. LEISTES SUPERCILIARIS, Bp.
(RED-BREASTED MARSH-BIRD.)
+Leistes superciliaris+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 333 (Buenos
Ayres); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 38; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877,
p. 175 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 602 (Salta);
_Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 136 (Entrerios); _Scl.
Cat. B._ xi. p. 349. +Trupialis guianensis+, _Burm. La-Plata
Reise_, ii. p. 490 (Banda Oriental).
_Description._--Brownish black; superciliaries pale brown; bend of
the wing and body beneath from the chin to the middle of the belly
bright scarlet; bill and legs black; length 7·0 inches, wing 4·0,
tail 2·5. _Female_ pale brown, above variegated with black, below
stained with red on the breast; flanks and lower belly striated with
black; tail cinereous brown, with black cross bars.
_Hab._ Argentina, Paraguay, and E. Brazil.
The most interesting point concerning this species is the very great
difference in habits, as well as appearance, existing between the sexes.
In form it resembles the Starling of Europe, but is a trifle smaller and
has a shorter tail. The male is black, the upper parts faintly mottled
with yellowish grey; there is a straw-coloured stripe over the eye; the
throat and breast bright crimson. The female is a smaller bird, and in
colour dull fulvous grey, mottled with fuscous; the red tint on the
breast scarcely perceptible.
These birds are migratory, and appear everywhere in the eastern part of
the Argentine country early in October, arriving singly, after which
each male takes up a position in a field or open space abounding with
coarse grass and herbage, where he spends most of the time perched on
the summit of a tall stalk or weed, his glowing crimson bosom showing at
a distance like some splendid flower above the herbage. At intervals
of two or three minutes he soars vertically up to a height of twenty
or twenty-five yards to utter his song, composed of a single long,
powerful, and rather musical note, ending with an attempt at a flourish,
during which the bird flutters and turns about in the air; then, as
if discouraged at his failure, he drops down, emitting harsh guttural
chirps, to resume his stand. Meanwhile, the female is invisible, keeping
closely concealed under the long grass. But at length, attracted perhaps
by the bright bosom and aerial music of the male, she occasionally
exhibits herself for a few moments, starting up with a wild, zigzag
flight, like a Snipe flushed from its marsh, and, darting this way and
that, presently drops into the grass once more. The moment she appears
above the grass the male gives chase, and they vanish from sight
together. Thus, while in colour, habits, language, and even in its
manner of soaring up like a rocket to let off its curious melody, the
male is the most conspicuous of small birds, the female, acted on in an
opposite direction by natural selection, has been, so to speak, effaced.
While flying, they do not look like birds of the same species: the male
moves with wings rapidly fluttered, like a Starling, but with a slower,
more laborious flight, and without deviating; the female, in her
eccentric movements in the air, reminds one of a large moth driven from
its hiding-place, and flying about confused with the glare of noon.
The nest is made of dry grass on the ground, so cunningly concealed that
it is most difficult to find. The eggs are four, white, spotted with
reddish brown. When they have young, I have never been able to detect
the female flying about in search of food.
All through the summer these birds are solitary, but when migrating in
the autumn, though many are seen travelling singly, and appear very
conspicuous as they fly laboriously in a straight line, at an altitude
of about twenty yards from the surface, others are seen making
their journey in small flocks or parties composed of six to a dozen
individuals. These are the males. The females travel separately, in twos
or threes or singly, flying nearer to the earth, with frequent pauses,
when the wings cease beating, and intervals of gliding, also darting
occasionally to one side, as if the bird had suddenly taken fright.
101. AMBLYRHAMPHUS HOLOSERICEUS (Scop.).
(SCARLET-HEADED MARSH-BIRD.)
+Amblyrhamphus holosericeus+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 114 (Buenos
Ayres); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 37; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877,
p. 174 (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 18 (Buenos
Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 602 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows,
Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 135 (Entrerios); _Scl. Cat. B._
xi. p. 351. +Amblyrhamphus ruber+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p.
491 (Entrerios, Santa Fé, Paraná).
_Description._--Black; whole head and neck all round, and upper
breast and thighs scarlet; bill and feet black: total length 9·5
inches, wing 4·5, tail 4·0. _Female_ similar. _Young_ uniform black.
_Hab._ Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina.
Azara named this species _Tordo negro cabeza roxa_; it is also called
_Boyero_ (ox-herd) by country people, from its note resembling the long
whistle of a drover; and sometimes _Chisel-bill_, from the peculiar
conformation of the beak, which is long, straight, and has a broad fine
point like a chisel. In both sexes the plumage of the head and neck
is scarlet, of an exceedingly brilliant tint, all other parts intense
black. These birds are lively, active, and sociable, going in flocks of
from half-a-dozen to thirty individuals; they remain all the year, and
inhabit the marshes, from which they seldom wander very far, but seek
their insect food in the soft decaying rushes. They are common on the
swampy shores of the Plata, and when seen at a distance, perched
in their usual manner on the summits of the tall rushes, their
flame-coloured heads shine with a strange glory above the sere sombre
vegetation of the marshes. The long whistling note above mentioned is
their only song, but it varies considerably, and often sounds as mellow
and sweet as the whistle of the European Blackbird.
The nest is an ingenious structure of dry grasses, fastened to the
upright stems of an aquatic plant, three or four feet above the water.
The eggs are four, in size and form like those of the English
Song-Thrush, spotted somewhat sparsely with black on a light blue
ground.
The young birds are entirely black at first, and afterwards assume on
the head and neck a pale terra-cotta red, which gradually deepens to
vivid scarlet.
102. PSEUDOLEISTES VIRESCENS (Vieill.).
(YELLOW-BREASTED MARSH-BIRD.)
+Pseudoleistes virescens+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 549, et 1874,
p. 156 (Buenos Ayres); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 37; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1877, p. 175, et 1878, p. 59 (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson,
Ibis_, 1880, p. 31 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 602
(Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 135
(Entrerios); _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 352. +Leistes anticus+, _Burm.
La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 491 (Paraná).
_Description._--Above and below dark olive-brown; lesser upper
wing-coverts, under wing-coverts, and middle of the abdomen yellow;
bill black; feet dark brown: total length 9·5 inches, wing 4·6, tail
3·8. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ S. Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina.
In both sexes in this species the plumage is deep olivaceous brown,
the breast pure yellow. It is active, strong on the wing, sociable and
noisy; and being moreover a pretty and elegant bird, very common in
settled districts, and with a preference for man's neighbourhood, it
is familiar to every one, and has won amongst many competitors the
vernacular name of _Pecho-amarillo_ (Yellow-breast), for with us
yellow-breasted species are somewhat numerous. It remains all the year,
invariably going about in flocks of from twenty to thirty birds, and
feeds on the ground in the fields or on the open plain. While they are
feeding, one bird takes up a position on a stalk or thistle-top to keep
guard; when he flies down another bird takes his place; if a person
approaches, the sentinel gives the alarm, and all the birds fly off in a
very close flock, making the air resound with their loud ringing notes.
After feeding, they repair to the trees, where they join their robust
voices in a spirited concert, without any set form of melody such as
other song-birds possess, but all together, flinging out their notes at
random, as if mad with joy. In this delightful hubbub there are some
soft silvery sounds. Where they are never persecuted they have little
fear of man, but they invariably greet his approach with a loud vigorous
remonstrance.
In October the birds break up their companies to pair. Sometimes they
breed on the open plain in a large cardoon thistle, but a thick bush or
low tree is preferred. The nest is like that of a Thrush, being deep,
compactly made of dry grass and slender sticks, plastered inside with
mud, and lined with hair or soft dry grass. It is, however, deeper and
more symmetrical than the Thrush's nest, and it is sometimes plastered
with cow-dung instead of with mud. The eggs are four, very long, white,
and abundantly spotted with deep red, the spots becoming confluent at
the large end.
The Yellow-breast is never seen to quarrel with its fellows or with
other birds, and it is possibly due to its peaceful disposition that it
is more victimized by the parasitical _Molothrus_ than any other bird. I
have frequently found their nests full of parasitical eggs, as many as
fourteen and in one case sixteen, eggs in one nest. In some seasons all
the nests I found and watched were eventually abandoned by the birds on
account of the number of parasitical eggs dropped in them. I have also
so frequently found parasitical eggs on the ground under the nest that I
believe the Yellow-breast throws out some of these foreign eggs, and in
one instance I was quite sure that this had happened. The nest was in
a cardoon bush, and contained five eggs--two of the Yellow-breast
and three parasitical. These three were of the variety most thickly
mottled with red, and consequently closely resembling the eggs of the
Yellow-breast. I was surprised to find five more eggs of the Cow-bird
on the ground, close together, and about three feet from the bush; and
these five eggs were all pure white and unspotted. Naturally I asked,
How came these eggs in such a position? They had not fallen from the
nest, which was very deep, contained few eggs, and was scarcely thirty
inches above the ground. Then they were all white, while those in the
nest were mottled. That the eggs had been laid in the nest I felt
certain; and the only way I can account for their being in the place
where I found them is that the Yellow-breast itself removed them, taking
them up in its bill and flying with them to the ground. If I am right,
we must believe that this individual Yellow-breast had developed an
instinct unusual in the species, which enables it to distinguish, and
cast out of its nest, eggs very different from its own--an instinct, in
fact, the object of which would be to counteract the parasitical habit
of _Molothrus_. What would be the effect of such an instinct should the
species acquire it? Doubtless it would be highly prejudicial to the
parasitical birds laying white eggs, but favourable to those laying
mottled eggs. This would be natural selection operating in a very
unusual manner; for the Yellow-breast, or other species, would improve
another to its own detriment, since the more the parasitical eggs
assimilated to its own, the greater would be the likelihood of
their being preserved. The perfect similarity of the eggs of _M.
rufoaxillaris_ to those of _M. badius_ perhaps was brought about in this
way. But, it may be added, if besides the Yellow-breast some one other
species laying very different eggs (a _Zonotrichia_ or _Tyrannus_, for
instance) should also acquire this distinguishing habit, and eject all
eggs unlike its own from its nest, the habit in the two or more species
would ultimately cause the extinction of the parasite.
It might throw some light on this obscure subject to examine, for
several successive summers, a large number of nests, to ascertain
whether the nests of the Yellow-breast are often found without any
white unspotted eggs, or if the same proportional number of white
(parasitical) eggs are found in the nests of the Yellow-breast,
Scissor-tail, Song-Sparrow, Pipit, and other species.
103. TRUPIALIS MILITARIS (Linn.).
(PATAGONIAN MARSH-STARLING.)
+Sturnella militaris+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 548 (Rio Negro);
_Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 38; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 33, et
1878, p. 394 (Chupat). +Sturnella loica+, _Döring, Exp. al
Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 41 (R. Colorado, R. Negro). +Trupialis
militaris+, _Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 356. +Trupialis loyca+, _Burm.
La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 491 (Mendoza).
_Description._--Above brown, especially on the head and back
variegated with black; superciliaries in front of the eye red,
behind the eye white; beneath black; throat, middle of the neck,
breast, and upper belly scarlet; sides of belly and crissum with
brownish edgings to the black feathers; under wing-coverts white;
bend of the wing red; slight rictal stripe white; bill horn-colour;
feet brown: total length 10·0 inches, wing 4·7, tail 3·6. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ Chili, Patagonia, and Falkland Islands.
Two species of _Trupialis_ inhabit the southernmost part of the
Argentine Republic, the present being confined to Patagonia and South
Chili, while its northern representative inhabits the pampas of Buenos
Ayres and Uruguay. Probably the Colorado River, which separates two
districts differing in soil and vegetation, is the boundary-line
dividing their habitats. So nearly alike are these two birds in colour,
language, and habits, that they seem rather like races than species; and
they were so regarded by naturalists until recently, when the pampas
bird was raised to the rank of a distinct species, with the name of
_Trupialis defilippii_. Unfortunately the old name _militaris_ fits the
Pampas, and not the Patagonian, Starling best; but of this I shall speak
when I describe the former species.
In form and size _T. militaris_ resembles the Common Starling of Europe,
but differs from it in habits, flight, language, and in colouring; its
upper plumage being fuscous mottled with yellowish grey, the throat
and bosom scarlet inclining to crimson. This hue varies greatly, the
breast-feathers being often tipped with white, which subdues the intense
red, and gives it a rosy tint in some individuals. The female is
paler-plumaged than the male, and has less red on the breast.
It inhabits the whole of Patagonia to the Strait of Magellan, but is
confined to the valleys or to the neighbourhood of water; and Durnford
remarks that it is a useful bird to the traveller in that thirsty
country, as its presence is a sure indication of water. It is resident,
and is seen in small parties of four or five, or in small flocks seldom
exceeding twenty or thirty in number. It feeds and lives on the ground,
and only occasionally is it seen to perch on a low bush. Its flight is
strong, and it flies about a great deal, and usually utters its song
when on the wing. The song is continued all the year, and is heard
even on the coldest days in winter; the notes are few and not highly
melodious, but are cheerful and vigorous.
The nest is made of dry grass and rootlets attached to the rushes in
moist ground, and placed close to or resting on the surface. The eggs
are five, the ground-colour white spotted or blotched with reddish
brown.
104. TRUPIALIS DEFILIPPII, Bp.
(DE FILIPPI'S MARSH-STARLING.)
+Sturnella defilippii+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 161 (Buenos
Ayres); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 38; _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._
p. 41 (Pampas); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 136
(Pampas south of Buenos Ayres). +Trupialis defilippii+, _Scl.
Cat. B._ xi. p. 357. +Trupialis militaris+, _Burm. La-Plata
Reise_, ii. p. 490 (Rosario, Paraná).
_Description._--Like _Tr. militaris_, but rather smaller, and with
the under wing-coverts black.
_Hab._ Northern Argentina and Uruguay.
Throughout the country where this species abounds it is called _Pecho
colorado_, which is certainly better than Azara's barbarous, if
picturesque, name of _Degollado_; but no happier name than _militaris_
could have been invented for it, by which it was formerly known to
naturalists; and though it was given to the bird merely on account
of the red breast, and was therefore equally applicable to all the
red-breasted species on the globe, in this case it accidentally seemed
to describe a peculiar habit of the bird, as well as its bright livery.
In size, form, gait, flight, language, and colour the present bird very
closely resembles the Patagonian Starling; but the crimson on the breast
is brighter and the upper parts are darker. Its nesting-habits are also
like those of the southern bird; the number and colour of the eggs being
the same in both species. One trivial difference in habit is that De
Filippi's Starling occasionally soars up a few yards into the air when
uttering its song. It inhabits the moist grassy pampas in the southern
part of the Buenos Ayrean province, and is there abundant and unites in
large flocks. At the approach of the cold season there is a general
movement northwards of the birds, which does not, however, extend far,
as the birds, although strong fliers, travel slowly and in a peculiar
manner; it is in this season, when the birds are seen moving in large
flocks, that the name of Military Starling strikes one as being
peculiarly appropriate. They do not journey through the air like other
migrants, but move over the ground, when the flock, composed of four or
five hundred to a thousand or more individuals, is extended so as to
present a very long front, and at intervals the hindmost birds fly over
the others and alight just in advance of them: the long front, the
precision of their movements, and their scarlet bosoms all turned one
way, suggest the idea of a disciplined army on its march.
They never perch on trees, but frequently alight on the roof of a rancho
or other elevation affording a secure footing. They are tame birds and
fly reluctantly; when approached, they usually crouch down, hiding their
crimson bosoms, and remain motionless in order to escape observation.
In disposition they are peaceful, and so fond of society that when one
becomes separated from his fellows he will unite with birds of another
kind, even with Plovers or Tyrant-birds.
On the great monotonous plains, where most of the small birds are grey-
or brown-plumaged, and in winter when there are no flowers to satisfy
the desire of the eye for bright colour, it is delightful, while
travelling, to meet with an army of these Starlings: their crimson
bosoms, less bright than the hues of some tropical species, seem then
to glow with a strange splendour on the sombre green of earth, and the
sight produces an exhilarating effect on the mind.
105. ICTERUS PYRRHOPTERUS, Vieill.
(CHESTNUT-SHOULDERED HANG-NEST.)
+Icterus pyrrhopterus+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 140; _iid.
Nomencl._ p. 36; _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 88 (Buenos Ayres);
_Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 59; _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 356
(Salta); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 133 (Entrerios);
_Scl. Cat. B._ xi. p. 368. +Xanthornus pyrrhopterus+, _Burm.
La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 493 (Paraná, Tucuman).
_Description._--Uniform black; upper lesser wing-coverts chestnut;
bill black; feet dark brown: whole length 7·7 inches, wing 3·6,
tail 3·8. _Female_ similar, but smaller.
_Hab._ S. Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina.
This interesting bird, the only _Icterus_ found in the Argentine
Republic, ranges south to Buenos Ayres, where it is migratory, and
appears in small flocks of six or eight individuals in September; but
soon after arriving these little companies break up, and the birds are
subsequently found singly or in pairs in the woods along the Plata
River.
The sexes are alike in colour, but the male is considerably larger;
the whole plumage is an intense black, excepting a rufous spot on the
shoulder, seen only when the bird is on the wing; the bill is black and
curved, the body slender, and the tail long. It is a loquacious bird,
most of its tones being low and pleasing; exceedingly restless in
disposition, incessantly passing from tree to tree, jerking its long
tail and clinging to the branches in various attitudes, while searching
for insects in the decayed bark. While thus engaged it utters a great
variety of chirping and guttural sounds, interspersed with short
agreeable notes. It also has a song of considerable merit, low and
varied in tone, with a peculiar ventriloquism in many of the notes which
produce a confusing idea on the listener that the bird approaches
and recedes alternately whilst uttering them. While singing the bird
continues moving, but always concealed in the thick foliage, and it is
probably this constant turning about of the singer, and the notes coming
through leafy screens of varying density, which makes the ventriloquism
and gives so much light and shade to its mysterious melody.
The first bird of this species I shot was wounded very slightly in one
wing and fell into a stream; to my very great surprise it began singing
its usual song while floating about on the surface, making no attempt
to swim. After fishing it out it continued to sing at intervals in my
hand: how strange it was to hear this bleeding captive bird warbling out
soft, sweet notes which seemed to express only pleasant emotions! Yet
it was evident that the bird was fully alive to its danger, for it
struggled violently to escape and bit my finger savagely with its sharp
beak.
I subsequently found a nest; it was about seven inches deep, composed
entirely of lichens gathered from the boles of trees, ingeniously woven
together and suspended from the small twigs and leaves at the extremity
of a branch. There were no eggs in it, but the birds fluttered in great
trouble about me, and, what greatly surprised me, uttered a variety
of _singing_ notes, unlike their usual song, but many of them closely
resembling the notes of other songsters, which made me think that this
_Icterus_ possesses the mimicking faculty to some extent. This, however,
is a question it would be difficult to decide. It seems certain,
however, that this species is incapable of expressing any distressing
feeling, such as pain, fear, or parental anxiety, with loud harsh notes
like other birds. It is much to be regretted that Azara, who found this
species common in Paraguay, did not pay more attention to its habits and
language, which make it specially interesting even in a family so rich
in strange habits as the _Icteridæ_.
106. APHOBUS CHOPI (Vieill.).
(CHOPI BOAT-TAIL.)
+Chopi+, _Azara, Apunt._ i. p. 282. +Aphobus chopi+, _Scl. Cat. B._
xi. p. 405. +Psarocolius unicolor+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii.
p. 494 (Mendoza).
_Description._--Uniform black, slightly resplendent; bill and feet
black; lower mandible sulcated: whole length 9·2 inches, wing 5·2,
tail 4·0. _Female_ similar, but smaller and duller; bill not
sulcated.
_Hab._ S. Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru.
The Chopi, which is said to be quite common in Paraguay, is only found
in the north-eastern part of the Argentine Republic, consequently I have
never seen it, except as a cage-bird; nor is there anything about it in
the notes of recent collectors and travellers who have visited the upper
waters of the Plata. This is, however, not to be regretted, since
Azara gave a very full and spirited account of this species in his
'Apuntamientos;' although it certainly does seem strange that the Chopi
should have had two careful observers of its habits fully a century ago,
namely, Azara and his friend and fellow-naturalist the priest Noseda,
and not one since. Evidently Azara was very familiar with this bird, for
he describes it lovingly and at great length, his history of it being
one of the most charming things in his work. According to him the
Chopi is a highly sagacious bird, and although a frequent visitor to
courtyards and verandahs of houses in Paraguay, too shy and suspicious
to be caught with snares. It has a strong and easy flight, and readily
attacks any large bird passing near, following it persistently in
the air, or, pouncing down, fastens itself on its enemy's back. If
the Caracara Eagle (_Polyborus_) alights in order to shake off its
persecutor, the Chopi perches at a distance of a few feet, where it
assumes an indifferent manner; but no sooner does the Caracara allow its
attention to wander from its adversary, then it is again subjected to
fresh insult. These attacks on so large and powerful a species may be
regarded as mere impertinences, but by practising them the Chopi is soon
able to rid himself of the presence of any unwelcome bird. From a long
distance he recognizes an enemy, by its figure, or even its shadow, and
warns all birds of the coming danger with a loud whistle, which at
once sends them into hiding, while the Chopi goes bravely out to the
encounter; and the result is invariably a victorious song on his part,
beginning with the sound of his own name, and running through a variety
of whistled notes. He also sings well in captivity and when his mate is
incubating; and his voice is first heard welcoming the dawn from the
eaves and tiled roofs of houses where he roosts. The pairing-season is
in November; and, Noseda adds, the breeding-place is a hole in a bank,
or tree-trunks, or in a wall under the eaves, and occasionally the nest
is made in the small branches of an orange or other close-leafed tree,
and is built of sticks and straws carelessly disposed, with a few
feathers for lining. The eggs are four, and white.
It may be added that between Azara and his friend Noseda there was
a great controversy respecting the parasitical habits of the common
Cow-bird (_Molothrus_), which were first discovered by the former; and
disbelieved in by Noseda, who accounted for the fact that the Cow-bird
is never seen to make a nest by supposing that species to be the
year-old young of the Chopi, which, he further imagined, took three
years to acquire the adult form and plumage. Such an idea might seem to
discredit Noseda as a naturalist, if we did not remember that Gilbert
White at the same period was trying to prove the hybernation of Swallows
in England. The whole of the discussion appears in the 'Apuntamientos,'
under the description of the Chopi; and Noseda is there allowed to
state his own case; after which the better observer, Azara, gives five
objections to the theory, any one of which would be sufficient to
demolish it.
Fam. XII. CORVIDÆ, or CROWS.
The typical black Crows and Ravens do not penetrate into the New World
so far south as South America, their range terminating in the highlands
of Guatemala and the islands of the Greater Antilles. They have,
however, as representatives in South America several allied groups, clad
mostly in various shades of blue, and commonly known as Blue Crows and
Blue Jays. Two of these are known to occur in the woods of the northern
provinces of Argentina.
107. CYANOCORAX CHRYSOPS (Vieill.).
(URRACA JAY.)
+Cyanocorax chrysops+, _Sharpe, Cat. B._ iii. p. 120. +Cyanocorax
pileatus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 495 (Uruguay, Tucuman);
_Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 39; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882,
p. 602 (Salta); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 136
(Entrerios). +Cyanocorax tucumanus+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1883, p. 216
(Tucuman).
_Description._--Above black, slightly glossed with purple; head,
throat, and breast black, the plumes of the crown forming a crest;
nape greyish blue, deepening into purple on the hind neck; above the
eye a blue spot; below the eye a second spot and a patch at the base
of the lower mandible purple; under surface and tip of the tail
creamy yellow; bill and feet black: total length 14 inches, wing
6·3, tail 7·1.
_Hab._ Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Northern Argentina.
"This Blue Jay is very common about the woods at Campo Colorado (Salta).
It is remarkably tame and inquisitive, and has a great variety of
peculiar grating metallic notes. On the sierras of Totoral I likewise
met with it; and it is found as far south as Tucuman and Catamarca."
(_White._) According to Azara it is abundant in Paraguay and familiar
with man, coming a great deal about the houses. The vernacular name
there is _Acahé_.
108. CYANOCORAX CÆRULEUS (Vieill.).
(AZURE JAY.)
+Cyanocorax cæruleus+, _Sharpe, Cat. Birds_, iii. p. 126; _White, P.
Z. S._ 1882, p. 603 (Misiones). +Cyanocorax azureus+, _Scl. et
Salv. Nomencl._ p. 40.
_Description._--Head all round, neck, and throat down to upper part
of breast black; all the rest of the plumage fine and glossy blue;
beak and feet black: total length 15·5 inches, wing 8·15, tail 6·9.
_Hab._ S. Brazil, Paraguay, and N. Argentina.
This fine species was originally discovered by Azara in Paraguay. In
June 1881 specimens were obtained at San Javier, Misiones, by White. He
writes: "This bird is found here at times in flocks, and makes a great
deal of noise, but is exceedingly wild and difficult to shoot, so that
I had to use ball-cartridge to secure this specimen."
Suborder II. _OLIGOMYODÆ_.
Fam. XIII. TYRANNIDÆ, or TYRANTS.
The Tyrannidæ or Tyrant-birds, which play the part of our Flycatchers
in the New World, although they are quite different in structure,
contribute an important element in the Neotropical Avifauna, numbering
as they do more than 350 species. Of these 63 have already been met with
within the limits of the Argentine Republic, and the list, will, no
doubt, be further extended, as many of these birds are small and dull in
colour, and easily hide themselves in the dense forests to which they
resort.
The pampas are the special home of the Tæniopterinæ, or "Walking
Tyrants" as Swainson called them, which have strong feet and long
tarsi, and frequent open spaces. Amongst them the genera _Tænioptera_,
_Alectrurus_, _Cnipolegus_, and _Lichenops_ may be regarded as specially
characteristic of the Argentine avifauna. On the other hand, the
Elaineinæ and Platyrhynchinæ, which are eminently birds of the dense
forest, are much less numerous within the bounds of Argentina, and
are mostly confined to the wooded districts of the north. The typical
Tyranninæ form a more mixed group, some species of which, such as
_Tyrannus melancholicus_ and _Pyrocephalus rubineus_, are prominent
objects in the Argentine ornis.
109. AGRIORNIS STRIATA, Gould.
(STRIPED TYRANT.)
+Agriornis striatus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 459 (Cordova);
_Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 356 (Tucuman); _Döring, Exp. al Rio
Negro, Zool._ p. 41 (R. Colorado, R. Negro).
_Description._--Above cinereous; wings blackish cinereous with light
edgings; tail dark cinereous, with a distinct white margin to the
external rectrix, and slight whitish tips to all rectrices; lores
blackish; short superciliaries white: below pale cinereous; throat
white, broadly striated with black; bill above black, below pale:
whole length 9·0 inches, wing 4·5, tail 4·3. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Eastern Argentina and Patagonia.
This species, originally discovered by Darwin in Patagonia, is also
found in Eastern Argentina. White obtained it in Catamarca, Durnford
in Tucuman, and Burmeister on the Rio Quarto, in Cordova.
110. AGRIORNIS MARITIMA (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(WHITE-TAILED TYRANT.)
+Agriornis maritima+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 41; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1878, p. 394 (Chupat); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._
vol. viii. p. 137 (Sierra de la Ventana). +Agriornis leucurus+,
_Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 459 (Mendoza).
_Description._--Above cinereous; secondaries edged externally and
tipped with white; tail dark cinereous, the four external rectrices
with the whole outer webs and about the one-third apical part of
the inner webs white, the median rectrices tipped with white; below
paler cinereous; throat greyish white, slightly striated with dark
cinereous; lower belly, crissum, flanks, and under wing-coverts
while, more or less tinged with cinnamomeous; bill and feet black:
whole length 9·0 inches, wing 5·3, tail 4·0. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Argentina, Patagonia, Chili, and Bolivia.
This _Agriornis_ was obtained by Durnford at Tombo Point in Central
Patagonia, by Burmeister in the Sierra de Uspallata, near Mendoza, and
by Barrows in the rocky gorges of the Sierra de la Ventana.
Darwin tells us of this species that it "is a scarce, shy, solitary
bird, frequenting the valleys in which thickets grow, but often feeding
on the ground. In the interior plains of Patagonia, on the banks of the
Santa Cruz, I several times saw it chasing beetles on the wing, in a
peculiar manner, half hopping and half flying; when thus employed it
spreads its tail, and the white feathers in it are displayed in a very
conspicuous manner. I also met with the species in the lofty and arid
valleys on the eastern side of the Cordillera of Central Chili, and
likewise at Copiapo." (Zool. Voy. 'Beagle,' iii. p. 57.)
111. MYIOTHERETES RUFIVENTRIS (Vieill.).
(CHOCOLATE TYRANT.)
+Myiotheretes rufiventris+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, pp. 138,
141 (Conchitas); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 42; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877,
p. 175 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 394 (Centr. Patagonia);
_White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 603 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull.
Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 140 (Entrerios). +Tænioptera variegata+,
_Burm. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 635 (Buenos Ayres), _Hudson, P. Z. S._
1870, pp. 333, 545, et 1871, p. 260 (Buenos Ayres).
_Description._--Above and below smoky grey, clear on the head and
breast; belly, crissum, and under wing-coverts bright rufous; wings
black, inner secondaries bright chestnut terminated with white,
outer secondaries black, tipped with white; wing-coverts grey,
margined with white; tail black, outer margins of external pair of
rectrices and tips of all whitish; two outer primaries emarginated;
bill and feet black: whole length 9·5 inches, wing 6·7, tail 3·8.
_Female_ similar, but outer primaries not emarginated.
_Hab._ Patagonia, Argentina, and Paraguay.
There is a striking resemblance to a Thrush in this species, when one
sees it running on the ground with its beak somewhat elevated; but when
it stands or perches, opening and closing its broad tail with a graceful
fan-like motion, the resemblance to the stiff automatic _Turdus_ grows
less, and when it flies vanishes altogether--its long wings being as
sharply pointed as those of the Peregrine Falcon, while its motions in
the air have a Gull-like grace and buoyancy.
It is a very pretty bird; the upper plumage is grey tinged with rufous,
the throat pure dark grey, breast and belly rufous, wing-coverts light
silvery grey, remiges and rectrices dark. Azara classed it under the
name of _Pepoaza_ (banded-wing) with the _Tæniopteræ_, to which it comes
very near in form, flight, language, and habits, though it has longer
legs and runs more on the ground. Its summer home is in Southern
Patagonia, but its breeding-habits are not known; in winter it migrates
north, and in May is found scattered over the pampas, where it is
usually called by the country people 'Chorlo,' a name for all Plovers;
for while running swiftly about on the ground, often associating with
flocks of Plover, it has a certain resemblance to them. From the hue of
its plumage it is also called 'El Chocolate,' a name I have thought it
best to preserve.
These birds are very sociable, going in small flocks, usually of from
half a dozen to twenty individuals; they are restless and active, and
quick and graceful in all their movements, and seek their food on the
ground, chiefly coleopterous insects, on the great level plains they
inhabit. While on the wing they pursue each other playfully in the air,
and also attack and chase passing birds of other kinds, apparently in a
sportive spirit. Occasionally they perch on a thistle-top or low bush,
but never on trees. Their only language is a long, low, plaintive
whistle, heard usually on warm still days in winter.
112. TÆNIOPTERA NENGETA (Linn.).
(PEPOAZA TYRANT.)
+Tænioptera nengeta+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 459 (Paraná);
_Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 42; _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._
viii. p. 137 (Entrerios); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 603
(Misiones).
_Description._--Above cinereous; lores white; wings black, coverts
cinereous; a well-marked speculum at the base of the primaries and
the edgings of the outer secondaries white; tail black, tipped
with whitish cinereous, basal one-third of tail white; below pale
cinereous, middle of throat white, with blackish stripe on each
side; middle of belly, flanks, crissum, and under tail-coverts
white; bill horn-colour; feet black: whole length 9·0 inches, wing
5·0, tail 3·5. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentine Republic, and Bolivia.
To this species Azara gives the name of _Pepoazá_, the Guarani for
Barred-wing; and _Pepoaza_ was used by him as a generic name for
the small, well-defined group now placed in the genus _Tænioptera_,
comprising eight known species. Most of these birds have some
conspicuous wing-mark. They inhabit the southern portion of the
South-American continent, from South Brazil and Bolivia to the Straits
of Magellan, and are most numerous on the open pampas and in Patagonia.
In size they do not vary greatly, the largest being about nine inches
long, the smallest about seven. In colour they are grey, or, more
frequently, white relieved with black or grey, one species (_T.
rubetra_) being rufous. Their legs are long, and they run on the ground
like _Myiotheretes rufiventris_, feeding, to some extent, in the same
manner; but they also occasionally pursue and capture insects on the
wing, like the typical Tyrant-birds that seldom or never alight on
the ground. They have likewise another and unique preying-habit,
intermediate between the Plover-like habits of _Agriornis_,
_Myiotheretes_, and _Muscisaxicola_, and the Swallow- or Flycatcher-like
habits of the true Tyrants. The bird perches itself on an elevation--the
summit of a stalk, or bush, or even of a low tree--to watch like a
Flycatcher for its insect prey; only instead of looking about for
passing insects, it gazes intently down at the ground, just as a
Kingfisher does at the water, and when it spies a beetle or grasshopper,
darts down upon it, not, however, to snatch it up with the bill as other
Tyrants do, but it first grasps it with its feet, then proceeds to
despatch it, swaying about and opening its wings to keep its own
balance, just as an Owl is seen to do when it grasps a mouse or other
small animal in its claws. After devouring the insect on the spot, it
flies back to its perch to resume the watch. They are very restless,
active, playful birds, and seldom remain long on one spot, apparently
finding it irksome to do so; but I have seen the _T. irupero_ occupy
the same perch for hours every day while looking out for insects.
As an English generic name for this small interesting group might be
useful, I would suggest _Ground-gazers_ or _Ground-watchers_, which
describes the peculiar preying-habit of these birds.
The Pepoazá is a swift, active, graceful bird, with a strong, straight
beak, hooked at the point, and a broad tail four inches long, the total
length of the bird being nine inches. The throat and space between the
beak and eye are white; all the rest of the body, also the wing- and
tail-coverts, light grey; tail and wing-quills black, with a pure white
band across the base of the primaries. The tertiaries and rectrices are
tipped with pale rufous grey.
It inhabits Brazil south of the equator, Bolivia and Paraguay, also the
northern provinces of the Argentine Republic. Mr. Barrows gives the
following account of its lively habits in Entrerios:--"They are commonly
seen perched on fences or the tops of bushes or trees in open ground,
frequently making sallies for winged insects, or dropping to the ground
to catch a grasshopper or worm. When shot at while perched and watching
you, they almost invariably leave the perch at the flash, pitching
forward and downward, and usually evading the shot, even at short range.
Several times I have secured them by shooting about a foot below and two
feet in front of them as they sat, but they do not always fly in this
direction. The rapidity of their flight when frightened, or when
quarrelling, is simply astonishing. I have seen one chase another for
three or four minutes, doubling, turning, twisting, and shooting, now
brushing the grass, and now rising to a height of at least two or three
hundred feet, and all the movements so rapid that the eye could scarcely
follow them; and at the end of it each would go back to the top of his
own chosen weed-stalk, apparently without a feather ruffled."
Azara found this species breeding in a hole in a bank; and Mr. Dalgleish
has described a nest, taken from a tree in Uruguay, as a somewhat slight
structure, four inches in diameter, formed of sticks and fibres,
lined with fine grass and a few feathers. It contained three eggs,
pear-shaped, white, with large well-defined spots of reddish brown.
113. TÆNIOPTERA CORONATA (Vieill.).
(BLACK-CROWNED TYRANT.)
+Tænioptera coronata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 459; _Scl. et
Salv. Nomencl._ p. 42; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 176 (Buenos
Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 603 (Buenos Ayres); _Döring,
Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 42 (R. Colorado); _Barrows,
Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 138 (Entrerios). +Xolmis
variegata+, _Darw. Zool. Voy. Beagle_, iii. p. 54 (Santa Fé).
_Description._--Above cinereous; rounded summit of head black,
broad front and band encircling the black of the head white; wings
blackish, upper coverts cinereous, edgings of middle and greater
coverts and of outer secondaries whitish; tail blackish, margins of
outer webs of external tail-feathers white; beneath white; under
wing-coverts and a large portion of the inner webs of the remiges,
except of the two outer primaries, white; bill and feet black; whole
length 7·8 inches, wing 4·6, tail 3·1. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Argentine Republic, Uruguay, and Paraguay.
In this species the sexes are alike. The crown is black and composed
of loose feathers; the forehead, and a broad line over the eye which
extends nearly round the head, also all the under plumage, pure white;
neck and back clear grey; quills black.
This Tyrant is a solitary bird, though often many individuals are found
within call of each other, and they sometimes even unite in a loose
flock. It is found throughout the Argentine country, ranging south to
the Rio Negro, in Patagonia, but abounds most on the Buenos-Ayrean
pampas, where it performs a partial migration. Most of the _Tæniopteræ_
seek their food by preference on the bare level ground, or where the
vegetation is most scanty. This species varies somewhat in habits, and
seldom runs on the ground, and chiefly inhabits the desert plains,
where the large grasses flourish. On one occasion when I was with an
expedition on the pampas for several weeks, every day a number of these
birds would gather and follow us; perched here and there on the tall
grasses with their bosoms toward us, they often looked at a distance
like large white flowers. Old gauchos have told me that fifty years ago
they were abundant all over the pampas, but have disappeared wherever
the giant grasses have been eaten down, and have given place to a
different vegetation.
Their note is a long, low whistle, the usual language of the
_Tæniopteræ_; but in this species it is very like a human whistle, on
account of which the bird is named _Boyero_ (ox-driver) on the pampas.
One severe winter great numbers of them appeared in the neighbourhood
of Buenos Ayres, and it was amusing to see the dogs thrown into a great
state of excitement by the low whistling notes heard perpetually from
all sides. Every few moments they would start up and stare about them
to ascertain where the deceptive call came from, and in spite of many
disappointments they would occasionally all rush away, loudly barking,
into the plantation, convinced that some person there was whistling to
call them.
The Black-Crown makes a somewhat shallow nest in a bush or large clump
of grass, and lays four white eggs, with large dark red spots, chiefly
at the big end.
I cannot refrain from quoting a passage from Mr. Barrows's paper,
descriptive of the lively temper and habits of this bird:--
"This species frequently persecutes smaller birds in a way which seems
to imply pure love of mischief. One afternoon in July, when the river
had fallen some feet after an unusual rise, I was walking along the
lines of drift left by the falling water, and watching the different
birds which were picking up insects or other food from the wind-rows.
A score or two of the little chestnut-backed _Centrites_ were running
about, and here and there a _Tænioptera_ was looking quietly on.
Suddenly I heard a chirp of distress, and looking up saw one of
these small birds apparently making every effort to escape from a
_Tænioptera_, which was following in full chase. The two birds were
hardly a length apart and both going at full speed, doubling and dodging
in a way that would have done credit to a bat. The chase lasted perhaps
for half a minute, when the smaller bird alighted, and at once the other
also alighted and began running about unconcernedly and picking up food.
But the instant the smaller one made a start his enemy was at his heels
(or more properly his tail) again, and he was forced to alight. This was
repeated so often that I was on the point of shooting the pursuer,
when, without any notice, he flew quietly off, and resumed his usual
demeanour. It looked like a case of simple spite, for even if there were
twenty other birds about, one seemed to be followed without regard to
the rest."
I have often watched _Tæniopteræ_ of different species, also
_Myiotheretes rufiventris_ behaving in a similar way, and agree with Mr.
Barrows that it is "an _amusement_ in which the larger bird indulges
simply for the pleasure derived from the exercise of his power."
114. TÆNIOPTERA DOMINICANA (Vieill.).
(DOMINICAN TYRANT.)
+Tænioptera dominicana+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 460
(Entrerios); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 42; _Durnford, Ibis_,
1877, p. 176 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 38
(Buenos Ayres); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 42 (Azul,
Currumalan); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 139
(Entrerios, Pigué, Pampas).
_Description._--Above pure white; wings black, with a broad whitish
subapical band across the first six primaries, beyond which the
tips are blackish; tail black; beneath pure white: whole length 8·0
inches, wing 4·6, tail 4·2. _Female_ similar, but head above and
back cinereous.
_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentine Republic.
This bird ranges from South Brazil and Paraguay to the southernmost
pampas of Buenos Ayres. Its total length is eight inches. The wings
and tail are black, the former barred with white; all the rest of the
plumage in the male is pure white; in the female the upper parts are
grey.
It is to some extent migratory, and usually goes in flocks of a dozen or
twenty birds, and frequents open situations where there are bushes and
trees, also plains covered with giant grasses. They are more social in
their habits than _T. coronata_, but in other respects closely resemble
it, and are exceedingly active lively birds, and when the flock is on
the wing continually pursue each other in a playful manner.
Mr. Barrows observed them in autumn on the Pigué (southern pampas)
preparing for their migration. "Late in March," he says, "we found them
in large scattered flocks, which collected in one place toward evening,
and went through a series of aerial evolutions accompanied with vocal
exercises of a varied and entertaining kind, lasting half an hour or
more.
"I presume this was in preparation for their northward (or westward?)
migration, as we did not see them again after leaving this spot."
115. TÆNIOPTERA IRUPERO (Vieill.).
(WIDOW TYRANT.)
+Tænioptera irupero+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 141 (Buenos
Ayres); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 42; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 603
(Catamarca, Misiones); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 42
(R. Colorado); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 139
(Entrerios). +Tænioptera mœsta+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii.
p. 460.
_Description._--Above and beneath pure white; wings with the
primaries black except the innermost, which are white at their
bases and tipped with black, and secondaries which have narrow
black shafts; broad end of the tail black; bill and feet black;
two outer primaries acuminated: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 4·3,
tail 3·2. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentine Republic, and Bolivia.
This pretty species is found throughout the Argentine country, and is
well known to the natives, and usually called _Viudita_ (Little Widow),
on account of its mourning colours. It is also sometimes curiously named
_Anjelito de las Animas_, from a superstitious notion due to the intense
whiteness of its plumage and to its supposed habit of frequenting
graveyards. In both sexes the entire plumage is snowy white, except the
primaries and the tip of the tail, which are black. In habits it is
more sedentary than other _Tæniopteræ_, and obtains its food chiefly by
patiently watching the surface of the ground for its insect prey. Its
marvellously white plumage, and the habit of sitting motionless on the
summit of a bush or tree, make it a most conspicuous object, so that it
is strange to find such a bird existing in districts which abound in
raptorial species; for Hawks, I have frequently noticed, will always
single out a white or conspicuously coloured bird for pursuit, and
though the Little Widow, like the other members of its genus, is swift
and strong of wing, the feeble and the young must often fall victims to
their shining white plumage.
The Little Widow is a solitary bird, and not nearly so lively and
playful in manner as _T. coronata_ and _T. dominicana_, its surpassing
whiteness being its most interesting feature. Its nesting-habits are
unlike those of other _Tæniopteræ_, for it breeds only in holes, usually
in the bole or branch of a tree; but sometimes it takes possession of
the oven of _Furnarius rufus_ to lay in. The nest is composed chiefly of
feathers and contains four eggs, creamy white, with a few very minute
red spots, irregularly distributed. Mr. Dalgleish says, "Some eggs have
only two or three spots, none have more than eight or ten."
Mr. Barrows says:--"The adults have several of the primaries remarkably
attenuated. Young birds appear to acquire these attenuate primaries only
after a complete moult. But I took one specimen which showed one or more
primaries with tips of ordinary shape but with a line apparently _worn_
into the vane of the inner web, so as to mark out distinctly the
attenuate tip, and it seemed as if a little more wearing would cut out
a piece which would leave the primary as in the old bird."
116. TÆNIOPTERA MURINA (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(MOUSE-BROWN TYRANT.)
+Tænioptera murina+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 541 (Rio Negro);
_Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 42; _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 38
(Cordova). +Pyrope murina+, _Cab. Journ. f. Orn._ 1878, p. 196
(Cordova).
_Description._--Above sandy cinereous, whitish round the eyes; wings
and tail blackish with whitish edgings; below much paler, throat
whitish with slight black striations; belly and crissum tinged with
ochraceous; under wing-coverts and flanks pale ochraceous; bill
horn-colour; feet black; two outer primaries acuminated: whole
length 7·0 inches, wing 4·0, tail 2·9. _Female_ similar, but outer
primaries normal.
_Hab._ Western Argentina and North Patagonia.
This species inhabits the Mendoza district, and migrates south in
spring. I met with it on the Rio Negro, in Patagonia, where it made its
appearance in October. The sexes are alike. The entire upper plumage is
dull grey with a pale rufous tinge; throat, breast, and belly pale buff
tinged with grey. It is a solitary bird, restless in manner, has a swift
flight, and sits on a stalk or other slight elevation, from which it
darts down to seize any insect it spies on the ground. Its only language
is a very low whistling note.
117. TÆNIOPTERA RUBETRA (Burm.).
(CHAT-LIKE TYRANT.)
[Plate VII.]
[Illustration: TÆNIOPTERA RUBETRA.]
+Tænioptera rubetra+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 461 (Mendoza);
_Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 541 (Rio Negro); _Scl. et Salv.
Nomencl._ p. 42; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 34, et 1878, p. 394
(Patagonia).
_Description._--Above sandy brown, lores and superciliaries white;
wings black, greater coverts and outer secondaries edged with
whitish, lesser coverts like the back; tail black, outer web of the
outer tail-feathers and tips of others white; below white, with
black striations on the sides of the throat and on the breast;
flanks, under wing-coverts, and inner webs of the primaries deep
rufous; two outer primaries acuminated: whole length 7·5 inches,
wing 4·7, tail 3·2. _Female_ rather paler, throat and breast washed
with ochraceous, and outer primaries not acuminated.
_Hab._ Interior of Argentine Republic and Patagonia.
I have met with this bird at all seasons of the year in Patagonia on the
Rio Negro, and think it probable that it has no migration. It is seen in
flocks of twenty or thirty individuals, and in its lively actions when
on the wing, and in its habit of perching on a bush or elevation of some
kind, from which it pounces down on an insect seen on the ground, it
resembles other _Tæniopteræ_; but it runs about on the ground a
great deal, and in this respect is more like a _Myiotheretes_ or
_Muscisaxicola_. In its colour it also diverges widely from the typical
_Tæniopteras_ in their black and white Dominican plumage. The whole
upper parts are light chestnut, with a white mark on the side of the
head; wings and tail dark, tipped with pale rufous; throat, breast, and
belly whitish rufous, with dark lines on throat and bosom. The chestnut
hue in the female is paler and mixed with grey.
118. OCHTHŒCA LEUCOPHRYS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(WHITE-BROWED TYRANT.)
+Ochthœca leucophrys+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 42; _White, P.
Z. S._ 1882, p. 603 (Catamarca).
_Description._--Above dark cinereous, rump rufescent; wings black,
cross-bands on wing-coverts and edges of outer secondaries rufous;
tail blackish, outer web of external rectrix white; beneath pale
cinereous; lower belly, crissum, and under wing-coverts white; bill
and feet black: whole length 5·2 inches, wing 3·0, tail 2·7.
_Hab._ Bolivia and Northern Argentina.
A single specimen of this bird was obtained by White at Fuerte de
Andalgala, Catamarca, in September 1880, during a snow-storm.
119. SAYORNIS CINERACEA (Lafr.).
(ASHY TYRANT.)
+Sayornis cineracea+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43. +Aulanax
latirostris+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1879, p. 335 (Tucuman).
_Description._--Above dark cinereous; head sooty black; wings and
tail blackish, outer margins of the wing-coverts and secondaries and
outer web of the external tail-feather white; below sooty black,
middle of belly and under wing-coverts white, flanks and crissum
dark cinereous; bill and feet black: whole length 9·5 inches, wing
3·4, tail 3·1. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and N. Argentina.
Examples of this wide-ranging species, obtained by Döring in Tucuman,
are referred by Dr. Cabanis to his subspecies "_latirostris_," which
seems to us hardly distinct from _S. cineracea_.
120. FLUVICOLA ALBIVENTRIS (Spix).
(WHITE-BELLIED TYRANT.)
+Fluvicola albiventris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1878, p. 59 (Buenos Ayres).
_Description._--Above black; front half of head, narrow band across
the rump, and slight edgings to wing-coverts and outer secondaries
white; below white; bill and feet black: whole length 5·5 inches,
wing 2·8, tail 2·2. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Amazonia, Bolivia, and Argentine Republic.
The small black-and-white Tyrant is not uncommon in the marshes and on
the river-margins in the Plata district, its spring migration extending
south to Buenos Ayres. Like the Kingfisher, it haunts the water-side and
is found nowhere else. It has a shy, retiring disposition, concealing
itself in the close thickets overhanging a stream, so that one does
not often see it, notwithstanding its conspicuous white plumage. When
disturbed it emits a series of low ticking notes, or darts swiftly out
from the thicket, showing itself for a moment over the water before
disappearing once more into its hiding-place.
D'Orbigny says it makes a purse-shaped nest, of slender twigs, moss, and
feathers neatly interlaced, and lays four white eggs, spotted at the
large end with brown.
121. ARUNDINICOLA LEUCOCEPHALA (Linn.).
(WHITE-HEADED TYRANT.)
+Arundinicola leucocephala+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 334 (Corrientes).
_Description._--Black; whole head and neck and a patch on the flanks
white; bill horn-colour, base of lower mandible white; feet black:
whole length 5·0 inches, wing 2·5, tail 1·8. _Female_ above
cinereous; front and sides of head whitish; tail black; beneath
white, flanks and under wing-coverts cinerascent.
_Hab._ Colombia and southwards to Argentina.
This species, which is of wide distribution, was met with in Corrientes
by d'Orbigny.
122. ALECTRURUS TRICOLOR, Vieill.
(COCK-TAILED TYRANT.)
+Alectrurus tricolor+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43.
_Description._--Above black, rump greyish; sides of the head,
scapularies, lesser wing-coverts, and outer margins of secondaries
white; tail black, outer rectrix on each side produced, expanded,
fan-shaped; below white, patch on each side of the breast (forming
an incomplete collar) black; bill horn-colour; feet black: whole
length 7·2 inches, wing 2·8; tail, outer rectr. 2·5, middle rectr.
1·5. _Female_: above brown, rump and lesser wing-coverts pale;
beneath dirty white, sides of breast brown.
_Hab._ S. Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentine Republic.
This species generally resembles the one next described, and has, like
it, a black, white, and grey plumage. But the tail, although strange, is
constructed on a different pattern. The total length of the bird is five
and a half inches, the tail being only two and a half. The two outer
tail-feathers have remarkably stout shafts, with broad coarse webs, and
look like stumps of two large feathers originally intended for a bigger
bird, and finally cut off near their base and given to a very small
one. In the male these two feathers are carried vertically and at right
angles to the plane of the body, giving the bird a resemblance to a
diminutive cock; hence the vernacular name 'Gallito,' or Little Cock, by
which it is known.
I have not observed this species myself, but Azara has the following
paragraph about its habits:--"The male sometimes rises slowly and almost
vertically, with tail raised, and rapidly beating its wings, and looking
while ascending in this way more like a butterfly than a bird; and when
it has reached a height of ten or twelve yards, it drops obliquely to
the earth and perches on a stalk." He adds that the males are solitary,
but several females are sometimes seen near together, and that the
females are greatly in excess of the males.
123. ALECTRURUS RISORIUS (Vieill.).
(STRANGE-TAILED TYRANT.)
+Alectrurus guira-yetapa+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1878, p. 60 (Buenos Ayres). +Alectrurus risorius+,
_Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 140 (Entrerios).
+Alectrurus psalurus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 457 (S.
Luis).
_Description._--Above black, rump grey; front varied with white;
wings black, scapularies, outer margins of wing-feathers and coverts
white; tail black, two outer rectrices much elongated, denuded at
the base, with a broad inner and no outer vane; below white, broad
band across the breast black; throat in the breeding-season bare of
feathers and of a bright orange; bill yellowish; feet black: whole
length 11·0 inches, wings 3·0; tail, outer rectrices 8·0, middle
2·0. _Female_: above brown, wings varied with white; beneath white;
breast-band pale brown; tail with the two outer rectrices slightly
elongated and denuded, terminated with spatulations on the inner
vane.
_Hab._ S. Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentine Republic.
Azara named this species _Cola estraña_ (Strange-tail), but mentions
incidentally that its Guarani name is 'guira-yetapá' (Scissor-tail), a
term which the Indians apply indiscriminately to several species having
the same sort of tail.
The Guira-yetapá is a very curious little bird, with a black, white, and
grey plumage and the beak of a true Tyrant; but it differs from all its
congeners in having the skin of the chin, throat, and sides of the head
bare of feathers, and these parts in the breeding-season are a bright
orange colour. It is a feeble flier, its wings being very short, while
the two outer tail-feathers are abnormally long and peculiar in form.
Mr. Barrows says:--"The remarkable condition of the outer pair of
tail-feathers is interesting. In the male these two feathers reach a
length of nearly ten inches, the rest of the tail being about three
inches in length. The vane on the _inner_ side of each is wanting for
the first two inches, and then suddenly develops to a width of nearly
two inches, which it maintains almost to the tip, when it gradually
narrows. The vane on the _outer_ side of the shaft is only about
one-quarter of an inch wide, and is folded so tightly against the shaft
that it is quite inconspicuous. In the only two males of this species
which I have seen flying, these long feathers seemed to be carried
folded together _beneath_ the rest of the tail, and stretching out
behind like a rudder or steering-oar, their vanes at right angles to
the plane of the rest of the tail."
Mr. Gibson gives a different account, and says the flight is singularly
feeble, resembling the fluttering passage of a butterfly through the
air, while the tail streams out behind.
It inhabits Paraguay, Uruguay, and the eastern portion of the Argentine
Republic, ranging as far south as the pampas in the neighbourhood of
Patagonia. It is usually seen singly or in pairs; Azara says he saw a
flock of thirty individuals, but as they were all _females_, it may be
that in this species, as in _Lichenops perspicillata_, the females are
sometimes gregarious, and the males always solitary. It frequents open
places, such as the borders of marshes, or plains covered with tall
grasses, and perches in a conspicuous place, from which it darts at
passing insects like a Flycatcher.
Mr. Gibson found its nest on the ground amongst herbage, and describes
it as a neat structure of dried grass, containing three white eggs with
a faint cream-coloured tinge.
124. CYBERNETES YETAPA (Vieill.).
(YETAPA TYRANT.)
+Cybernetes yetapa+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43; _White, P. Z. S._
1882, p. 604 (Itapua, Misiones).
_Description._--Above hoary grey, with lineiform blackish
shaft-stripes; wings black, with large chestnut-brown patch
occupying the outer webs of the inner primaries; tail of twelve much
graduated feathers, black; outer web of external rectrices white;
beneath same as above, but rather paler; throat and crissum white;
patch on each side of the neck, and collar across the neck dark
chestnut-brown; under wing-coverts and inner webs of wing-feathers
white; bill pale brown; feet black: whole length 16·0 inches, wing
5·0; tail, extreme rectrix 12·5, middle 2·6. _Female_ similar, but
less bright.
_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Northern Argentina.
Azara found this singular species not uncommon in Paraguay, and since
his brief notice of it in the 'Apuntamientos' nothing concerning its
habits has been recorded. It has a somewhat laboured flight, he says;
lives in pairs or families, frequenting low or marshy grounds, where
it perches on the summit of the reeds or bushes, and flies down to the
ground to capture insects. It also occasionally dashes after passing
insects, taking them on the wing. It has a loud whistle, which it
utters frequently without any variation.
125. SISOPYGIS ICTEROPHRYS (Vieill.).
(YELLOW-BROWED TYRANT.)
+Sisopygis icterophrys+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 141; _Scl. et
Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 176 (Buenos
Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 29 (Buenos Ayres): _White, P. Z.
S._ 1882, p. 604 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._
viii. p. 141 (Entrerios). +Tænioptera icterophrys+, _Burm.
La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 460 (Paraná).
_Description._--Above bright olive-green, head rather greyish, lores
and superciliary stripes yellow; wings blackish, broad ends of
coverts and outer edges of secondaries dirty white; tail blackish;
beneath bright yellow, sides of breast and flanks olivaceous; under
wing-coverts whitish; bill dark horn-colour; feet black: whole
length 6·1 inches, wing 3·5, tail 2·7. _Female_ similar, but less
bright.
_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Northern La Plata, and highlands
of Bolivia and Peru.
This small and pretty Tyrant-bird is quite common in the woods along
the Plata, and is also seen a great deal in orchards and groves in the
cultivated districts. In Buenos Ayres it is a summer visitor, appearing
there in October, and is a shy, solitary bird, which catches insects on
the wing, and rarely visits the ground.
The nest is placed in a tree, ill-concealed, and very shallow: it
is built of fine sticks, and lined with fine grass, horse-hair, and
feathers. The eggs are four, pointed, pale cream-colour, with large dark
red spots, chiefly at the larger end.
The only language of this species is a very low plaintive whistle,
uttered as a faint protest when the nest is approached.
The upper plumage is olive-green; the entire under surface and a stripe
on the side of the head pure yellow; wing and tail-quills dark. Total
length 6-1/4 inches.
126. CNIPOLEGUS ANTHRACINUS, Heine.
(ASHY-BLACK TYRANT.)
+Cnipolegus anthracinus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43; _Salv.
Ibis_, 1880, p. 356 (Salta); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._
p. 24 (Patagonia). +Cnipolegus aterrimus+, _White, P. Z. S._
1882, p. 604 (Misiones). +Cnipolegus hudsoni+, _White, P. Z. S._
1883, p. 39 (Cordova)? +Myiarchus fasciatus+, _Leybold, J. f. O._
1865, p. 402 (Mendoza), ♀.
_Description._--Above dull black, a broad bar across the vanes of
the inner webs of the wing-feathers white; bill plumbeous; feet
black: whole length 6·3 inches, wing 3·5, tail 3·0. _Female_ ashy
brown; rump, upper tail-coverts, and basal portions of tail bright
rufous; wings blackish, with two white transverse stripes; beneath
pale fulvous, white on the belly; bill and feet black.
_Hab._ Northern Argentina.
Unfortunately very little is yet known about the habits of these
interesting little Tyrant-birds, for which I should like to suggest the
common name "_Spectacular_," for reasons I shall say more about when
I come to describe the _Lichenops perspicillatus_, a species which
undoubtedly belongs to this peculiar well-defined group. The plumage of
the male is, in most cases, intensely black, and there is a pure white
bar on the remiges, hidden when the bird is perched, and when it flies
made doubly conspicuous by the peculiar motion of the wings. In all the
known species the female has a dull brown plumage, lined or mottled with
dusky tints, and with some portion of the wing-quills marked with rufous
or chestnut colour.
The Ashy-black Tyrant inhabits the Mendoza district, and is also a
summer visitor in Patagonia, where it was obtained by Dr. Döring.
Speaking of its habits, he says the male is solitary, perches on the
summit of a bush or dry twig, emits at intervals a song or call composed
of two syllables, plaintive and flute-like in character, and uttered
while the bird rises up a few feet into the air. During this performance
the white bands on the wings are displayed conspicuously and a humming
sound is produced.
127. CNIPOLEGUS HUDSONI, Scl.
(HUDSON'S BLACK TYRANT.)
+Cnipolegus hudsoni+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 541, pl. xxxi. (Rio
Negro).
_Description._--Uniform dull black; a broad bar across the bases of
the inner webs of the wing-feathers white; two outer primaries much
pointed at their extremities; bill plumbeous, feet black: whole
length 6·0 inches, wing 2·8, tail 2·6.
This species is at once distinguishable from the preceding (_C.
anthracinus_) by its smaller size and the peculiar narrowed outer
remiges.
_Hab._ Northern Patagonia.
This species is found in the western provinces of the Argentine
Republic, and, like _C. anthracinus_, which it closely resembles, is a
summer visitor in Patagonia, where it makes its appearance in October.
The plumage is intense black, with the inner webs of the remiges at
their base white, but the wing-band, which is over an inch in breadth,
shows only when the bird flies. There is also a small white spot on the
flank, scarcely visible, and excepting for this speck the bird at rest
appears entirely black. When it flies the white band appears suddenly,
producing a curious effect, for the wings are opened and shut
successively and with great rapidity, making the white band appear like
a succession of flashes. All the movements of the bird are eccentric to
a degree. It selects a dead twig on the summit of a bush, and this perch
it occupies during many hours every day. Occasionally it darts after a
passing insect, but I believe it feeds principally on the ground, like
_Lichenops perspicillatus_. At intervals it quits its perch very
suddenly and revolves round it with the rapidity of a moth whirling
round the flame of a candle, the wings producing a loud humming sound,
and the bird uttering a series of sharp clicking notes. During this
performance the white wing-band appears like a pale mist surrounding
the bird. This fantastical dance over, it resumes its perch, and, until
moved to a second display, sits as motionless as a bird carved out of
jet.
128. CNIPOLEGUS CYANIROSTRIS (Vieill.).
(BLUE-BILLED TYRANT.)
+Cnipolegus cyanirostris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 457
(Mendoza): _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43; _Barrows, Bull. Nutt.
Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 141 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Uniform dull black; inner webs of the wing-feathers
margined with dull white; bill plumbeous, feet dark brown: whole
length 5·7 inches, wing 3·0, tail 5·6. _Female_ dark cinnamomeous
brown, brighter on the head and rump; wings blackish, wing-coverts
and secondaries edged with pale rufous; tail blackish brown, outer
margins of outer rectrices and inner webs of all the rectrices,
except the two middle, bright rufous; below pale fulvous, densely
striated with blackish; bill and feet brown.
_Hab._ S. Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and La Plata.
In size this species of Black Tyrant is but slightly smaller than the
one described, and the colour is also of an intense black, but the
white wing-band is less conspicuous, the borders only of the inner webs
of the quills being white. It also differs in having a bright blue
beak and red eyes. Azara discovered it in Paraguay, and described the
brown-plumaged female as a distinct species. He merely says that it sits
on the summit of a bush and darts after passing insects, but it will, no
doubt, be found to possess some curious performing habits like the other
species of the genus.
Mr. Barrows met with this species on the Lower Uruguay, in the month of
September, and Burmeister obtained it near Mendoza.
129. CNIPOLEGUS CABANISI, Schulz.
(CABANIS'S TYRANT.)
+Cnipolegus cabanisi+, _Schulz, Journ. f. Orn._ 1882, p. 462.
_Description._--Nearly uniform olivaceous slate-colour; below rather
paler; wings and tail black: whole length 6·0 inches, wing 3·4, tail
3·1. _Female_ brownish olive, below paler; wings blackish, slightly
edged with rufous; tail black, with broad rufous margins to the
inner webs, and narrow similar margins to the outer webs; bill and
feet brown.
_Hab._ Tucuman.
This is one of Herr Schulz's discoveries in Tucuman. He met with it, in
the month of January, in the mountainous districts of that province.
130. CNIPOLEGUS CINEREUS, Scl.
(CINEREOUS TYRANT.)
+Cnipolegus cinereus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43; _Döring,
Journ. f. Orn._ 1878, p. 197 (Cordova); _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p.
357, pl. x. (Tucuman, Salta).
_Description._--Dark cinereous, paler and more olivaceous on the
back and wings; edges of wing-coverts and secondaries rather
lighter; below paler, throat and breast blackish, like the head;
inner margins of wing-feathers whitish; outer primaries acuminated;
bill plumbeous, feet black: whole length 4·6 inches, wing 2·2,
tail 2·3. _Female_ brownish cinereous; cap and rump rufous; wings
blackish, tips of coverts and edges of outer secondaries whitish;
tail blackish, inner webs of all the lateral rectrices, except the
tips, rufous; beneath whitish.
_Hab._ Northern Argentina.
131. LICHENOPS PERSPICILLATUS (Gm.).
(SILVER-BILL TYRANT.)
+Lichenops perspicillatus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 457 (La
Plata to Mendoza); _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 141 (Buenos
Ayres); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 43; _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 432
(Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 21 (Buenos Ayres);
_White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 604 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull.
Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 141 (Entrerios, Azul).
_Description._--Uniform black; primaries pure white, with black tips
and bases; fleshy ring around the eye and bill yellow, feet black:
whole length 5·6 inches, wings 3·5, tail 2·4. _Female_ above dark
brown, with light brown edgings to the feathers; remiges chestnut,
with dark-brown tips; wing-coverts dark brown with fulvous
tips; beneath fulvous white, breast with dark striations; under
wing-coverts fulvous; bill yellowish, feet black.
_Hab._ Southern Bolivia, S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, La Plata,
Chili, and Patagonia.
Naturalists have said a great deal about the well-known Silver-bill (the
most important member of my "_Spectacular_" group), the question as to
whether the black and red birds are sexes or two distinct species having
long remained unsettled. Azara, writing in the last century, under the
heading _Pico de Plata_, rightly described the red bird as the female of
the black; but, unfortunately, in another part of his work he described
the female again as a different species, naming it _Suiriri chorreado_.
Darwin also separated the sexes, and gave the name of _Lichenops
erythropterus_ to the red-plumaged bird. The following extract gives
only a portion of his argument, and is interesting to read, even now,
when the question has been finally set at rest, as it shows how much
the two birds differ:--"The tail of _L. erythropterus_ is squarer and
contains only ten feathers instead of twelve: the wing is 4/10 of an
inch shorter; and the secondaries relative to the primaries are also
shorter. The red colour on the primaries represents but does not
correspond with the white on the black feathers of _L. perspicillatus_;
and the secondaries in the two birds are quite differently marked.
In _L. erythropterus_ the third, fourth, and fifth primaries are the
longest, and are equal to each other; the second is only a little
shorter than the third. In _L. perspicillatus_ the third is rather
shorter than the fourth and fifth; and the second is proportionately
shorter relative to the third, so that the outer part of the wing in
this species is more pointed than in _L. erythropterus_. The outer
claw in the latter species is only in a small degree straighter than
in the former; and this, considering that _L. perspicillatus_ is
generally perched, and when on the ground can only hop, and that _L.
erythropterus_ feeds there entirely, and walks, is very remarkable."
When one considers the habits of the two birds, even where they are most
abundant and seen continually, it is indeed difficult to believe that
they are of the same species. They are never seen associating together,
even in the love-season, and when I have watched a pair actually engaged
in constructing their nest, they appeared to keep as far apart as
possible. More than that, the male, while unfriendly towards all other
species, appears to cherish a special antipathy against the red bird;
and when one comes near him never fails to pursue it with the greatest
virulence from the neighbourhood. He is also strictly solitary, but the
red birds frequently unite in small parties, especially in autumn, when
I have often seen as many as a dozen together.
Altogether the Silver-bill has been a puzzle in the past, and it would
now appear, from some recent observations made by Mr. Barrows, that we
have not yet got to the end of all the curious points in its habits.
Without doubt it is migratory. Its range extends from Paraguay to
Patagonia, where it is not common. In Paraguay and the hotter parts of
the Argentine country it is probably stationary; in Buenos Ayres, where
it is most abundant, many individuals remain all the year in sheltered
places, and the migration appears to become more definite the further
south we get. Mr. Barrows travelled south across the pampas in the
autumn, and says:--"The species was met with at all points visited,
but south of the Azul not a single male in the black plumage was seen,
though the brown birds (presumably females or young) were met with
almost every day for nine weeks, and frequently in large numbers. Of
course I began to suspect that the males must moult into a brown suit
after nesting, as do our Bobolinks and many other birds, but I shot
specimens at various times, and all proved to be either females or young
males, and as I was confident that at Concepcion black males were to be
found through the year, I was at a loss for an explanation, and am so
still."
The male Silver-bill is entirely black, there is nothing in nature
blacker than its plumage; and, to enhance the effect, the beak is of a
very delicate primrose-yellow, which at a little distance appears white,
hence the vernacular name. The eye, and broad free skin surrounding
it, which is ruffed like an Elizabethan collar, are of the same faint
primrose hue. The secondary wing-quills are pure white, but the white
is only displayed when the bird flies. The female has the naked skin
encircling the eye, but its colour, as also that of the beak, is much
darker than in the male. Entire upper plumage dark brown; secondaries
chestnut; lower parts fawn-colour, marked with brown. The young males
are at first like the females in colour, and do not acquire the black
plumage until the end of the summer.
The bird ranges over the whole of the Argentine Republic, and, according
to Gay, is also common throughout Chili, where it is known as the
_Colegial_ (Collegian or learned person), on account of its stiff grave
manner, black dress, and spectacled appearance.
The male is a solitary bird, and feeds chiefly on the ground, running
rapidly about in open places like a _Muscisaxicola_. It is also
frequently seen perched conspicuously on the summit of a tall stalk or
bush, and occasionally making a dart into the air after passing insects,
showing in this habit his relationship with the Tyrant-birds. But he
perches on an elevation less to watch for insects than for the purpose
of his curious spectacular performance. This highly eccentric habit is
strikingly like that of _Cnipolegus hudsoni_; and I have no doubt that
all the _Cnipolegi_ possess similar habits. Both birds perch on a
conspicuous place, upright, motionless, and looking more like grotesque
little automata than living things; they both also leave the perch
suddenly, as if shot from it by means of a steel spring. This singularly
sudden movement, and the motion of the wings, rapid as in the
Humming-bird, or shut and opened alternately and exhibiting the white
wing-colour in a series of flashes, seems related to the conspicuous
white mark. In both species, also, the wings make a humming sound during
flight. The motions of the Silver-bill are, however, in some respects
different from those of the _Cnipolegus_. Springing from its perch at
intervals, it darts vertically to a height of about fifteen yards, then
turns a summersault, uttering at the same moment a shrill-sounding
little cry, after which it drops down again and alights on its perch
suddenly, as if jerked back to it, and there remains stiff, erect, and
motionless as before.
The nest is made of dry grass in a thistle-bush or clump of reeds, and
is rather deep and cup-shaped. The eggs are four in number, white, and
spotted at the larger end with dark red.
132. MACHETORNIS RIXOSA (Vieill.).
(SHORT-WINGED TYRANT.)
+Machetornis rixosa+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 458 (Paraná);
_Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 142; _iid. Nomencl._ p. 44;
_Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1874, p. 173 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_,
1877, p. 177 (Buenos Ayres); _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 357
(Salta); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 142
(Entrerios).
_Description._--Above brownish olive; wings and tail brown, the
latter terminated by a yellowish band; middle of cap occupied by a
scarlet crest; beneath bright yellow, paler on the throat; bill and
feet black: whole length 7·2 inches, wing 3·9, tail 3·5. _Female_
similar, but rather duller. Young without the scarlet crest.
_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and La Plata.
This species, found in the open districts throughout South America,
from Venezuela to Buenos Ayres, where it is quite common, has very
interesting habits. It is seven inches and a half long, has a plump
body, short wings, and long legs. The upper plumage is light brown, the
throat, breast, and belly yellow, and the male has a concealed crest of
a bright orange-red colour.
It resembles the true Tyrants in disposition, in its shrill piercing
language, and in the habit of perching and breeding in trees. On the
other hand, like the long-legged _Myiotheretes_, that lives on the open
plains, it feeds exclusively on the ground, over which it runs with a
speed possessed by few perching species. The general impression one
forms is that in manners and appearance the Short-winged Tyrant is quite
unlike any other species, though all its habits are to be found in one
or other of the various groups comprising the _Tyrannidæ_.
These birds have no migration, but pair for life, and always remain on
the same spot, and will continue to breed in the same hole for many
years, even where they are frequently deprived of their eggs. Azara saw
them sometimes uniting in small flocks in Paraguay; in Buenos Ayres they
are always seen in pairs, or, after the young have left the nest, in
families. They prefer to live near a human habitation, where there are
trees: even one tree, in which they can breed and find shelter at night,
will be sufficient to attach them to a dwelling, so great is their
partiality for the clean-trodden ground where they can freely run about
and catch insects. They haunt the cattle-pens, and become extremely
familiar with the cows, horses, and sheep, following them to the
pasture-grounds, where they are often seen perched on the back of a
horse or other domestic animal, or stationed close to its nose on the
ground, watching for insects. On the bare ground they run about with
wonderful swiftness, and are able to overtake and capture flying insects
without rising. The male and female invariably hunt together, and at
intervals fly to some favourite perch to indulge in a duet composed of
loud, rapid, shrill notes, somewhat metallic in sound. Though able to
fly swiftly when in pursuit of a passing hawk or other bird, at other
times their flight is strangely slow; the round body, short blunt wings
and tail giving the bird a somewhat curious appearance as it progresses
laboriously through the air. I have frequently seen them make the most
unprovoked assaults on birds of an inoffensive kind; possibly they are
in these attacks moved by a playful rather than by a vindictive spirit.
I once saw one drop like a stone from a height of fifty yards on to a
Pigeon perched on a leafless tree. The Pigeon fell as if shot to the
earth; the Tyrant-bird then released his hold; the Pigeon rushed away
terrified through the trees, while its persecutor rose high up in the
air and resumed its journey.
I have elsewhere spoken of the wars waged by this bird against other
species, all seeking to gain possession of the large nest of _Anumbius
acuticaudatus_. A hole in the trunk of a tree is also a favourite
breeding-place. The nest is neatly built of slender twigs and leaves,
and lined with horse-hair. The eggs are slightly oval, and densely
marked with dark brown spots or stripes on a white or brownish-white
ground.
133. MUSCISAXICOLA MACLOVIANA (Garn.).
(CHIN-SPOTTED TYRANT.)
+Muscisaxicola mentalis+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 541 (Rio
Negro); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 44.
_Description._--Above cinereous, lores blackish, cap brown;
tail-coverts and tail black, outer margins of outer tail-feather
white; below pale cinereous, passing into white on lower belly,
crissum, and under wing-coverts; chin-spot brown: bill and feet
black: whole length 6·1 inches, wing 4·1, tail 2·6. _Female_
similar, but chin-spot not so well marked.
_Hab._ Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Patagonia, and Falkland Islands.
This South-Patagonian species is one of a Chilian group of Tyrant-birds
which resemble in their habits the _Saxicolæ_ of Europe. The plumage is
generally grey, with more or less rufous colour on the crown; they have
long legs, and run swiftly on the ground, frequent open sterile
situations, and perch only occasionally on trees.
The present bird is about seven inches long; the upper parts are dull
grey, except the crown, which is dark chestnut; under surface light
grey, and tail nearly black. In the month of June I met with these birds
on the Rio Negro, on their arrival there from the south. They went in
flocks of a dozen or twenty birds; they had a swift easy flight, were
shy and restless in their manner, and uttered low plaintive whistling
notes. When a flock alights on the ground the birds all instantly
scatter, running rapidly about in all directions over the bare ground.
Occasionally one was seen to perch on some slight elevation, and dart
like a Flycatcher after passing insects.
Darwin saw this bird as far north on the Atlantic coast as Bahia Blanca.
He also found it at Tierra del Fuego, where it lives entirely on the
sea-beaches; and in the sterile upper valleys of the Chilian Andes, at a
height of ten thousand feet, where the last traces of vegetation occur
and where no other bird lives.
134. MUSCISAXICOLA RUFIVERTEX, d'Orb. et Lafr.
(RED-TOPPED TYRANT.)
+Ptyonura rufivertex+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 461 (Mendoza).
_Description._--Above clear cinereous; lores and short
superciliaries whitish; well-defined nape-patch bright rufous; wings
brownish; upper tail-coverts and tail black, outer margin of outer
rectrix white: below clear cinereous white, brighter on lower belly,
crissum, and under wing-coverts; bill and feet black: whole length
6·5 inches, wing 4·0, tail 2·8. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Peru, Bolivia, Chili, and Western Argentina.
135. MUSCISAXICOLA MACULIROSTRIS, d'Orb. et Lafr.
(SPOT-BILLED TYRANT.)
+Muscisaxicola maculirostris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 44;
_Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 395 (Centr. Patagonia). +Ptyonura
maculirostris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 462 (Mendoza).
_Description._--Above greyish brown, lores and slight superciliaries
whitish; tail-coverts and tail black, the outer web of the outer
rectrix white; below pale greyish white, whiter on the belly and
crissum; bill black, with the base of the lower mandible yellowish;
feet black: whole length 5·5 inches, wing 3·4, tail 2·4. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ Chili, Patagonia, Bolivia, Peru, and Western Ecuador.
Prof. Burmeister met with this species near Mendoza, in the mouths of
the large torrents above the city. Durnford found it near the river
Sengalen in Central Patagonia in December 1877.
136. CENTRITES NIGER (Bodd.).
(RED-BACKED TYRANT.)
+Centrites niger+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 458; _Scl. et Salv.
Nomencl._ p. 44; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 395 (Chupat); _White,
P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 604 (Buenos Ayres); _Döring, Exp. al Rio
Negro, Zool._ p. 42 (R. Colorado); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn.
Cl._ viii. p. 142 (Entrerios, Pampas).
_Description._--Above and below deep black: whole of back except
the rump and scapularies chestnut; bill and feet black; under
wing-coverts and wings below black: whole length 5·0 inches, wing
2·8, tail 1·9. _Female_ above brown, back fulvous red; tail black;
below ashy brown.
_Hab._ Patagonia, Chili, and Argentina.
The little Red-backed Tyrant comes nearest to _Muscisaxicola mentalis_
in habits, but does not perch on bushes and trees, and is less
gregarious than that bird. It is the smallest of all those varied
members of the _Tyrannine_ family which have abandoned forests and
marshes and the pursuit of insects on the wing, to live on the wintry
uplands of Patagonia, and on the sterile plains bordering on the Andes.
The male is only five and a quarter inches long. The entire plumage of
the male is intensely black, except the back, which is bright chestnut.
The inside of the mouth and tongue are vivid orange-yellow. The chestnut
colour on the female is pale, the rest of the plumage grey, except the
quills, which are dark.
Its summer home is in the southern portion of Patagonia, but its
nesting-habits are not known. In March it migrates north, and is very
common everywhere on the pampas throughout the winter. They arrive in
small parties of three or four, or in little loose flocks of about a
dozen individuals, travelling with a swift low flight. Males, females,
and young, grey like the last, arrive together; shortly after arriving
the young males become mottled with black, and before leaving acquire
the adult plumage. They appear to leave in spring all together, but from
a note by Durnford it would appear that the males travel in advance of
the females. He says:--"Males of this species were common at Chupat
throughout September and during the first few days of October. On the
5th of the latter month I observed the first females, which gradually
increased in number."
The Little Red-backs inhabit open unsheltered plains, and have so great
a predilection for bare ground on which they can run freely about, that
on their arrival on the pampas, where the earth is thickly carpeted with
grass, they are seen attaching themselves to roads, sheep-pens, borders
of streams, vizcacha villages, and similar places. They are exceedingly
restless, running swiftly over the ground, occasionally darting into the
air in pursuit of small flies, and all the flock so scattered that there
will be a dozen yards between every two birds. Mr. Barrows describes
their lively habits very well:--"I think this is one of the most
restless birds I ever saw. You cannot depend upon him to be in the same
place two consecutive half-seconds. He runs like a Sanderling, and
whenever he keeps his feet still by accident, his wings are flirted
in a way that shows his anxiety to be off. Several are usually found
together, and sometimes a loose flock of a hundred or more is seen. They
are very strong on the wing, sometimes mounting rapidly for several
hundred feet, if suddenly startled, and after a few moments spent in
circling like a Snipe, they drop again almost as suddenly as a shot, and
as if from the very clouds."
137. PLATYRHYNCHUS MYSTACEUS (Vieill.).
(BROAD-BILLED TYRANT.)
+Platyrhynchus mystaceus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 44; _White, P.
Z. S._ 1882, p. 605 (Misiones).
_Description._--Above olive, darker on the head; coronal patch
bright yellow; lores, eye-region, and ear-coverts pale yellowish;
mystacal stripe blackish; wings and tail blackish edged with
olive-brown; below clear fulvous, much whiter on the throat; upper
mandible blackish, lower whitish; feet pale yellowish: whole length
3·3 inches, wing 2·1, tail 1·1. _Female_ similar, but no coronal
patch.
_Hab._ Guiana, Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern La Plata.
A single example of this species was obtained by White in the forest
near San Javier, Misiones.
138. EUSCARTHMUS MARGARITACEIVENTRIS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(PEARLY-BELLIED TYRANT.)
+Todirostrum margaritaceiventer+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 316
(Corrientes). +Euscarthmus margaritaceiventris+, _Scl. et Salv.
Nomencl._ p. 45; _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 357 (Tucuman). +Triccus
margaritiventris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 456 (Paraná).
_Description._--Above olive-green, wings and tail blackish edged
with olive-green; whole head above, including sides and back of
neck, dark cinereous; beneath pearly white, passing into pale
cinereous on the sides; under wing-coverts pale yellowish, flanks
tinged with olivaceous; bill hazel; feet red: whole length 4·5
inches, wing 2·1, tail 1·9.
_Hab._ Paraguay, Northern La Plata, Bolivia, S. Peru, and S.E. Brazil.
This species, discovered by d'Orbigny in Corrientes, was also met with
near Paraná by Prof. Burmeister, and by Durnford in Tucuman.
139. EUSCARTHMUS GULARIS (Temm.).
(RED-THROATED TYRANT.)
+Euscarthmus gularis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 45; _White, P. Z.
S._ 1882, p. 605 (Corrientes and Oran).
_Description._--Olive-brown; wings blackish, wing-coverts tipped and
outer secondaries edged with yellowish white, forming two distinct
bands; remiges and rectrices narrowly margined with olive; head
above dark cinereous; lores and sides of the head surrounding
the dark ear-coverts rufous; beneath white, sides of the breast
greyish; chin and sides of throat rufous, like the lores; flanks
and under wing-coverts tinged with yellowish: whole length 3·5
inches, wing 1·8, tail 1·4. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Bolivia, and Northern La Plata.
This bird was observed by White near Oran, and also in Misiones.
140. PHYLLOSCARTES VENTRALIS (Temm.).
(YELLOW-BELLIED TYRANT.)
+Phylloscartes ventralis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 46; _Barrows,
Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 198 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above uniform olive; ill-defined superciliaries
whitish; ear-coverts dark; wings and tail blackish with olive
margins; well-defined spots on the tips of the two rows of
wing-coverts and outer webs of secondaries yellowish; below yellow,
rather white on the throat and olivaceous on the sides; under
wing-coverts pale yellow; bill and feet blackish: whole length 4·5
inches, wing 2·1, tail 2·3.
_Hab._ S.E. Brazil and Northern La Plata.
This species is stated to have been met with by Mr. Barrows among the
low bushes bordering the streams of Entrerios. Graf v. Berlepsch has
recorded its presence in Rio Grande do Sul (Zeitschr. ges. Orn. 1885,
p. 131), so that this occurrence is not improbable.
141. HAPALOCERCUS FLAVIVENTRIS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(REED-TYRANT.)
+Arundinicola flaviventris+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 335, pl. xxxi.
fig. 1. +Hapalocercus flaviventris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii.
p. 456 (Mendoza); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 46; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1877, p. 177 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 395 (Centr.
Patagonia); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 605 (Buenos Ayres);
_Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 199 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above mouse-brown; wings and tail rather darker,
with edgings like the back; vertex more or less tinged with rufous;
beneath yellow; under wing-coverts pale yellow; bill and feet black:
whole length 4·0 inches, wing 2·0, tail 2·0. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ S. Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, La Plata, and Chili.
This little bird is rarely met with in the desert pampas, but throughout
the settled portion of the Buenos-Ayrean province it is one of the
most common species of the _Tyrannidæ_. It arrives from the north in
September, and is very regular in its migrations, although apparently
a very feeble flier. It frequents open grounds abounding in thistles,
tall weeds, or bushes, and is consequently most abundant about houses.
It is extremely active, and occasionally darts after a passing insect
and captures it on the wing, especially soft insects, like moths and
butterflies, to which it is most partial. It subsists principally,
however, on small caterpillars and spiders, for which it searches
diligently among the leaves, after the manner of the Wren. Although
belonging to the songless division of the Passeres, this small
Tyrant-bird possesses a formal song, which the male utters with
great frequency, the only other member of the Tyrant-family that I
am acquainted with which really sings being the Scarlet Tyrant
(_Pyrocephalus rubescens_). The music of the Reed-Tyrant is weak but
curious; it is composed of five brief percussive notes, distinctly
metallic in sound, which may be imitated by gently and slowly striking
_fa la mi sol fa_ on the highest keys of the piano. To utter this quaint
little song the bird perches itself on the summit of a weed or bush,
where it solicits attention with a little chipping prelude, and then
jerks its head vigorously with each note, delivering its few drops of
sound with all the assurance of a master in the art of melody.
In October it builds a deep elaborate nest of fine dry grass,
thistle-down, webs, feathers, and other soft materials, usually in the
fork of a weed or thistle three or four feet from the ground. It lays
four cream-coloured eggs, the colour deepening to grey at the larger
end.
142. HABRURA PECTORALIS (Vieill.).
(THIN-TAILED TYRANT.)
+Pachyrhamphus minimus+, _Gould, Zool. Voy. Beagle_, iii. p. 61, pl.
xv. (Monte Video). +Habrura minima+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p.
40; _Cab. Journ. f. Orn._ 1878, p. 197 (Cordova); _Scl. P. Z. S._
1879, p. 460 (Cordova).
_Description._--Above sandy brown, with a dark-greyish tinge on the
head, which is subcrested and has the vertical feathers white at
their bases; lores and eye-region whitish; wings and tail blackish,
edged with sandy brown, which forms in some specimens well-marked
wing-bands; beneath pale sandy ochraceous, more rufous on the
flanks; throat more or less freckled with black; bill and feet
dark brown: whole length 4·0 inches, wing 1·9, tail 1·7. _Female_
similar, but without the black markings on the throat.
_Hab._ Northern La Plata, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, and British Guiana.
Examples of this species were obtained by Dr. Döring near Cordova.
143. CULICIVORA STENURA (Temm.).
(NARROW-TAILED TYRANT.)
+Culicivora stenura+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 605 (Misiones).
_Description._--Above sandy brown, striated with black; head nearly
black; lores and superciliaries white; wings and tail blackish with
slight brownish edgings; below pale sandy buff, more brownish on the
sides of the neck and flanks; bill and feet black: whole length 3·7
inches, wing 1·7; tail, ext. rectr. 1·3, med. 1·9.
_Hab._ S.E. Brazil.
An example of this species is stated by White to have been obtained by
him at Itapua, Misiones, in July 1881, but there was possibly an error
in its identification.
144. STIGMATURA BUDYTOIDES (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(WAGTAIL TYRANT.)
+Stigmatura budytoides+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 46; _Salvin,
Ibis_, 1880, p. 357 (Tucuman, Salta).
_Description._--Above greyish olive; lores and short superciliary
streak yellowish; wings blackish brown, tips of wing-coverts and
outer margins of secondaries white; tail blackish, all the lateral
rectrices crossed by a broad, white, median and second terminal
band; under surface pale yellow; bill and feet black: whole length
5·0 inches, wing 2·1, tail 2·5.
_Hab._ Bolivia, Peru, Interior of Brazil, Northern La Plata.
Examples of this species were obtained by Durnford in Tucuman and Salta.
145. STIGMATURA FLAVO-CINEREA (Burm.).
(LONG-TAILED TYRANT.)
+Phylloscartes flavo-cinereus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. 455
(Mendoza); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 42 (R. Negro, R.
Colorado). +Stigmatura flavo-cinerea+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872,
p. 542 (Rio Negro); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 46; _White, P. Z.
S._ 1882, p. 606 (Catamarca).
_Description._--Above greyish olive, lores and superciliary stripe
whitish; wings blackish, with whitish edgings to the coverts and
outer secondaries; tail blackish; outer web of the external rectrix
and broad tips of the four external pairs white; beneath pale
yellow; bill and feet black: whole length 5·8 inches, wing 2·3, tail
3·0. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Argentine Republic, including N. Patagonia.
This little bird inhabits the Mendoza and Patagonian districts, and
does not appear to be migratory, for on the Rio Negro I found it at all
seasons. It is slender in form, with a long tail, its total length being
six inches. The sexes are alike in colour; the upper parts are yellowish
grey, breast and belly light yellow. They are found living in pairs, all
the year round, in thorn bushes, and are scarcely ever seen to rest, but
hop incessantly from twig to twig, in a delicate, leisurely manner,
seeking on the leaves for the minute caterpillars and other insects on
which they live. While thus engaged they utter a variety of little
chirping and twittering notes, as if conversing together, and
occasionally the two birds unite their voices in a shrill, impetuous
song.
146. SERPOPHAGA SUBCRISTATA (Vieill.).
(SMALL-CRESTED TYRANT.)
+Serpophaga subcristata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 454
(Entrerios); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 47; _Durnford, Ibis_,
1877, p. 177 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 606
(Misiones); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 199
(Entrerios).
_Description._--Above cinereous, usually with a slight olivaceous
tinge on the rump; crest-feathers white at their bases, tipped
with cinereous, and slightly varied with black; wings blackish,
wing-coverts tipped with whitish, forming two handsome bands; outer
secondaries externally margined with the same colour; tail dark
ashy; beneath ashy white, with more or less yellowish tinge on the
belly and under wing-coverts; bill horn-colour; feet black: whole
length 4·5 inches, wing 2·0, tail 2·1. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, Northern La Plata, and Bolivia.
This species is one of the smallest members of our _Tyrannidæ_, its
total length being only four and a half inches. The sexes are alike; the
upper plumage is grey, with a greenish tinge on the back; the breast
paler grey, becoming pale yellow on the belly. There is a white
concealed spot under the loose feathers of the crown.
It is quite common in Buenos Ayres, and, probably, has a partial
migration, as it is most abundant in summer. In its habits it closely
resembles the species last described, being always found in pairs,
living in thickets, where they hop incessantly about, exploring the
leaves for small caterpillars, and always conversing in low, chirping,
and twittering notes. They also sing together a little confused song.
The nest is fastened to the slender twigs of a low bush, and is a deep,
cup-shaped and beautiful structure, composed of a great variety of soft
materials bound together with spiders' webs, the interior lined with
feathers or vegetable down, and the outside with lichen. The eggs are
two, bluntly pointed, and of a cream-colour.
147. SERPOPHAGA NIGRICANS (Vieill.).
(BLACKISH TYRANT.)
+Serpophaga nigricans+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. 454 (Paraná);
_Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 47; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 177
(Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 606 (Misiones);
_Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 199 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above dull brownish cinereous; wings and tail
blackish, the coverts and outer secondaries with slight edgings like
the back; crest slight, with a well-marked white basal spot; beneath
paler and rather purer cinereous; under wing-coverts pale cinereous;
bill and feet dark horn-colour: whole length 4·7 inches, wing 2·3,
tail 1·1. _Female_ similar, but vertical spot not so well marked.
_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, La Plata, and N. Patagonia.
This species differs markedly in habits, language, and appearance from
the last. In both sexes the colour is a uniform slaty grey; the tail,
which the bird incessantly opens and flirts like a fan, is black; as
in _S. subcristata_ there is a hidden spot of white under the loose
feathers forming the crest.
It frequents the borders of running streams, seldom being found far from
a water-course; and it alights as often on stones or on the bare ground
as on trees. Male and female are always seen together, for it pairs
for life, and the migration, if it has any, is only partial. It flits
restlessly along the borders of the stream it frequents, making repeated
excursions after small winged insects, taking them in the air, or
snatching them up from the surface of the water, and frequently
returning to the same stand. While thus employed it perpetually utters
a loud, complaining _chuck_, and at intervals the two birds meet, and,
with crests erect and flirting their wings and tails, utter a series of
trills and hurried sharp notes in concert.
The nest is generally placed beneath an overhanging bank, attached
to hanging roots or grass, a few inches above the water; but it is
sometimes placed in a bush growing on the borders of a stream. It is a
neat, cup-shaped, but rather shallow structure, thickly lined inside
with feathers. The eggs are four, pointed, white or pale cream-colour,
with black and grey spots at the large end.
148. ANÆRETES PARULUS (Kittl.).
(TIT-LIKE TYRANT.)
+Anæretes parulus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 455 (Mendoza);
_Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 543 (Rio Negro); _Scl. et Salv.
Nomencl._ p. 47; _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 30 (Cordova);
_Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 395 (Centr. Patagonia); _Döring, Exp.
al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 43 (R. Negro, R. Colorado).
_Description._--Above cinereous, with an olivaceous tint on the
lower back; head black, front varied with white, elongated vertical
crest black, sometimes varied with white; wings blackish, with
slight whitish tips to the coverts and whitish margins to the
outer secondaries; tail blackish, outer webs of external rectrices
whitish; below pale straw-colour, white on the throat; throat and
breast with numerous and well-marked black striations; bill and
feet black: whole length 4·0 inches, wing 1·9, tail 1·8. _Female_
similar, but crest shorter.
_Hab._ Argentine Republic, including Patagonia, Chili, Bolivia, Peru,
and Andes of Ecuador.
This small bird is only four and a half inches long; in both sexes
the colour on the upper parts is dull grey, on the throat and breast
ash-coloured; the belly pale yellow. It has the distinction of a slender
curling Lapwing-like crest, composed of a few narrow, long, black
feathers. The eye is white. It is found in the thorny thickets on the
dry plains of Mendoza, and is also common in Patagonia. In its habits
it closely resembles _Serpophaga subcristata_; lives always in pairs,
perpetually moves about in a singularly deliberate manner while
searching through the bush for small insects, the two birds always
talking together in little chirping notes, and occasionally bursting out
into a little shrill duet. It builds a deep, neat nest of fine dry grass
and lined with feathers, in a low thorn, and lays two white eggs.
149. ANÆRETES FLAVIROSTRIS, Scl. et Salv.
(YELLOW-BILLED TIT-TYRANT.)
+Anæretes flavirostris+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1876, p. 355; 1879,
p. 613.
_Description._--Above brownish olive; head black, mixed with white
and surmounted by narrow elongated black crest-feathers; wings
blackish, outer web of external rectrix whitish; beneath pale
stramineous, throat and breast white, densely striated with black;
under wing-coverts white; bill yellowish, with a black tip; feet
black: whole length 4·2 inches, wing 2·1, tail 2·0.
_Hab._ Bolivia and N. Argentina.
A specimen of this species was procured, at Cosquin, near Cordova, by
White.
150. CYANOTIS AZARÆ, Naum.
(MANY-COLOURED TYRANT.)
+Cyanotis azaræ+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 47; _Durnford, Ibis_,
1877, p. 177 (Buenos Ayres, Centr. Patagonia); _Gibson, Ibis_,
1880, p. 32 (Buenos Ayres); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p.
43 (R. Colorado, R. Negro); _Barrows, Nutt. Bull. Orn. Cl._ viii.
p. 200 (Entrerios, Carhué, Pampas).
_Description._--Above dark bronzy green; head black; superciliaries
yellow; vertical spot crimson; wings black; broad tips of the lesser
wing-coverts and broad edgings of some of the secondaries white,
forming a large white bar on the wing; tail black, greater part of
outer pair of rectrices and outer web and broad tip of next pair and
narrow tips of third pair white; beneath bright ochreous yellow;
chin whitish; crissum crimson; incomplete band across the lower
breast black; under wing-coverts white; bill black; feet dark
flesh-colour: whole length 4·2 inches, wing 2·1, tail 1·7. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ La Plata, Chili, and Western Peru.
This charming little bird is variously called by the country people
All-coloured or Seven-coloured. Azara called it "The King"--a name which
this species deserves, he says, not only on account of the crown of
loose feathers on its head, but because it is exceeded by few birds in
beauty. It is the most beautiful bird found in Chili, says Gay; and
Darwin, who is seldom moved to express admiration, calls it "an
exquisitely beautiful little bird." There are many species possessing
a more brilliant plumage, none with so great a variety of distinct
colours; for on its minute body, which is less than that of the
House-Wren, are seen black, white, green, blue, orange, yellow, and
scarlet; and all these hues are disposed and contrasted in such a manner
as to produce a very pleasing effect--the olive-green and delicate,
yellow predominating, while the vivid scarlet is a mere spot, like the
bright gem or ornament which serves to set off and enhance the beauty of
the dress. The whole under plumage is pure lovely yellow, while a broad
mark of velvet-black extends belt-wise from the bend of each wing, but
without meeting in the centre of the bosom. The sides of the head are
deep blue; over the blue runs a bright yellow stripe, surmounted with
the loose, slender, almost hair-like feathers of the crown, which stand
partially erect, and are blue mixed with black, with vivid scarlet in
the centre. Above, from the back of the head to the tail, the colour is
deep green. The wings are black, crossed with a white band; tail also
black, the two outer quills pure white, and the succeeding two partially
white, the white colour appearing only when the bird flies. Moreover, as
though this diversity of colour were not enough, the soles of the black
feet are bright orange, the eye of the male delicate sky-blue, while the
female has white eyes.
While on the subject of the colouring of this species, I will mention
a curious phenomenon which I have observed many times. When the bird
is flying away from the spectator in a strong sunlight, and is at a
distance of from twenty to thirty yards from him, the upper plumage,
which is dark green, sometimes appears bright blue. At first I thought
that a distinct species of _Cyanotis_, cerulean blue in colour, existed,
but finally became convinced that the green feathers of the _C. azaræ_
appear blue in certain lights. This seems strange, as the feathers of
the back are not glossed.
The Many-coloured Tyrant is, apparently, a very feeble flier, rising
reluctantly when frightened from the rushes, and fluttering away to a
distance of a few yards, when it again drops down. Yet it is strictly
migratory. Darwin met with it at Maldonado in the month of June, and
therefore concluded that it does not migrate; but he mentions that
it was very rare. I have also occasionally seen one in winter on the
pampas, but many migratory species leave a few stragglers behind in the
same way. At the end of September they suddenly appear all over the
pampas, in every swamp and stream where there are beds of rushes; for in
such situations only is the bird found: and this migration extends far
into Patagonia. They are always seen in pairs amongst the dense rushes,
where they perch on the smooth stems, not near the summit, but close
down to the surface of the water, and perpetually hop from stem to stem,
deftly picking up small insects from the surface of the water. They also
occasionally leave the rushes and search for insects in the grass and
herbage along the border. They are very inquisitive, and if a person
approach the rush-bed, they immediately come out of their concealment,
both birds uttering their singular notes--a silvery, modulated sound,
not meant for a song apparently, and yet I do not know any sweeter,
purer sound in nature than this. All through the close-growing dark
rushes the pretty little melodists may be heard calling to each other
in their delicate, gurgling notes.
The nest is a marvel of skill and beauty. As a rule it is attached to a
single polished rush, two or three feet above the water and about the
middle of the stem. It is cup-shaped inside, and about four inches long,
circular at the top, but compressed at the lower extremity, and ending
in a sharp point. It is composed entirely of soft bits of dry yellow
rush, cemented together with gum so smoothly that it looks as if made
in a mould. The eggs are two in number, oval, and dull creamy white,
sometimes with a ring of colour at the large end.
151. LEPTOPOGON TRISTIS, Scl. et Salv.
(SORRY TYRANT.)
+Leptopogon tristis+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1876, p. 254; _White,
P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 606 (Misiones).
_Description._--Above olive; cap rather darker; wings and tail
blackish, margined with olive, the two rows of wing-coverts and
three or four outer secondaries with clear yellowish-white apical
spots; beneath pale sulphur-yellow; under wing-coverts yellow; inner
margins of wing-feathers whitish: bill horn-colour; feet brown:
whole length 4·4 inches, wing 2·1, tail 2·1.
_Hab._ Northern La Plata and Bolivia.
This bird was obtained by White near San Javier, Misiones, "amongst the
lofty trees on the river-banks." White believed that he also met with it
in the Sierra de Totoral.
152. ELAINEA ALBICEPS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(WHITE-CRESTED TYRANT.)
+Elainea modesta+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 454. +Elainea
albiceps+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 48; _Durnford, Ibis_,
1878, p. 60 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol.
viii. p. 200 (Entrerios); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 606 (Buenos
Ayres).
_Description._--Above dark ashy brown, with a slight olivaceous
tinge on the rump; head slightly darker, with a more or less
concealed white vertical spot; wings and tail blackish brown; tips
of wing-coverts, forming two transverse bands, and outer margins
of exterior secondaries dirty white; rest of wing-feathers and
tail-feathers slightly margined with lighter colour; below nearly
uniform pale cinereous, whiter on the throat and middle of the
belly; under wing-coverts slightly tinged with yellowish; bill
brownish; feet black: whole length 6·0 inches, wing 3·2, tail 3·0.
_Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guiana, Brazil, Argentina, Chili,
Patagonia.
A widely spread species, very common near Buenos Ayres according to
White, where it is found in the clumps of trees.
153. ELAINEA STREPERA, Cab.
(NOISY TYRANT.)
+Elainea strepera+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1883, p. 215.
_Description._--Above dark greyish olive; head slightly crested,
with a white basal spot; eye-ring white; wings and tail blackish,
tips of wing-coverts rufous, slight margins of wing and
tail-feathers olivaceous; beneath cinereous; middle of belly white;
flanks olivaceous; under wing-coverts pale cinereous; bill dark
brown, pale at the base; feet blackish: whole length 5·6 inches,
wing 2·9, tail 2·7.
_Hab._ Tucuman.
Dr. Cabanis established this species, which is unknown to us, on
specimens obtained by Herr Schulz in the woods of Tucuman. It is said
to have a loud voice, and to feed on berries.
154. ELAINEA VIRIDICATA (Vieill.).
(GREENISH TYRANT.)
+Muscicapara viridicata+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 325. +Elainea
grata+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1883, p. 216 (Tucuman).
_Description._--Above dark olive-green; head dark cinereous,
slightly crested, with a large basal spot of bright yellow; lores
and eye-region mixed with whitish; wings and tail ashy black, with
slight margins of the same colour as the back; below pale cinereous;
belly, crissum, and under wing-coverts sulphur-yellow; bill
blackish; feet dark brown: whole length 5·0 inches, wing 2·5, tail
2·5. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ South America.
The _Elainea grata_, based by Dr. Cabanis upon specimens obtained
by Herr Schulz in Tucuman, must, I think, be identical with Azara's
_Contramaestre pardo verdoso, corona amarilla_, upon which Vieillot
established his _Sylvia viridicata_. It is certainly, in my opinion,
the _Muscicapara viridicata_ of d'Orbigny.
Herr Schulz met with this species in the province of Tucuman, in the
month of December.
155. EMPIDAGRA SUIRIRI (Vieill.).
(SUIRIRI TYRANT.)
+Tænioptera suiriri+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 460 (Tucuman).
+Empidagra suiriri+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 49; _iid. P. Z.
S._ 1869, p. 633 (Buenos Ayres); _Cab. J. f. O._ 1878, p. 197.
+Pachyrhamphus albescens+, _Gould, Zool. Beagle_, iii. p. 50, t.
xiv. (Buenos Ayres).
_Description._--Above cinereous; wings and tail blackish, all the
wing-coverts and outer secondaries broadly margined externally
with white; outer web of outer tail-feathers white; outer edges of
primaries and narrow ends of tail-feathers cinereous; below white,
under wing-coverts pale yellowish white; bill and feet black: whole
length 5·5 inches, wing 2·9, tail 2·5.
_Hab._ Argentine Republic, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia.
This species is stated by Prof. Burmeister to be found in Tucuman and
Northern Argentina. It also occurs near Buenos Ayres, where Hudson
obtained specimens for the Smithsonian Institution.
156. SUBLEGATUS GRISEOCULARIS, Sclater.
(GREY-EYED TYRANT.)
+Sublegatus griseocularis+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 17
(Mendoza).
_Description._--Above cinereous; wings and tail dark ashy brown,
margins of wing-coverts and outer secondaries whitish; below, throat
and breast pale cinereous white; belly and under wing-coverts pale
lemon-yellow; bill horn-colour; feet dark brown: whole length 5·0
inches, wing 2·8, tail 2·5. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Southern Peru and Western Argentina.
Specimens of this species were obtained by Weisshaupt near Mendoza.
157. RHYNCHOCYCLUS SULPHURESCENS (Spix).
(SULPHURY TYRANT.)
+Rhynchocyclus sulphurescens+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 49;
_White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 607 (Misiones).
_Description._--Above olive-green, head washed with cinereous; lores
and line round the eye whitish; wings blackish brown, margined with
yellowish olive; tail dark brown, slightly edged with olive-green;
below sulphur-yellow tinged with olivaceous, throat more greyish;
middle of the belly rather brighter; under wing-coverts pale
sulphur-yellow; bill horn-colour; feet brown: whole length 5·2
inches, wing 2·6, tail 2·5. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ S. America from Northern La Plata to Veragua.
Of this very widely diffused species specimens were obtained by White,
in June 1881, in the dense forests of Misiones.
158. PITANGUS BOLIVIANUS (Lafr.).
(BIENTEVEO TYRANT.)
+Pitangus bellicosus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 50; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1877, p. 178 (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 24
(Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 607 (Catamarca);
_Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 200 (Entrerios).
+Saurophagus sulphuratus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 452.
_Description._--Above brown; head black; front, superciliaries, and
line round the nape white; large vertical crest yellow, tipped
with black; wings and tail brown with rufous margins; beneath
sulphur-yellow, inner margins of wing- and tail-feathers pale
rufous; bill and feet black: whole length 8·0 inches, wing 4·2,
tail 3·3. _Female_ similar, but yellow crest not so much developed.
_Hab._ Bolivia, S. Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina.
The Bienteveo is in its habits the most interesting member of the
Tyrannine family. It would be difficult to find two species more
dissimilar in disposition than are the Silver-bill, already described,
and the Bienteveo; the former being like an automaton, having only a few
set motions, gestures, and instincts, while the other is versatile in an
extraordinary degree, and seems to have studied to advantage the various
habits of the Kestrel, Flycatcher, Kingfisher, Vulture, and fruit-eating
Thrush; and when its weapons prove weak it supplements them with its
running. How strange it is that these two species, mentally as widely
separated as the Humming-bird and Crow, should be members of the same
family!
The Bienteveo has a wide range in South America, and inhabits the whole
of the Argentine country down to Buenos Ayres, where it is very common.
It is resident and lives in pairs, the sexes being always faithful. The
body is stout, somewhat large for a Tyrant-bird; the length being nine
and a half inches, including the beak, which is a little over an inch
in length. The wings are blunt and comparatively short, measuring, when
spread, fourteen inches. The head is large, and a broad, black band
extends from the beak its entire length, and above this is a pure white
stripe; the crown is black, concealing in its loose, abundant feathers a
brilliant yellow crest, which shows only when the bird is excited. The
upper plumage, including wings and tail, is pale brown; the entire under
surface sulphur-yellow. In both sexes the plumage is alike.
In Buenos Ayres the Bienteveo is found in every orchard and plantation:
it is familiar with man and invariably greets his approach with loud
notes--especially with a powerful three-syllabled cry, in which people
fancy there is a resemblance to the words Bien-te-veo ("I see you
well"); while its big head and beak, and strongly contrasted colours,
especially the black and white head-stripes, seem to give it a
wonderfully knowing look, as it turns its head from side to side to
examine the intruder. It is a loud-voiced garrulous bird, and has a
great range of sounds, from grating screams to long, clear, almost
mellow call-notes. It has one pretty habit, which brings out strongly
the pleasant feature in its character. Though the male and female are
greatly attached, they do not go afield to hunt in company, like the
Short-winged Tyrant, but separate to meet again at intervals during the
day. One of a couple (say the female) returns to the trees where they
are accustomed to meet, and after a time, becoming impatient or anxious
at the delay of her consort, utters a very long, clear call-note. He is
perhaps a quarter of a mile away, watching for a frog beside a pool, or
beating, harrier-like, over a thistle-bed, but he hears the note and
presently responds with one of equal power. Then, perhaps, for half an
hour, at intervals of half a minute, the birds answer each other, though
the powerful call of the one must interfere with his hunting. At length
he returns; then the two birds, perched close together, with their
yellow bosoms almost touching, crests elevated, and beating the branch
with their wings, scream their loudest notes in concert--a confused
jubilant noise that rings through the whole plantation. Their joy at
meeting is patent, and their action corresponds to the warm embrace of
a loving human couple.
I have frequently stood for the space of half an hour concealed amongst
the trees where a Bienteveo was calling to her mate, cheered at
intervals by the far-off faint response, for the pleasure of witnessing
in the end the joyful reunion of the two birds.
Except when breeding the Bienteveo is a peaceful bird, never going out
of its way to make gratuitous attacks on individuals of its own or of
other species; but in the pursuit of its prey it is cunning, bold,
and fierce. Like the true Tyrant-birds it preys a great deal on large
insects when they are abundant in the warm season, and is frequently
seen catching its prey in the air. A large beetle or grasshopper it
invariably beats against a branch before devouring it. But even in
summer, when insect prey is most abundant, it prefers a more substantial
diet whenever such is to be had. It frequently carries off the
fledglings of the smaller birds from their nests, in the face of the
brave defence often made by the parents. It is also fond of fishing, and
may be seen perched by the hour on a bank or overhanging branch beside a
stream, watching the water like a Kingfisher, and at intervals dashing
down to capture the small fry. In shallow pools, where there are
tadpoles and other prey, the Bienteveo does not mind getting a little
wet, but alights in the water and stands belly-deep watching for its
prey. I have seen a Bienteveo standing in the water in the midst of a
flock of Glossy Ibises. They are often seen, as Darwin remarks, hovering
like a Kestrel over the grass, and then dashing down to seize their
prey. Small snakes, frogs, mice, and lizards all minister to its
appetite, and with a capture of this kind it invariably flies to the
nearest stone or branch, against which it beats the life of its victim
out before devouring it. I once saw one fly out of some weeds carrying a
little wriggling snake of a very brittle species and about eight inches
long in its beak. Alighting on a gate it proceeded to kill its capture,
and at the first blow on the wood the snake flew into two pieces. A
mouse gives it a great deal of trouble, for after it has been killed it
cannot be devoured until reduced by repeated blows to a soft pulp, after
which it is with great labour pulled to pieces and eaten. Snails and
_Ampullariæ_ are also pounded until the shell breaks. In spring they
sometimes join the train of hooded gulls, guira cuckoos, cow-birds, and
various other kinds which follow the plough to pick up worms and larvæ;
but on the ground the Bienteveo is awkward in its motions, for it cannot
run like the Tyrant-birds with terrestrial habits, but only hops. At
estancia houses, when a cow is slaughtered, it comes in with the fowls,
milvago hawks, and dogs, for small pickings, being very fond of fresh
meat. It is a common thing to see a Bienteveo following a rural
butcher's cart, and waiting for an opportunity to dash in and carry off
any small piece of meat or fat it is able to detach. In the autumn they
feed very much on ripe fruit, preferring grapes, which they can swallow
whole, and figs, which are soft and easily eaten.
In its nidification the Bienteveo also departs widely from the, so to
speak, traditional habits of its congeners; for whereas most Tyrants
make small shallow nests, this species makes a very big elaborate domed
structure, and sometimes takes five or six weeks to complete it. It is
placed in a tree, without any attempt at concealment, and is about a
foot deep and eight or nine inches broad, and composed of a variety
of soft materials, chiefly wool. The entrance is placed near the top.
Outside, the nest has a very disorderly appearance, as there are always
long straws and sometimes rags hanging down; the cavity is deeply lined
with feathers, and is the _hottest_ nest I know. The eggs are five, very
long, pointed, cream-coloured, and spotted, chiefly at the large end,
with chocolate and purple.
159. MYIODYNASTES SOLITARIUS (Vieill.).
(SOLITARY TYRANT.)
+Myiodynastes solitarius+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 50; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1877, p. 178, et 1878, p. 60 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z.
S._ 1882, p. 607 (Salta); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol.
viii. p. 201 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above grey, thickly covered with numerous black
shaft-spots; concealed vertical crest yellow; lores and sides of the
head black, superciliaries white; wings blackish, primaries slightly
edged with rufous, coverts and secondaries margined externally
with greyish white; tail blackish, with narrow external margins of
ferruginous; below greyish white, with numerous black striations;
belly and under wing-coverts tinged with yellowish and but slightly
striated; bill brown, feet blackish: whole length 7·5 inches, wing
4·4, tail 3·4.
_Hab._ Brazil, Paraguay, Buenos Ayres.
Durnford tells us that this species is a summer visitor to the
neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres, but not very common. White met with
it in the forests of Campo Santo in November; and Barrows obtained
specimens among the Paradise-trees in the Plaza at Concepcion, in the
same month of the year.
160. HIRUNDINEA BELLICOSA (Vieill.).
(WARLIKE TYRANT.)
+Hirundinea bellicosa+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 51; _White, P. Z.
S._ 1882, p. 607 (Catamarca). +Hirundinea rupestris+, _Scl.
Ibis_, 1869, p. 198, pl. v. fig. 8.
_Description._--Above sooty brown; wings blackish, with a large
ferruginous red blotch occupying the greater portion of the
inner primaries and secondaries; rump and greater part of the
tail-feathers ferruginous red; apical portion of tail-feathers
blackish: beneath ferruginous red, throat greyish; under
wing-coverts and inner webs of wing-feathers, except the tips,
similar to the belly, but brighter; bill and feet black: whole
length 7·0 inches, wing 4·3, tail 2·2. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.
This Flycatcher is by no means common in Catamarca. It is seen about the
houses in pairs, but not more than one pair at a time at one dwelling,
perched upon some projection, whence it darts off into the air at
passing insects.
"The snap of its beak, as it dashes at the flies, can be heard a long
way off. Its cry is peculiar and piteous. There is no perceptible
difference in plumage between the male and female."--_White, l. s. c._
161. MYIOBIUS NÆVIUS (Bodd.).
(LITTLE BROWN TYRANT.)
+Myiobius nævius+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 51; _White, P. Z. S._
1882, p. 607 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol.
viii. p. 201 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above brown; lores whitish; concealed vertical crest
red or yellow; wings blackish, two bands across the coverts and
outer margins of external secondaries pale rufous or fulvous,
sometimes whitish; tail dark brown: beneath fulvous white; sides of
throat, breast, and flanks more or less distinctly flammulated with
brown; under wing-coverts pale fulvous; bill brown; lower mandible
whitish; feet blackish: whole length 4·7 inches, wing 2·5, tail 2·3.
_Female_ similar, but crest yellow or absent.
_Hab._ Veragua and Cisandean South America down to Argentine Republic.
This small Tyrant-bird is a summer visitor in the Plata district; it
is shy and solitary; frequents woods and plantations, and perpetually
utters, like the English Redstart, its sorrowful monotonous plaint, as
it flits about in the upper foliage of the trees.
The nest is placed in a bush or low tree, and built of various soft
materials compactly woven together, and the inside lined with feathers
or vegetable down. The eggs are four, pale cream-colour, with large,
well-defined spots of dark red.
The total length of this species is less than five inches. The
prevailing colour of the plumage is rufous brown on the upper, and
whitish brown on the under surface. Beneath the loose feathers of the
crown there is a concealed spot of orange-red.
162. PYROCEPHALUS RUBINEUS (Bodd.).
(SCARLET TYRANT.)
+Pyrocephalus rubineus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 51; _Hudson,
P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 808; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 178
(Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 27 (Buenos Ayres);
_Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 201 (Entrerios).
+Pyrocephalus parvirostris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 456
(Entrerios).
_Description._--Above very dark cinereous, crested head and body
below scarlet; bill and feet black: whole length 5·2 inches, wing
2·9, tail 2·3. _Female_ above paler cinereous, below white; breast
striated with cinereous; belly more or less rosy red.
_Hab._ S. America, from Colombia down to Buenos Ayres.
It is in vain, I think, to attempt to make more than one species out
of this widely-spread bird, though specimens from the west coast are
usually smaller.
The Scarlet Tyrant is about five inches and a half long; the neck, back,
wings, and tail are black, all the rest of the plumage the most vivid
scarlet imaginable. The loose feathers of the crown, which form a crest,
are especially brilliant, and seem to glow like a live coal amidst the
green foliage. Beside this bright Tyrant-bird even the Rainbow Tanagers
look pale, and the "Jewel Humming-birds" decidedly sad-coloured. It is
not strange, therefore, that in South America, where it has a very wide
range, it is a species well known to the country people, and that they
have bestowed on it many pretty names, most of which have reference to
its splendid scarlet colour. In the Argentine Republic it is usually
called _Churinche_, from its note, also _Federál_ and _Fuegéro_; in
other countries _Sangre de Toro_ (bull's blood), and, better still,
_Sangre_ _Pura_. Little Soldier and Coal of Fire are also amongst its
names. The Guarani tribes call it _Guira-pitá_ (red-bird); but another
Indian name, mentioned by d'Orbigny, is the best--_Quarhi-rahi_, which
signifies Sun-born.
The Churinche appears in Buenos Ayres about the end of September, and is
usually first seen in localities to which Tyrant-birds are partial, such
as low grassy grounds, with here and there a stalk or bush, and near a
wood or plantation. Insects are most abundant in such places; and here
the Churinche is seen, perched on a twig, darting at intervals to snap
at the flies after the fashion of the Flycatchers, and frequently
uttering its low, plaintive note. It is very common in the woods along
the Plata; every orchard on the pampas is visited by a few of them; and
they are very abundant about Buenos Ayres city. Going south they become
rarer; but, strange to say, a few individuals find their way to the
shores of the Rio Negro, though before reaching it they must cross a
high, barren country quite unsuited to them. The natives of the Carmen
have no name for the Churinche, but speak of it as a bird wonderful for
its beauty and seldom seen. Amongst the dull-plumaged Patagonian species
it certainly has a very brilliant appearance.
A very few days after their arrival the Churinches pair; and the male
selects a spot for the nest--a fork in a tree from six to twelve feet
from the ground, or sometimes a horizontal bough. This spot the male
visits about once a minute, sits on it with his splendid crest elevated,
tail spread out, and wings incessantly fluttering, while he pours out a
continuous stream of silvery gurgling notes, so low they can scarcely be
heard ten paces off, and somewhat resembling the sound of water running
from a narrow-necked flask, but infinitely more rapid and musical. Of
the little bird's homely, grey, silent mate the observer will scarcely
obtain a glimpse, she appearing as yet to take little or no interest in
the affairs that so much occupy the attention of her consort, and keep
him in a state of such violent excitement. He is exceedingly pugnacious,
so that when not fluttering on the site of his future nest, or
snapping up some insect on the wing, he is eagerly pursuing other male
Churinches, apparently bachelors, from tree to tree. At intervals he
repeats his remarkable little song, composed of a succession of sweetly
modulated metallic trills uttered on the wing. The bird usually mounts
upwards from thirty to forty yards, and, with wings very much raised and
rapidly vibrating, rises and drops almost perpendicularly half a yard's
space five or six times, appearing to keep time to his notes in these
motions. This song he frequently utters in the night, but without
leaving his perch; and it then has a most pleasing effect, as it is less
hurried, and the notes seem softer and more prolonged than when uttered
by day. About a week after the birds have arrived, when the trees are
only beginning to display their tender leaves, the nest is commenced.
Strange to say, the female is the sole builder; for she now lays by
her indifferent mien, and the art and industry she displays more than
compensate for the absence of those beauties and accomplishments that
make her mate so pleasing to the sight and ear. The materials of which
the nest is composed are almost all gathered on trees; they are lichens,
webs, and thistle-down: and the dexterity and rapidity with which they
are gathered, the skill with which she disposes them, the tireless
industry of the little bird, who visits her nest a hundred times an hour
with invisible webs in her bill, are truly interesting to the observer.
The lichens firmly held together with webs, and smoothly disposed with
the tops outside, give to the nest the colour of the bark it is built
on.
After the Churinche's nest is completed, the Bienteveo (_Pitangus
bolivianus_) and the Common Cow-bird (_Molothrus bonariensis_) are the
troublers of its peace. The first of these sometimes carries off the
nest bodily to use it as material in building its own; the female
Cow-bird is ever on the look out for a receptacle for her eggs. Seldom,
however, does she succeed in gaining admittance to the Churinche's nest,
as he is extremely vigilant and violent in repelling intruders. But his
vigilance at times avails not; the subtle bird has watched and waited
till, seizing a moment when the little Scarlet Tyrant is off his guard,
she drops her surreptitious egg into his nest. When this happens, the
Churinches immediately leave their nest. The nest is sometimes lined
with feathers, but usually with thistle-down; the eggs are four,
pointed, and spotted at the broad end with black; usually each egg has
also a few large grey spots. The young are at first grey, marked with
pale rufous, but soon become entirely grey, like the female. In about a
month's time the belly of the males begins to assume a pale mauve-red;
this spreads upwards towards the breast and throat; and finally the
crest also takes on this colour. The Churinches raise two broods in a
season--but if the nest is destroyed, will lay as many as four times.
The Scarlet Tyrant is the first of our summer visitors to leave us. As
early as the end of January, and so soon as the young of the second
brood are able to feed themselves, the adults disappear. Their going is
not gradual, but they all vanish at once. The departure of all other
migratory species takes place after a very sensible change in the
temperature; but at the end of January the heat is unmitigated--it is,
in fact, often greater than during December.
When the adults have gone, the silent young birds remain. Within a
month's time the sexes of these may be distinguished. After another
month the males begin to sing, and are frequently seen pursuing one
another over the fields. It is only at the end of April, three months
after the old birds have disappeared, that the young also take their
departure. This is one of the strangest facts I have encountered in
the migration of birds. The autumnal cold and wet weather seems to be
the immediate cause of the young birds' departure; but in the adults,
migration appears to be an instinct quite independent of atmospheric
changes.
163. EMPIDONAX BIMACULATUS (Lafr. et d'Orb.).
(WING-BANDED TYRANT.)
+Empidochanes argentinus+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1868, p. 196. +Empidonax
brunneus+, _Ridgw. N. A. B._ ii. p. 363 (Paraná). +Empidonax
bimaculatus+, _Scl. Ibis_, 1887, p. 65.
_Description._--Above umber-brown, more or less rufescent; lores
with a whitish spot; wings blackish, all the coverts broadly tipped
with pale rufous, forming two transverse bars; outer margins of
external secondaries of the same colour; tail brown, but not
rufescent; beneath dirty cinereous white, throat and belly brighter,
and with a yellowish tinge; under wing-coverts and inner margins of
wing-feathers ochraceous; upper mandible dark brown, lower whitish;
feet pale brown: whole length 5·0 inches, wing 2·6, tail 3·4.
_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Bolivia, and N. Argentina.
This obscure species occurs in the northern wooded districts of
Argentina.
164. CONTOPUS BRACHYRHYNCHUS, Cab.
(SHORT-BILLED TYRANT.)
+Contopus brachyrhynchus+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1883, p. 214.
_Description._--Above cinereous, lores whitish; wings and tail
blackish, with slight whitish edgings to the wing-coverts and outer
secondaries; beneath paler, whitish in the middle of the belly;
flanks with a concealed white patch; bill above brown, beneath pale;
feet black: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 4·0, tail 3·2.
_Hab._ Northern Argentina.
Herr Schulz, who discovered this species near Tucuman, tells us that it
is a summer visitor, and is usually seen perched on the tops of the
highest trees on the look-out for insects.
165. CONTOPUS BRACHYTARSUS, Scl.
(SHORT-FOOTED TYRANT.)
+Contopus brachytarsus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 52; _White, P.
Z. S._ 1882, p. 608 (Salta).
_Description._--Above dark plumbeous olive; crown darker, blackish;
wings and tail blackish; the wing-coverts and outer secondaries more
or less edged with whitish; beneath dirty white, clearer on the
throat and middle of the belly, which latter has sometimes an
olivaceous tinge; bill above blackish, beneath yellowish white; feet
blackish; first primary shorter than the fifth: whole length 5·3
inches, wing 2·9, tail 2·5. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Central and South America.
White found this widely ranging Tyrant "not uncommon in the forests of
Salta."
166. MYIARCHUS TYRANNULUS (Müll.).
(RUSTY-TAILED TYRANT.)
+Suiriri pardo y roxo+, _Azara, Apunt._ ii. p. 143. +Myiarchus
erythrocercus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 52.
_Description._--Above brownish cinereous, crown rather darker;
wings blackish, primaries narrowly edged with rufous, secondaries
and coverts more broadly with dirty white; tail blackish, all the
lateral rectrices with the greater part of the inner web rufous,
leaving only a narrow blackish border alongside the shaft; beneath,
throat and breast pale cinereous; belly and under wing-coverts pale
sulphur-yellow; inner margin of rectrices pale rufous; bill dark
horn-colour; feet blackish: whole length 7·4 inches, wing 3·8, tail
3·2. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ South America down to Argentina.
An example of this species, now in the British Museum, was procured by
White in Catamarca.
167. MYIARCHUS FEROX (Gm.).
(FIERCE TYRANT.)
+Myiarchus tyrannulus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 52; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1878, p. 61 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882,
p. 608 (Salta); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii p. 202
(Entrerios). +Myiarchus ferocior+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1883, p. 214
(Tucuman).
_Description._--Above dark cinereous, more or less olivaceous; wings
and tail blackish; wing-coverts and outer secondaries with more or
less defined edgings of dirty white; beneath, throat and breast
cinereous, abdomen and under wing-coverts sulphur-yellow; bill dark
brown; feet blackish: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 3·6, tail 3·4.
_Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Southern Antilles, and South America down to Argentine Republic.
There has been great confusion between this species and _M. tyrannulus_,
from which the present bird may be distinguished by the absence of the
rufous edgings to the inner webs of the rectrices.
Examples of _M. ferox_ are in the British Museum from Punta Lara
(_Durnford_), Mendoza (_Weisshaupt_), and Buenos Ayres (_Haslehurst_).
168. MYIARCHUS ATRICEPS, Cab.
(BLACK-HEADED TYRANT.)
+Myiarchus atriceps+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1883, p. 215.
_Description._--Above greenish olive, cap black; wings and tail
blackish, more or less margined with brownish; beneath, throat and
neck pale grey; abdomen and under wing-coverts pale sulphur-yellow;
inner margins of wing-feathers fulvous; bill dark horn-colour;
feet black: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 3·7, tail 3·5. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ N. Argentina, Bolivia, and S. Peru.
Schulz found this species as a summer visitor in Tucuman.
169. EMPIDONOMUS AURANTIO-ATRO-CRISTATUS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(BLACK-AND-YELLOW-CRESTED TYRANT.)
+Tyrannus aurantio-atro-cristatus+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 312
(Corrientes); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 53; _Barrows, Bull.
Nutt. Orn. Club_, vol. viii. p. 202 (Entrerios). +Tyrannus
aurantio-atro-cristatus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 453
(Rio Uruguay, Entrerios, Mendoza).
_Description._--Above cinereous; cap shortly crested, black, with a
large vertical spot of bright yellow; wings and tail brownish black,
wing-coverts and secondaries slightly edged with whitish; beneath as
above but rather paler, and with a very slight yellow tinge on the
crissum; bill and feet black: whole length 6·5 inches, wing 3·8,
tail 3·1. _Female_ similar, but outer primaries less acuminated.
_Hab._ Interior of Brazil, Eastern Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina down to
Buenos Ayres.
Alcide d'Orbigny met with this fine species in Corrientes, and Dr.
Burmeister in Entrerios, and again near Mendoza. In the neighbourhood
of Concepcion Mr. Barrows speaks of it as a "not very abundant summer
resident, but one not easily overlooked, owing to its habit of perching
on the topmost twig of any tree on which it alights, making forays from
time to time, when tempted by its winged prey."
In the vicinity of Buenos Ayres likewise this Tyrant is not a common
species. Like other birds of its genus it has an easy, rapid flight, and
perches on trees or other elevated places, from which it occasionally
makes a dash at passing insects. The nest, as in _T. melancholicus_,
is a very slight structure of slender sticks, and the eggs are four,
parchment colour, and spotted at the large end with dark brown or
chocolate. Mr. Barrows found a Cow-bird's egg in a nest of this species,
which makes me think that it is less vigilant and warlike than _T.
melancholicus_.
170. TYRANNUS MELANCHOLICUS, Vieill.
(MELANCHOLY TYRANT.)
+Tyrannus melancholicus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 452; _Scl.
et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 53; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 178 (Buenos
Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 608 (Salta); _Barrows, Bull.
Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 202 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above grey with a slight greenish tinge; head
with a concealed vertical crest of scarlet and yellow; lores and
ear-coverts blackish; wings and tail brownish black with more or
less of paler margins; beneath yellow, throat greyish white, breast
more or less greyish, under wing-coverts pale yellow; bill and feet
black; outer primaries attenuated; tail deeply forked: whole length
8·5 inches, wing 4·6, tail 4·0. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Mexico and Central and South America down to Buenos Ayres.
The violent and bold temper exhibited by most Tyrant-birds during the
breeding-season, a quality from which is derived the name of the family,
is perhaps carried to a greater degree in this species than in any
other; and when one spends many days or weeks in the marshy, littoral
forests, where the bird is most abundant, and hears its incessant
distressful screams, the specific name _melancholicus_ does not seem
altogether inappropriate; and that is the most that can be said of any
specific name invented by science, and which does not merely describe
some peculiarity of form or colour.
This Tyrant is one of the largest of its kind, its total length being
nearly nine inches. The wings are long and suited for an aerial life;
the legs are exceedingly short, and the feet are used for perching only,
for this species never alights on the ground. The throat and upper parts
are grey, tinged with olive on the back; the wings and tail dark; the
breast yellow tinged with green; the belly pure yellow. Under the loose
grey feathers of the crown is a fiery orange crest displayed in moments
of excitement.
In Buenos Ayres these birds arrive in September, after which their
shrill, angry cries are incessantly heard, while the birds are
seen pursuing each other through the air or in and out amongst the
trees--perpetually driven about by the contending passions of love,
jealousy, and rage. As soon as their domestic broils are over, a fresh
war against the whole feathered race begins, which does not cease until
the business of propagation is finished. I have frequently spent hours
watching the male, successively attacking, with scarcely an interval of
rest, every bird, big or little, approaching the sacred tree where its
nest was placed. Its indignation at the sight of a cowardly Carrion-Hawk
(_Milvago_) skulking about in search of small birds' nests, and the
boundless fury of its onset, were wonderful to witness.
They are extremely active, and when not engaged in their endless aerial
battles, are pursuing large insects on the wing, usually returning after
each capture to their stand, from which they keep a jealous watch on
the movements of all winged things about them. They are fond of marshy
places and water-courses, where they perch on a tall stalk to watch for
insects, and also frequently skim over the water like Swallows to drink
and dip their feathers.
A tall tree is usually selected for the nest, which is not unfrequently
placed on the very topmost twigs, exposed to the sight of every creature
passing overhead, and as if in defiance of birds of prey. With such an
aggressive temper as this bird possesses it is not strange perhaps that
it builds in the most exposed places, from which the female, in the
absence of her vigilant consort, can keep a sharp eye on the movements
of her feathered neighbours; but I have often thought it singular that
they do not make a deeper receptacle for their eggs, for the nest is
merely a slight platform of slender sticks, and very ill-adapted to
retain its burden during high winds. The parasitical Cow-bird never
enters this nest, which is not strange.
The eggs are four in number, small for the bird, pointed, parchment-white,
spotted with dark brown at the larger end.
171. MILVULUS TYRANNUS (Linn.).
(SCISSOR-TAIL TYRANT.)
+Milvulus tyrannus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 53; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1877, p. 178 (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 26
(Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 203
(Entrerios). +Tyrannus violentus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p.
453.
_Description._--Above cinereous, rump blackish; cap jet-black, with
a concealed yellow vertical crest; wings dark brown; tail black,
outer web of the outer rectrix white; beneath white; bill and feet
black; three outer primaries excised at the tips: whole length 14·0
inches, wing 4·6, tail 12·0. _Female_ similar, but outer
tail-feathers not so long.
_Hab._ Mexico, and Central and South America, down to Patagonia.
The _Tijereta_ (Scissor-tail)--a name derived from the habit the bird
has of opening and closing the two long feathers of the tail when
flying--is found throughout South America, and in the summer of the
Southern Hemisphere ranges as far south as Patagonia.
The tail is forked, and the two outer feathers exceed by over four
inches in length the next two. The total length of the adult male
is fourteen inches, the tail being ten inches long; this species is
therefore one of the longest-tailed we know of. The tail of the female
is about two inches shorter than that of the male. The head is intense
black; the plumage of the crown is rather long and loose, and when
raised displays a vivid yellow crest. The neck and upper surface is
light, clear grey; the under surface pure white; the tail black. During
flight the two long feathers of the tail stream out behind like a pair
of black ribbons; frequently the bird pauses suddenly in its flight, and
then the two long feathers open out in the form of the letter V.
The Scissor-tail is migratory, and arrives, already mated, at Buenos
Ayres at the end of September, and takes its departure at the end of
February in families--old and young birds together. In disposition and
general habits it resembles the true Tyrant-birds, but differs from
them in language, its various chirping and twittering notes having a
hard percussive sound, which Azara well compares to the snapping of
castanets. It prefers open situations with scattered trees and bushes;
and is also partial to marshy grounds, where it takes up a position on
an elevated stalk to watch for insects, and seizes them in the air like
the Flycatcher. It also greedily devours elderberries and other small
fruits.
The nest is not deep, but is much more elaborately constructed than
is usual with the Tyrants. Soft materials are preferred, and in many
cases the nests are composed almost exclusively of wool. The inside is
cup-shaped, with a flat bottom, and is smooth and hard, the thistle-down
with which it is lined being cemented with gum. The eggs are four,
sharply pointed, light cream-colour, and spotted, chiefly at the large
end, with chocolate. In the breeding-time these Tyrants attack other
birds approaching the nest with great spirit, and have a particular
hatred to the Chimango, pursuing it with the greatest violence through
the air with angry notes, resembling in sound the whetting of a scythe,
but uttered with great rapidity and emphasis. How greatly this species
is imposed upon by the Cow-bird, notwithstanding its pugnacious temper,
we have already seen in my account of that bird.
The Scissor-tails have one remarkable habit; they are not gregarious,
but once every day, just before the sun sets, all the birds living near
together rise to the tops of the trees, calling to one another with
loud, excited chirps, and then mount upwards like rockets to a great
height in the air; then, after whirling about for a few moments, they
precipitate themselves downwards with the greatest violence, opening and
shutting their tails during their wild zigzag flight, and uttering a
succession of sharp, grinding notes. After this curious performance they
separate in pairs, and perching on the tree-tops each couple utters
together its rattling castanet notes, after which the company breaks up.
Fam. XIV. PIPRIDÆ, or MANIKINS.
The brilliantly coloured _Pipridæ_ or _Manikins_ are nearly altogether
confined to the tropical portions of the Neotropical Region, where they
number about 70 species. Only one of these has as yet been discovered
intruding in the northern outskirts of the Argentine Republic.
172. CHIROXIPHIA CAUDATA (Shaw).
(LONG-TAILED MANIKIN.)
+Chiroxiphia caudata+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 55; _White, P. Z.
S._ 1882, p. 608 (Misiones).
_Description._--Above blue; cap scarlet; sides of head, nape, and
wings black; tail black edged with bluish, two middle rectrices
lengthened; beneath blue; throat, crissum, and under wing-coverts
black; bill and feet reddish: whole length 6·0 inches, wing 3·1,
tail 2·5. _Female_ green, cap scarlet.
_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, and N.E. Argentina.
White obtained two or three males and one female of this Manikin in the
forests of Misiones, on the banks of the Uruguay. One of his specimens
is now in the British Museum.
Fam. XV. COTINGIDÆ, or COTINGAS.
The _Cotingidæ_ are another characteristic Neotropical family, mostly
of splendid plumage, and nearly altogether confined within the limits
of the tropics. Two stragglers only, belonging to the more obscure
sections of the group, are as yet known to occur within the confines of
Argentina, though it is quite probable that others may be found later
on, when the northern forests are more completely explored.
173. PACHYRHAMPHUS POLYCHROPTERUS (Vieill.).
(WHITE-WINGED BÉCARD.)
+Pachyrhamphus polychropterus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 56;
_Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 61 (Buenos Ayres).
_Description._--Above cinereous, upper back blackish; cap shining
black; wings black, margins of coverts and secondaries white; tail
black, four outer pairs of rectrices tipped with white; beneath
cinereous, paler on the middle of the belly; under wing-coverts pale
grey; bill and feet blackish: whole length 6·5 inches, wing 3·0,
tail 2·6. _Female_ above dull green, below yellowish; wings margined
with rufous.
_Hab._ South Brazil, Paraguay, and N.E. Argentina.
This pretty little bird, the only species of the large South-American
family _Cotingidæ_ with which I am acquainted, comes as far south as
Buenos Ayres, but is very scarce. It lives in woods, and is a shy,
solitary bird with nothing in its flight and general appearance to
distinguish it from a Tyrant-bird. When flying, it utters a whistling
note.
In January 1887, Durnford met with a pair of this species of Bécard in
the riverain wood near Belgrano, and secured the male. They were busy
catching flies, making frequent sallies from a willow tree in pursuit of
them. Mr. Barrows obtained three specimens of what was probably the same
bird at Concepcion in Entrerios, in November 1886 (_see_ Bull. Nutt.
Orn. Cl. viii. p. 203).
[Illustration: _a._ First primary of a male _Pachyrhamphus_.
_b._ Second ditto.]
In the _male_ of this species, as in many other Bécards, the second
primary is abnormally shortened, being only about one inch in length.
See remarks on this subject in P. Z. S. 1857, p. 72, whence the woodcut
exhibiting this strange feature is taken by kind permission.
174. CASIORNIS RUBRA (Vieill.).
(RUFOUS CHEESE-BIRD.)
+Suiriri roxo+, _Azara, Apunt._ ii. p. 128. +Casiornis rubra+, _Scl.
et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 57.
_Description._--Above uniform ferruginous, lores paler; beneath
lighter, belly yellowish; bill horn-colour, yellowish at the base;
feet plumbeous: whole length 6·8 inches, wing 3·4, tail 3·1.
_Female_ similar.
_Hab._ S. Brazil, Paraguay, and N. Argentina.
White obtained a female specimen of this bird at Campo Colorado, Oran,
in November 1880; it is now in Sclater's Collection.
Fam. XVI. PHYTOTOMIDÆ, or PLANT-CUTTERS.
The peculiar form _Phytotoma_, remarkable for its toothed Fringilline
bill, was associated by the older authors with the Finches. But modern
researches have shown that it is not an Oscinine genus, and that its
true place is near the _Cotingidæ_; indeed, some authors have placed it
within the limits of that family.
Of the four known species of Plant-cutters, all restricted to South
America, one is a well-known denizen of the Argentine Republic.
175. PHYTOTOMA RUTILA, Vieill.
(RED-BREASTED PLANT-CUTTER.)
[Plate VIII.]
[Illustration: PHYTOTOMA RUTILA ♂ et ♀]
+Phytotoma rutila+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 451 (Paraná,
Mendoza, Cordova, Tucuman, Catamarca); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._
p. 60; _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 537 (Rio Negro); _Barrows,
Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 203 (Entrerios); _White, P. Z. S._
1882, p. 609 (Catamarca).
_Description._--Above plumbeous, with slight darker shaft-spots;
front of head bright red; wings and tail blackish, two well-marked
wing-bars and tips of all lateral rectrices white; beneath bright
red; flanks plumbeous; under wing-coverts whitish: whole length 7·0
inches, wing 3·5, tail 3·3. _Female_: above grey, densely striated
with black; beneath dirty white, with dense black striations, belly
and crissum fulvous.
_Hab._ Argentine Republic.
I found this curious little bird quite common in Patagonia, where
the natives call it _Chingolo grande_, on account of its superficial
resemblance to the common Song-Sparrow (_Zonotrichia pileata_). The
colouring of the sexes differs considerably, the forehead and under
surface of the male being deep brick-red; the upper parts dull grey,
with a bar on the wing and the tips of the rectrices white; while in the
female the upper parts are yellowish grey, obscurely mottled, and the
breast and belly buff, with dark spots. In both sexes the eye is yellow,
and the feathers of the crown pileated to form a crest.
This bird is usually seen singly, but sometimes associates in small
flocks; it is resident, and a very weak flier, and feeds on tender buds
and leaves, berries and small seed. The male is frequently seen perched
on the summit of a bush, and, amidst the dull-plumaged species that
people the grey thickets of Patagonia, the bright red bosom gives it
almost a gay appearance. When singing, or uttering its alarm notes when
the nest is approached, its voice resembles the feeble bleatings of a
small kid or lamb. When approached it conceals itself in the bush, and
when flying progresses by a series of short jerky undulations, the wings
producing a loud humming sound.
The nest is made in the interior of a thorny bush, and built somewhat
slightly of fine twigs and lined with fibres. The eggs are four,
bluish-green in colour, with brownish flecks.
This species is found throughout the Argentine country, in dry, open
situations, abounding with a scanty tree and bush vegetation.
Suborder III. _TRACHEOPHONÆ._
Fam. XVII. DENDROCOLAPTIDÆ, or WOOD-HEWERS.
The _Dendrocolaptidæ_ are an important family in American Ornithology,
numbering some 220 species, and distributed in greater or less abundance
over every part of the Neotropical Region from Mexico to Patagonia.
Within Argentine limits 46 species occur.
While green is the characteristic colour of the _Tyrannidæ_, brown is
the favoured hue of the _Dendrocolaptidæ_, both the forest-loving and
campos-frequenting members of the group being nearly without exception
arrayed in various shades of that sombre colour, to which a ferruginous
tail is a very frequent appendage.
The _Dendrocolaptidæ_ fall into four subfamilies, all of which have
representatives in Argentina. These are (1) the _Furnariinæ_, or
Oven-birds, which are terrestrial in habits and have their feet adapted
for this mode of life; (2) the _Sclerurinæ_, or Leaf-scrapers, known by
their spiny tail, which keep to the ground inside the forests; (3) the
_Synallaxinæ_, or Sharp-tails, mostly bush-frequenting birds; and (4)
the _Dendrocolaptinæ_, or Wood-hewers, which have the habits of our
Creepers (_Certhia_), and use their tail as a climbing-organ. All the
members of this great family feed exclusively on insects.
Subfam. I. _FURNARIINÆ._
176. GEOSITTA CUNICULARIA (Vieill.).
(COMMON MINER.)
+Geositta cunicularia+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 405 (Mendoza,
Paraná); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 61; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877,
p. 178 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 395 (Chupat); _Barrows,
Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 203 (Entrerios). +Geositta
tenuirostris+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 609 (Salta).
_Description._--Above nearly uniform earthy brown; wing-feathers
pale cinnamon-red; greater part of the outer webs, excepting the
inner secondaries and a transverse bar across the secondaries,
blackish; tail pale cinnamon-red, with a broad blackish band across
the terminal half; beneath pale fulvous white, breast more or less
variegated with blackish; under wing-coverts pale cinnamomeous; bill
horn-colour, pale at the base; feet horn-colour: whole length 5·5
inches, wing 3·5, tail 2·0. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Chili, Patagonia and Argentina.
The country people have a variety of names for this common and
well-known species. In Buenos Ayres it is usually called _Manea-cola_
(Shake-tail), in Patagonia _Caserita_ (Little House-builder), and in
other places _Minera_ (Miner) or _Caminante_ (Traveller), from its habit
of running rapidly along a clean road or bridle-path before a person
riding or walking.
It is a stout little bird, with very short toes quite unsuited for
perching, and it does not, in fact, ever perch on a tree, though it
manages to cling to a perpendicular bank very well, when engaged in
opening its breeding-hole. It is resident and pairs for life, and lives
in sterile places, feeding on small insects and spiders. In manner it
is very lively, and runs swiftly over the bare ground, stopping very
abruptly, then running on again, and at every pause slowly moving its
half-open tail up and down. It flies swiftly, close to the ground, and
always during its short flight trills out its clear, ringing, rapidly
reiterated cry, which in sound resembles the laughter of a child.
On the grassy pampas the Miners invariably attach themselves to the
_Vizcacheras_--as the groups of great burrows made by the large rodent,
the Vizcacha, are called; for there is always a space free from grass
surrounding the burrows where the birds can run freely about. In the
sides of the deep pit-like entrance to one of these burrows the bird
bores a cylindrical hole, from three to six feet long, and terminating
in a circular chamber. This is lined with soft dry grass, and five white
eggs are laid.
Though the birds inhabit the Vizcacha village all the year, they seem
always to make a fresh hole to breed in every spring, the forsaken holes
being given up to the small Swallow, _Atticora cyanoleuca_.
177. GEOBAMON RUFIPENNIS, Burm.
(RED-WINGED MINER.)
+Geobamon rufipennis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 465 (Paraná).
_Description._--Above reddish grey-brown; lores, rim round the eye,
cheeks, and body below white; breast tinged with yellowish grey;
wings blackish brown, inner webs ferruginous, with their tips and
outer basal edges pale ferruginous; tail bright ferruginous, with a
broad black transverse band near the tip; bill black, base of under
mandible and legs pale brown: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 4·0,
tail 2·0.
_Hab._ Paraná.
This form is unknown to us, and we can only give a short translation of
Burmeister's description of it. It is said to resemble _Geositta_, but
has a much shorter and perfectly straight beak.
178. FURNARIUS RUFUS (Gm.).
(RED OVEN-BIRD.)
+Furnarius rufus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 462 (La Plata);
_Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 61; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 179
(Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 16 (Buenos Ayres).
_Description._--Above earthy brown, with a slight rufescent tinge,
wing-feathers blackish, margined with pale brown; whole of the outer
secondaries pale brown, like the back; tail and upper tail-coverts
bright ferruginous brown; below white, breast and flanks and under
wing-coverts pale sandy-brown; under surface of the wing with a
broad sandy bar across the basal portion; bill and feet horn-colour:
whole length 7·8 inches, wing 4·0, tail 2·8. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.
The Red Oven-bird is an extremely well-known species in Argentina, and,
where found, a great favourite on account of its familiarity with man,
its loud, ringing, cheerful voice, and its wonderful mud nest, which
it prefers to build near a human habitation, often on a cornice, a
projecting beam, or on the roof of the house itself.
It is a stout little bird, about 8-1/2 to 9 inches long, with a slender,
slightly-curved beak nearly an inch in length, and strong legs suited
to its terrestrial habits. The upper plumage is uniform rufous-brown in
colour, brightest on the tail; the under surface very light brown. It
ranges throughout the Argentine Republic to Bahia Blanca in the south,
and is usually named _Hornero_ or _Casera_ (Oven-bird or House-builder),
but in Paraguay and Corrientes it is called _Alonzo Garsia_ or
_Alonzito_. Azara could give no reason for such a name; but it seems
to me that one need not look for one beyond the fact that this species
inspires an affectionate admiration in the country people: I mean in
those of _Spanish_ origin, for the bird-killing French and Italians have
no tenderness for it. I have frequently been assured by natives that the
Hornero is a _pious_ bird, and always suspends its labours on sacred
days. With this pretty belief about it in their minds, it is not strange
that in some districts they have called it by a human name.
It is resident, pairs for life, and finds its food, which consists
of larvæ and worms, exclusively on the ground. It delights in open
places, where it can move freely about on the ground; and is partial to
courtyards, clean garden-walks, &c., where, with head thrown back and
bosom prominent, it struts along with an air of great gravity, lifting
its foot high at each step, and holding it suspended for a moment in
the air before setting it firmly down. I once saw one fly down on to a
narrow plank about ten feet long lying out on the wet grass; it walked
gravely to the end of the plank, then turned, and deliberately walked
back to the other end, and so on for about twenty times, appearing to
take the greatest pleasure in the mere act of promenading on a smooth
level surface. When disturbed, the Oven-bird has a loud, monotonous note
of alarm or curiosity, which never fails to bring all its fellows within
hearing-distance to the spot. The movements of a fox, weasel, or cat
in a plantation can always be known from the noisy turmoil among the
Oven-birds. At frequent intervals during the day the male and female
meet and express their joy in clear, resonant notes sung in concert--a
habit common to a very large number of Dendrocolaptine birds, including,
I think, all those species which pair for life. In a majority of species
this vocal performance merely consists of a succession of confused notes
or cries, uttered with great spirit and emphasis; in the Oven-bird it
has developed into a kind of harmonious singing. Thus, the first bird,
on the appearance of its mate flying to the place of meeting, emits loud
measured notes, sometimes a continuous trilling note with a somewhat
hollow metallic sound; but immediately on the other bird joining, this
introductory passage is changed to rapid triplets, strongly accented on
the first and last notes, while the second bird utters a series of loud
measured notes perfectly according with the triplets of the first. While
thus singing they stand facing each other, their necks outstretched,
wings hanging, and tails spread, the first bird trembling with its rapid
utterances, the second beating on the branch with its wings. The finale
consists of three or four notes uttered by the second bird alone, and
becoming successively louder and more piercing until the end. There is
an infinite variety in the tone in which different couples sing, also in
the order in which the different notes are uttered, and even the same
couple do not repeat their duet in precisely the same way; but it is
always a rhythmical and, to some extent, an harmonious performance, and
as the voices have a ringing, joyous character, it always produces a
pleasing effect on the mind.
In favourable seasons the Oven-birds begin building in the autumn, and
the work is resumed during the winter whenever there is a spell of mild
wet weather. Some of their structures are finished early in winter,
others not until spring, everything depending on the weather and the
condition of the birds. In cold dry weather, and when food is scarce,
they do not work at all. The site chosen is a stout horizontal branch,
or the top of a post, and they also frequently build on a cornice or
the roof of a house; and sometimes, but rarely, on the ground. The
material used is mud, with the addition of horsehair or slender fibrous
rootlets, which make the structure harder and prevent it from cracking.
I have frequently seen a bird, engaged in building, first pick up a
thread or hair, then repair to a puddle, where it was worked into a
pellet of mud about the size of a filbert, then carried to the nest.
When finished the structure is shaped outwardly like a baker's oven,
only with a deeper and narrower entrance. It is always placed very
conspicuously, and with the entrance facing a building, if one be near,
or if at a roadside it looks toward the road; the reason for this being,
no doubt, that the bird keeps a cautious eye on the movements of people
near it while building, and so leaves the nest opened and unfinished on
that side until the last, and there the entrance is necessarily formed.
When the structure has assumed the globular form with only a narrow
opening, the wall on one side is curved inwards, reaching from the floor
to the dome, and at the inner extremity an aperture is left to admit the
bird to the interior or second chamber, in which the eggs are laid. A
man's hand fits easily into the first or entrance chamber, but cannot
be twisted about so as to reach the eggs in the interior cavity, the
entrance being so small and high up. The interior is lined with dry soft
grass, and five white pear-shaped eggs are laid. The _oven_ is a foot or
more in diameter, and is sometimes very massive, weighing eight or
nine pounds, and so strong that, unless loosened by the swaying of the
branch, it often remains unharmed for two or three years. The birds
incubate by turns, and when one returns from the feeding-ground it sings
its loud notes, on which the sitting bird rushes forth to join in the
joyous chorus, and then flies away, the other taking its place on the
eggs. The young are exceedingly garrulous, and when only half-fledged
may be heard practising trills and duets in their secure oven, in shrill
tremulous voices, which change to the usual hunger-cry of young birds
when the parent enters with food. After leaving the nest, the old and
young birds live for two or three months together, only one brood being
raised in each year. A new oven is built every year, and I have more
than once seen a second oven built on the top of the first, when this
has been placed very advantageously, as on a projection and against a
wall.
A very curious thing occurred at the estancia house of a neighbour of
mine in Buenos Ayres one spring. A pair of Oven-birds built their oven
on a beam-end projecting from the wall of a rancho. One morning one of
the birds was found caught in a steel trap placed the evening before
for rats, and both of its legs were crushed above the knee. On being
liberated it flew up to and entered the oven, where it bled to death,
no doubt, for it did not come out again. Its mate remained two days,
calling incessantly, but there were no other birds of its kind in the
place, and it eventually disappeared. Three days later it returned with
a new mate, and immediately the two birds began carrying pellets of mud
to the oven, with which they plastered up the entrance. Afterwards
they built a second oven, using the sepulchre of the dead bird for its
foundation, and here they reared their young. My neighbour, an old
native, had watched the birds from the time the first oven was begun,
feeling greatly interested in their diligent ways, and thinking their
presence at his house a good omen; and it was not strange that, after
witnessing the entombment of one that died, he was more convinced than
ever that the little House-builders are "pious birds."
179. FURNARIUS TRICOLOR, Cab.
(CRESTED OVEN-BIRD.)
+Furnarius tricolor+, _Cab. Journ. f. Orn._ 1878, p. 196 (Cordova).
+Furnarius figulus+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 609 (?).
_Description._--Above nearly uniform earthy brown, head slightly
crested; tail bright ferruginous; beneath paler, throat pure white;
middle of belly and crissum white; under surface of wings blackish,
with a transverse bar of pale cinnamon; bill hazel, paler at the
base; feet blackish: whole length 5·7 inches, wing 2·8, tail 2·2.
_Hab._ Cordova.
This pretty little species is a recent discovery of Döring in the
Sierras of Cordova; it may be at once recognized by its small size and
crested head.
180. UPUCERTHIA DUMETORIA (Geoffr. et d'Orb.).
(PATAGONIAN EARTH-CREEPER.)
+Ochetorhynchus dumetorius+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 463
(Mendoza). +Upucerthia dumetoria+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p.
62; _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 544 (Rio Negro); _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1877, p. 35, et 1878, p. 395 (Chupat); _White, P. Z. S._
1883, p. 433 (Cordova).
_Description._--Above earthy brown; long superciliary stripe pale
ochraceous; wings blackish, with a broad transverse cinnamomeous
bar; tail blackish, lateral rectrices tipped with pale cinnamon;
beneath dirty white, clear white on the throat and middle of the
belly; breast-feathers margined with blackish; under wing-coverts
pale cinnamomeous; bill dark horn-colour, pale at the base; feet
horn-colour: whole length 9·0 inches, wing 4·0, tail 3·5. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ Patagonia and Chili.
These birds are very common in Patagonia, being resident there; some
individuals, however, migrate north in winter, and I once obtained a
pair, male and female, near Buenos Ayres city in the month of June.
Their legs are short, but on the ground their movements are very
rapid, and, like the Miner (_Geositta_) already described, they fly
reluctantly, preferring to run rapidly from a person walking or riding,
and at such times they look curiously like a very small Curlew with an
extravagantly long beak. They are active, lively birds, and live in
pairs, sometimes uniting in small, loose flocks; they are partial to
places where scattered bushes grow on a dry sterile soil, and have a
swift low flight; when flying they frequently utter a shrill, trilling,
or rapidly reiterated note, in sound resembling laughter. In manners,
flight, language, and colouring this bird closely resembles the smaller
short-beaked _Geositta cunicularia_, and like that species it also
breeds in deep holes in banks; but I am not able to say whether it
excavates the breeding-hole or takes possession of one already made.
Durnford found it breeding in a hole four feet deep in the bank of a dry
lagoon. The nest was of dry grass and lined with the fur of the cavy. It
contained three white eggs.
181. UPUCERTHIA RUFICAUDA (Meyen).
(RED-TAILED EARTH-CREEPER.)
+Ochetorhynchus ruficauda+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 463
(Mendoza).
_Description._--Above earthy brown, superciliaries whitish, lower
half of back and outer secondaries strongly tinged with rufous; tail
deep ferruginous red, inner webs of all the lateral rectrices black;
beneath white, breast more or less freckled with greyish; belly,
flanks, and crissum pale cinnamomeous brown; under surface of
wings blackish, with a transverse cinnamomeous bar; bill and feet
blackish: whole length 8·0 inches, wing 3·5, tail 3·3. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ Chili and Mendoza.
The straight bill and red colour of the tail-feathers at once
distinguish this species from the former. Burmeister obtained specimens
of it in the Sierra of Uspallata, where it was met with hopping about
the rocks and feeding on insects.
182. UPUCERTHIA LUSCINIA (Burm.).
(WARBLING EARTH-CREEPER.)
+Ochetorhynchus luscinia+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 464
(Mendoza, Paraná). +Upucerthia luscinia+, _Scl. et Salv.
Nomencl._ p. 62; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 610 (Catamarca);
_Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 358 (Salta).
_Description._--Above earthy brown; front, lores, and rim round the
eye bright rufous; wings blackish, outer webs more or less edged
with rufous earthy brown; tail earthy brown, lateral rectrices
tinged with rufous; below pale cinereous with a slight rufescent
tinge; throat clear white; under wing-coverts and inner margins of
the wing-feathers cinnamon-red; bill hazel, paler at the base; feet
pale brown: whole length 7·5 inches, wing 3·0, tail 3·1. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ Argentina.
Professor Burmeister was the first discoverer of this species, which he
tells us is common near Mendoza, in Paraná, and in the neighbouring
pampas. In Paraná he found it nesting under the roof of his house and
feeding upon insects. The eggs are pure white. It is the _Ruisiñor_
or "Nightingale" of the natives, whence he gave it the specific name
_luscinia_--a strange name for any species in the shrill-voiced
Dendrocolaptine family.
183. CINCLODES FUSCUS (Vieill.).
(BROWN CINCLODES.)
+Cinclodes fuscus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 62; _Durnford, Ibis_,
1877, p. 179 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 610
(Catamarca); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 205
(Entrerios and Pampas). +Cinclodes vulgaris+, _Burm. La-Plata
Reise_, ii. p. 463 (Mendoza, Paraná).
_Description._--Above dark earthy brown, lores and superciliaries
whitish; wings blackish, with a broad transverse cinnamomeous bar;
outer tail-feathers blackish, broadly tipped with pale cinnamomeous
white; beneath pale cinereous, with a cinnamomeous tinge; throat
white, slightly spotted with blackish; bill and feet horn-colour:
whole length 7·3 inches, wing 4·0, tail 3·0. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Argentina, Chili, Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador.
This homely little species differs considerably from most Dendrocolaptine
birds in colour and habits; and being of a uniform dull, fuscous
hue, its appearance is most uninteresting. It inhabits the whole of
Patagonia, but is migratory, possessing, what is rare in this family,
a powerful flight. In winter it is common all over the pampas and the
Plata district, ranging north to Paraguay. It is always found near
water, its favourite hunting-ground being the borders of a stream. On
the ground its motions are quick and lively, but when perching on a tree
it sits motionless in one position, and when attempting to move appears
to lose its balance. These birds cannot be called strictly gregarious,
but where abundant they are fond of gathering in loose flocks, sometimes
numbering one or two hundred individuals, and when thus associating are
very playful, frequently pursuing and wheeling about each other, and
uttering a sharp, trilling note. On a warm day in winter they are
occasionally heard attempting to sing, the bird darting up vertically
into the air and pouring out with great energy a confused torrent of
unmelodious sounds.
Their habits, so much less sedate and strikingly in contrast with those
of most of the birds in this family, are no doubt due to the greater
powers of flight possessed by _Cinclodes_.
184. CINCLODES BIFASCIATUS, Sclater.
(WHITE-WINGED CINCLODES.)
+Cinclodes bifasciatus+, _Sclater, P. Z. S._ 1858, p. 448.
_Description._--Above earthy brown with a rufescent tinge on the
back, superciliaries white; wings blackish, with a white bar on the
secondaries and a second white bar on the inner primaries; tail
blackish, outer rectrices tipped with white; beneath white, passing
into greyish cinnamomeous on the flanks and crissum; bend of the
wing and under wing-coverts white; bill and feet horn-colour: whole
length 8·0 inches, wing 4·0, tail 3·3.
_Hab._ Bolivia and Eastern Argentina.
Weisshaupt obtained examples of this species in the vicinity of Mendoza,
from one of which our description is taken.
185. HENICORNIS PHŒNICURUS (Gould).
(DARK-TAILED HENICORNIS.)
+Henicornis phœnicurus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 62; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1878, p. 395 (Central Patagonia).
_Description._--Above earthy brown, slight superciliary line
white, edges of outer secondaries, lower back, and upper
tail-coverts bright ferruginous red; tail black, outer webs of
outer tail-feathers and slight external edging of the others bright
ferruginous; beneath, throat and breast pure white, belly cinereous,
flanks tinged with rufous; crissum bright ferruginous; bill dark
horn-colour, base of lower mandible yellowish; feet horn-colour:
whole length 7·5 inches, wing 3·3, tail 3·0.
_Hab._ Chili and Patagonia.
Durnford met with this peculiar form in Central Patagonia in 1877-78. He
says that it was resident and common among the bushes throughout his
journey.
186. LOCHMIAS NEMATURA (Licht.).
(BRAZILIAN LOCHMIAS.)
+Lochmias nematura+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 462 (Paraná).
_Description._--Above clear brown, rump blackish, elongated
superciliaries white; tail blackish; beneath blackish brown, with
numerous large white oval spots occupying the centre of the
feathers; bill horn-colour, lower mandible pale brown at the base;
feet brown: whole length 5·5 inches, wing 2·8, tail 2·0.
_Hab._ South-east Brazil and Northern Argentina.
Professor Burmeister met with this Brazilian species near Paraná, where
it lives on the ground among the bushes.
Subfam. II. _SCLERURINÆ._
187. SCLERURUS UMBRETTA (Licht.).
(THE SPINY LEAF-SCRAPER.)
+Sclerurus caudacutus+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 610 (Misiones).
+Sclerurus umbretta+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 62.
_Description._--Above dark brown, rump and upper tail-coverts
rufous; wing-feathers blackish, glossed with dull brown; tail
black; beneath, throat white, the feathers edged with dark brown;
breast dull rufous; belly and flanks same colour as back; under
wing-coverts whitish brown; bill and feet black: whole length 7·1
inches, wing 3·6, tail 2·6.
_Hab._ Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.
White has the following note on this interesting species:--"Only two of
these birds were observed during my trip through Misiones. It frequents
the dense gloomy forests, where it busies itself in scraping amongst
the dead leaves; and although it may be close at hand and the rustling
distinct, a quick eye is required to detect it, as its plumage is of
the exact colour of decaying foliage. If startled, it flies up onto the
trunk of the nearest tree, and there remains perfectly motionless in an
upright position. I never heard it utter a single note."
Subfam. III. _SYNALLAXINÆ._
188. PHLŒOCRYPTES MELANOPS (Vieill.).
(RUSH-LOVING SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis melanops+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 470 (Mendoza).
+Phlœocryptes melanops+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 63;
_Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 179 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 396
(Central Patagonia); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 206
(Bahia Blanca).
_Description._--Above, forehead brown, crown blackish, broad
superciliaries buffy white; upper half of back black, marked with a
few grey stripes; lower back and rump, also sides of head and neck,
light brown; wings blackish, mottled with light chestnut on the
coverts; and a broad band of the same colour occupying the basal
half of the wing-feathers; tail blackish, the two middle feathers
brownish grey, the others slightly tipped with the same colour;
beneath white, more or less tinged on the throat, flanks, and under
tail-coverts with pale brown; under wing-coverts fulvous; bill and
feet pale horn-colour: whole length 5·8 inches, wing 2·3, tail 1·6.
_Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Chili, Patagonia, and Argentina.
This is one of our few strictly migratory species in the family
_Dendrocolaptidæ_. Probably it winters in South Brazil, as in the
northern parts of the Argentine country it is said to be a summer
visitor. On the pampas it appears in September, and all at once becomes
very abundant in the rush-beds growing in the water, where alone it is
found. The migration no doubt is very extensive, for in spring I found
it abundant in the rush-beds in the Rio Negro valley, and Durnford met
with it much further south on the river Sanguelen, a tributary of the
Chupat. Migratory birds are, as a rule, very little given to wandering;
that is to say, they do not go much beyond the limits of the little
coppice, reed-bed, or spot of ground which they make their summer home,
and this species is no exception. It spends the warm season secluded in
its rush-bed: and when disturbed flies with great reluctance, fluttering
feebly away to a distance of a few yards, and then dropping into the
rushes again, apparently quite incapable of a sustained flight. How
a bird so feeble on the wing, and retiring in its habits, is able to
perform a long, annual migration, when in traversing vast tracts of
open country it must be in great peril from rapacious kinds, is a great
mystery. No doubt many perish while travelling; but there is this
circumstance in their favour: an incredible number of birds of various
kinds, many as weak and exposed to attack as the _Phlœocryptes_,
migrate simultaneously; Hawks are very thinly scattered along their
route, and as a rule these birds feed only once or twice a day, if the
meals are large enough to fill the stomach, so that while the Hawk is
inactive, digesting his meal, thousands of migrants have sped by on
their journey and are beyond his reach for ever.
This Spine-tail seldom ventures out of its rush-bed, but is occasionally
seen feeding in the grass and herbage a few yards removed from the
water. Its language is peculiar, this being a long cicada-like note,
followed by a series of sounds like smart taps on a piece of dry
wood. It frequents the same places as the small Many-coloured Tyrant
(_Cyanotis azaræ_), and these little neighbours, being equally
inquisitive, whenever a person approaches the rushes often emerge
together, one uttering wooden-sounding creaks and raps, the other liquid
gurgling notes--a little brown bird and a little bird with many bright
colours, both, in very different tones, demanding to know the reason of
the intrusion.
The nest is a very wonderful structure, and is usually attached to three
upright stems; it is domed, oval-shaped, about nine inches deep, and
the small circular aperture which is close to the top is protected by a
sloping tile-like projection. It is built of tough grass-leaves, which
are apparently first daubed with wet clay and then ingeniously woven in,
with the addition, I think, of some kind of mucilage: the whole nest is,
when finished, light but very strong, and impervious to wet. Until the
rushes die and drop the nest remains securely fastened to them, and in
winter affords a safe and comfortable retreat to the small reed-frogs,
of which sometimes as many as three or four are found living in one
nest. The interior is very thickly lined with feathers; the eggs are
three, pear-shaped, and a bright, beautiful blue colour, sometimes with
a slight greenish tinge.
The bird is so abundant in extensive marshes that I have on several
occasions, during a day's ramble, found as many as forty or fifty nests,
sometimes a dozen or more being placed close together, but I have never
taken more than three eggs from one nest. I mention this because I have
seen it stated that four or five eggs are sometimes found.
I trust that no reader of this sketch imagines that I robbed all the
eggs contained in so many nests. I did nothing so barbarous, although
it is perhaps "prattling out of fashion" to say so; but with the
destructive, useless egg-collecting passion I have no sympathy. By
bending the pliant rushes downwards the eggs can be made to roll out
into the hand; and all those which I thus took out to count were, I am
glad to say, put back in their wonderful cradles. I had a special object
in examining so many nests. A gaucho boy once brought me a nest which
had a small circular _stopper_, made of the same texture as the body of
the nest, attached to the aperture at the _side_, and when swung round
into it fitting it as perfectly as the lid of the trap-door spider fits
the burrow. I have no doubt that it was used to close the nest when the
bird was away, perhaps to prevent the intrusion of reed-frogs or of
other small birds; but I have never found another nest like it, nor have
I heard of one being found by any one else; and that one nest, with its
perfectly-fitting stopper, has been a puzzle to my mind ever since I
saw it.
189. LEPTASTHENURA ÆGITHALOIDES (Kittl.).
(TIT-LIKE SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis ægithaloides+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 469
(Mendoza); _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 544 (Rio Negro).
+Leptasthenura ægithaloides+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p.
632 (Buenos Ayres); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 63; _Durnford, Ibis_,
1877, p. 180 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 396 (Centr. Patagonia);
_Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 30 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._
1882, p. 611 (Catamarca); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii.
p. 206 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above pale earthy brown; crown black, striped with
clear brown; lores, sides of head, and throat white, with minute
black spots; wings blackish, the edges of the outer webs of the
primaries and the basal part of the secondaries light rufescent
brown; tail black, lateral rectrices tipped and margined with pale
grey; beneath pale grey, throat white; bill and feet horn-colour:
whole length 6·2 inches, wing 2·4, tail 3·5. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Chili, Argentina, and Patagonia.
This is a restless little bird, seen singly or in parties of three or
four. In manner and appearance it resembles the Long-tailed Titmouse
(_Parus_), as it diligently searches for small insects in the trees and
bushes, frequently hanging head downwards to explore the under surface
of a leaf or twig, and while thus engaged continually uttering a little
sharp querulous note. They are not migratory, but in winter seem to
wander about from place to place a great deal; and in Patagonia, in the
cold season, I have frequently seen them uniting in flocks of thirty or
forty individuals, and associating with numbers of Spine-tails of other
species, chiefly with _Synallaxis sordida_, and all together advancing
through the thicket, carefully exploring every bush in their way.
D'Orbigny says that it makes a nest of rootlets and moss in a bush; but
where I have observed this bird it invariably breeds in a hole in a
tree, or in the nest of some other bird, often in the clay structure of
the Oven-bird. But in Patagonia, where the Oven-bird is not known, this
Spine-tail almost always selects the nest of the _Synallaxis sordida_.
It carries in a great deal of soft material--soft grass, wool, and
feathers--to reline the cavity, and lays five or six, white, pointed
eggs.
190. LEPTASTHENURA FULIGINICEPS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(BROWN-CRESTED SPINE-TAIL.)
+Leptasthenura fuliginiceps+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 63; _White,
P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 611 (Catamarca). +Synallaxis fuliginiceps+,
_Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 469.
_Description._--Above pale earthy brown; forehead and slightly
crested crown rufous brown; wings blackish, edges of outer webs of
all the wing-feathers and basal part of the secondaries chestnut;
tail clear brown; beneath paler, earthy brown; bill and feet
horn-colour: whole length 6·0 inches, wing 2·2, tail 3·1.
_Hab._ Bolivia and N. Argentina.
This species, discovered by d'Orbigny in Bolivia, was met with by White
in Catamarca, "on the slopes of the hills, outside the dense wood," and
by Prof. Burmeister near Paraná.
191. SYNALLAXIS FRONTALIS, Pelz.
(BROWN-FRONTED SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis frontalis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 63; _Scl. P. Z.
S._ 1874, p. 8; _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 358 (Salta); _White, P.
Z. S._ 1882, p. 611 (Salta, Catamarca). +Synallaxis ruficapilla+,
_d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 246 (Corrientes); _Burm. La-Plata Reise_,
ii. p. 408 (Paraná).
_Description._--Above, earthy brown; cap chestnut; front earthy
brown; wing-coverts chestnut, wing-feathers olive-brown, the outer
webs edged with chestnut; tail chestnut; beneath, throat blackish,
with slight whitish mottlings; breast, sides, and under tail-coverts
pale earthy brown, belly brownish white; under wing-coverts fulvous;
bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 5·6 inches, wing 2·2, tail
3·0.
_Hab._ South America, from Colombia to Argentina.
192. SYNALLAXIS SUPERCILIOSA, Cab.
(EYEBROWED SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis superciliosa+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1883, p. 110 (Tucuman).
_Description._--Above, head on top bright chestnut, lores white,
superciliaries yellowish white; sides of head, neck, and back earthy
brown inclining to olive; upper wing-coverts chestnut, wing-feathers
blackish, the webs of the outer margins dull chestnut; tail
chestnut; beneath, upper half of throat white, lower half black
tipped with white; breast and belly brownish white; flanks and under
tail-coverts pale earthy brown; under wing-coverts fulvous; bill and
feet horn-colour: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 2·0, tail 3·5.
_Hab._ Tucuman.
This Spine-tail, so far as we know at present, is peculiar to Tucuman,
where it was discovered by Herr Schulz.
193. SYNALLAXIS SPIXI, Scl.
(SPIX'S SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis spixi+, _Burm. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 636 (Buenos Ayres);
_Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 632 (Buenos Ayres); _Scl. P. Z.
S._ 1874, p. 9.
_Description._--Above, crown chestnut; lores and sides of head
dark cinereous; hind neck, back, also wing- and tail-feathers
olive-brown; upper wing-coverts chestnut; beneath dark cinereous,
becoming whitish on the belly, throat blackish; under wing-coverts
fulvous chestnut; bill black, feet horn-colour; whole length 6·7
inches, wing 2·0, tail 3·2.
_Hab._ Southern Brazil and Argentina.
I like Azara's name _Chicli_, which, to one acquainted with the
habits of this and of the following species, seems very appropriate,
suggesting, as I imagine it does, a small creature possessing a sharp
two-syllabled note; for although Hartlaub, in his Nomenclature of Azara,
gives _S. ruficapilla_ as the species meant by _Chicli_, the account of
its habits in the 'Apuntamientos' seems to point to _S. spixi_ or to _S.
albescens_.
Azara says:--"I give it this name because it sings it plainly, in a loud
sharp tone, which may be heard at a distance, repeating it so frequently
that the pauses last no longer than the sound. It is resident (in
Paraguay), solitary and not abundant: inhabits thickets of aloes and
thorn, without rising more than two yards above the surface, or showing
itself in open places. It moves about incessantly, but does not leave
its thicket to visit the woods or open ground, its flight being only
from bush to bush; and though it is not timid, it is hard to detect it
in its stronghold, and to hear it one would imagine that it was perched
overhead on a tree, when it is hidden all the time in the brushwood at
the roots."
This habit of concealing itself so closely inclines me to think that
this species, rather than _S. albescens_, was the bird described by
Azara, although in both species the language is nearly the same. I have
nothing to add to the above account from the 'Apuntamientos,' except
that in the love-season this species has a low, strange-sounding little
song, utterly unlike its usual strident cry. When singing, it sits
motionless on the summit of a low bush in a dejected attitude with head
drawn in, and murmurs its mysterious little melody at intervals of half
a minute.
194. SYNALLAXIS ALBESCENS, Temm.
(WHITE-THROATED SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis albescens+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 63; _Scl. P. Z.
S._ 1874, p. 9; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 180 (Buenos Ayres);
_White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 611 (Misiones); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt.
Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 207 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above, forehead grey, crown pale chestnut; sides of
head and neck, back, and tail pale earthy brown; upper wing-coverts
pale chestnut, wing-feathers olive-brown; beneath white, faintly
washed with earthy brown; under wing-coverts fulvous: whole length
5·3 inches, wing 2·0, tail 2·2.
_Hab._ S. America, from Veragua to Buenos Ayres.
This species, although by no means abundant in Buenos Ayres, is met with
much more frequently than the _S. spixi_, which it closely resembles in
size, colour, habits, and language. It is, indeed, an unusual thing for
two species so closely allied to be found inhabiting the same district.
In both birds the colours are arranged in precisely the same way; but
the chestnut tint on _S. albescens_ is not nearly so deep, the browns
and greys are paler, and there is less black on the throat.
I am pretty sure that in Buenos Ayres it is migratory, and as soon as
it appears in spring it announces its arrival by its harsh, persistent,
two-syllabled note, wonderfully strong for so small a bird, and which it
repeats at intervals of two or three seconds for half an hour without
intermission. When close at hand it is quite as distressing as the
grinding noise of a Cicada. This painful noise is uttered while the bird
sits concealed amid the foliage of a tree, and is renewed at frequent
intervals, and continues every day until the Spine-tail finds a mate,
when all at once it becomes silent. The nest is placed in a low
thorn-bush, sometimes only two or three feet above the ground, and is an
oblong structure of sticks, twelve or fourteen inches in depth, with the
entrance near the top, and reached by a tubular passage made of slender
sticks, and six or seven inches long. From the top of the nest a crooked
passage leads to the cavity near the bottom; this is lined with a little
fine grass, and nine eggs are laid, pear-shaped and pale bluish white in
colour. I have found several nests with nine eggs, and therefore set
that down as the full number of the clutch, though I confess it seems
very surprising that this bird should lay so many. When the nest is
approached, the parent birds remain silent and concealed at some
distance. When the nest is touched or shaken, the young birds, if nearly
fledged, have the singular habit of running out and jumping to the
ground to conceal themselves in the grass.
I have no doubt that this species varies greatly in its habits in
different districts, and probably also in the number of eggs it lays.
Mr. Barrows, an excellent observer, says it lays three or four light
blue eggs. He met with it at Concepcion, in the northern part of the
Argentine Republic, and writes that it is "an abundant species in thorny
hedges or among the masses of dwarfed and spiny bushes, which cling to
each other so tenaciously amid the general desolation of the sandy
barrens." The nests which he describes vary also in some particulars
from those I have seen. "Entrance is gained by the bird," he says,
"through a long tube, which is built on to the nest at a point about
half way up the side. This tube is formed by the interlocking of thorny
twigs, and is supported by the branches and twigs about it. It may be
straight or curved; its diameter externally varies from two to four
inches, and its length from one to two feet. The passage-way itself
is but just large enough to admit the birds one at a time, and it has
always been a mystery to me how a bird the size of a Chipping-Sparrow
could find its way through one of these slender tubes, bristling with
thorns, and along which I found it difficult to pass a smooth slender
twig for more than five or six inches. Yet they not only pass in and out
easily, but so easily that I was never yet able to surprise one in the
nest, or to see the slightest disturbance of it by the bird's hurried
exit."
The bird has a very wide range in South America, and Mr. Salmon observed
its breeding-habits in Antioquia in Colombia. There also the bird varies
the form of its nest, making it as large as that of an English Magpie,
and roofing the top with a mass of large leaves to protect it from the
heavy rains. The eggs, he says, are very pale greenish blue, nearly
white; but he does not give the number.
195. SYNALLAXIS WHITII, Scl.
(WHITE'S SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis whitii+, _Scl. Ibis_, 1881, p. 600, pl. xvii. fig. 2;
_White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 611 (Salta).
_Description._--Above dark brown, lores, and superciliaries white;
wings and tail chestnut red; beneath cinnamomeous, paler on the
middle of the belly; large spot in the middle of the throat black;
inner margins of wing-feathers and under wing-coverts cinnamomeous;
bill black, feet pale hazel: whole length 5·7 inches, wing 2·5, tail
2·6.
_Hab._ Northern Argentina.
White obtained a single example of this new species near Oran in
November 1880. It is most nearly allied to _S. scutata_ of Brazil.
196. SYNALLAXIS PHRYGANOPHILA (Vieill.).
(PRETTY-THROATED SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis phryganophila+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 409
(Paraná); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 64; _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1874,
p. 17; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 611 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows,
Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 207 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above, front brown, crown chestnut, superciliaries
white; sides of head, neck, back, and tail pale fulvous brown, with
broad blackish striations on the neck and back; upper wing-coverts
pale chestnut; wing-feathers blackish, the outer webs edged with
pale fulvous brown; beneath, upper half of throat sulphur-yellow,
lower half black, with a white patch on each side of the black;
breast and belly whitish, washed with earthy brown, slightly fulvous
on the breast and flanks; under wing-coverts fulvous white; bill and
feet horn-colour: whole length 8·5 inches, wing 2·4, tail 4·6.
_Hab._ Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay.
This pretty Spine-tail is nowhere common in the Argentine country,
and in Buenos Ayres it is exceedingly scarce. It is rather large for
a _Synallaxis_, the total length being nine inches. The two middle
feathers of the acuminated tail greatly exceed the others in length,
measuring five inches. The plumage is very pale brown, marked with
fuscous; the crown and wing-coverts rufous. The beauty of the bird is in
the throat, which has three strongly contrasted colours, distinguishing
it from all other _Synallaxes_. In the angle of the beak the colour is
sulphur-yellow, under this is a patch of velvet-black, and on each side
of the yellow and black a pure white patch.
Mr. Barrows has the following very interesting note on its
nesting-habits:--"A nest containing four white eggs, faintly tinted
with blue, was found in a thorny tree, and some eight feet from the
ground. The nest was quite similar to the one just described (of _S.
albescens_), but the cavity in which the eggs were laid was near the
_top_ of the body of the nest, while the passage-way descended from it
to the base of the nest, and there becoming external rose gradually to
the level of the eggs at a distance of almost three feet."
197. SYNALLAXIS STRIATICEPS (Lafr. et d'Orb.).
(STRIPED SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis striaticeps+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 469
(Paraná); _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 544 (Rio Negro); _Scl. et
Salv. Nomencl._ p. 64; _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1874, p. 21; _Salvin,
Ibis_, 1880, p. 358 (Salta); _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 39
(Cordova); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 208
(Entrerios).
_Description._--Above earthy brown, darker on the crown, which
has slight greyish striations; broad superciliaries white; upper
wing-coverts pale chestnut; wing-feathers blackish, glossed with
olive; tail pale chestnut; beneath white; under wing-coverts pale
fulvous; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 5·9 inches, wing
2·4, tail 2·4. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, and Patagonia.
This species has a wide range south of the Equator, being found in
Bolivia, Uruguay, and throughout the Argentine Republic, including
Patagonia. In its habits it differs widely from other _Synallaxes_,
and in structure and coloration is also unlike its relatives.
The beak is longer and more curved, the claws more crooked, and the tail
stiffer than in other _Synallaxes_, and this difference in structure
corresponds to a different mode of life. The Striped Spine-tail creeps
on the trunk and larger branches of trees, seeking its insect-food in
the crevices of the bark, and when seen clinging to the trunk, supported
by its tail in a vertical position, with head thrown far back, and
progressing upwards by short quick hops, it looks wonderfully like a
small _Picolaptes_ with shortened beak. It is very restless, and
while searching for insects constantly utters a short, trilling,
querulous-sounding note.
It builds an open nest in the fork of a branch, of soft grasses and
hair, thickly lined with feathers, and lays four or five pure white
eggs.
198. SYNALLAXIS ORBIGNII, Reichenb.
(D'ORBIGNY'S SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis orbignii+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 64; _Scl. P. Z.
S._ 1874, p. 22, et 1879, p. 461; _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 358
(Salta). +Synallaxis humicola+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p.
468 (Mendoza, Paraná). +Synallaxis crassirostris+, _Leybold, J.
f. O._ 1865, p. 401. +Synallaxis flavigularis+, _Döring, Exp. al
Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 45.
_Description._--Above pale earthy brown, superciliaries whitish;
wing-feathers blackish, the basal part of the secondaries pale
chestnut, forming a transverse band; four middle tail-feathers
blackish, the lateral pale chestnut; beneath whitish brown; middle
of throat pale rufous; under wing-coverts fulvous; bill and feet
horn-colour: whole length 6·5 inches, wing 2·2, tail 3·2.
_Hab._ Bolivia and Argentina.
This Spine-tail has been noticed by various observers in Northern
Argentina, and, if we are correct in referring _S. flavigularis_ of
Döring to the same species, occurs also in the Rio Negro district.
199. SYNALLAXIS MODESTA, Eyton.
(MODEST SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis modesta+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 64; _Scl. P.
Z. S._ 1872, p. 544 (Rio Negro), et 1874, p. 23. +Synallaxis
flavogularis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 468 (Mendoza).
_Description._--Above earthy brown, superciliaries whitish; wings
blackish, the basal half of secondaries pale clear brown, forming a
transverse bar; tail black, the outer webs of all the rectrices pale
chestnut; beneath whitish brown, with a large fulvous spot on the
throat; under wing-coverts fulvous; bill and feet pale brown: whole
length 6·0 inches, wing 2·4, tail 2·5. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Argentina, Patagonia, Chili.
This species so closely resembles the following in size and dull
earthy-brown colour, that where seen in the thickets it is impossible to
distinguish them. In habits they also seem alike; but this bird is, I
think, less retiring, for I have seen it associating with other species
of _Synallaxis_.
On comparing specimens together, however, it is easy to separate the
present bird from _S. sordida_ by noticing the colour of the external
rectrices, which are black, externally edged with rufous, instead of
being wholly rufous.
200. SYNALLAXIS SORDIDA, Less.
(SORDID SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis sordida+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 543 (Rio Negro);
_Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 64; _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1874, p. 23;
_Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 396 (Centr. Patagonia); _White, P. Z.
S._ 1883, p. 39 (Cordova); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii.
p. 208 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above earthy brown; wing-feathers blackish brown,
their basal parts pale chestnut-brown, forming a transverse bar;
tail blackish, the three outer rectrices and outer web of the fourth
rectrix on each side wholly pale chestnut-brown; beneath pale earthy
brown, clearer on the belly, and with a bright fulvous spot on
the throat; under wing-coverts pale cinnamomeous; bill and feet
blackish: whole length 6·5 inches, wing 2·3, tail 2·8. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ Patagonia and East Argentina.
This species, which, on close comparison, is at once distinguishable
from _S. modesta_ by the absence of any black colour on the three
exterior pairs of tail-feathers, ranges from the extreme north of the
Argentine Republic to Patagonia, where it is quite common, and is
invariably found in dry situations abounding in thorny vegetation.
It does not migrate, and lives with its mate in thorny bushes, but does
not attempt to conceal itself, and sits much on the summit of a bush,
where the male in spring utters at intervals a clear trilling call.
In its inactive disposition, slow deliberate movements, also in its
language, it strikingly resembles the _Phacellodomus ruber_. In its
nidification it also comes nearest to that species. The nest is a large
structure of sticks, eighteen inches to two feet long, placed upright
among the twigs at the summit of a bush. From the top where the entrance
is placed, a winding passage leads down to the chamber at the bottom of
the nest; this is lined with soft dry grass and feathers, and four pure
white eggs are laid.
201. SYNALLAXIS SULPHURIFERA, Burm.
(YELLOW-MARKED SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis sulphurifera+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 544 (Rio
Negro); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 64; _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1874,
p. 24; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 180, et 1878, p. 61 (Buenos
Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 208 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above brown, slightly olivaceous; wings blackish;
lesser wing-coverts, margins of the feathers of the greater
wing-coverts, and outer webs of the basal halves of the
wing-feathers pale chestnut; tail-feathers chestnut-brown, ends
much elongated and pointed; beneath white, throat and breast mottled
with grey, spot in middle of throat sulphur-yellow; flanks washed
with brown; bend of wing and under wing-coverts fulvous; bill and
feet pale horn-colour: whole length 6·3 inches, wing 2·1, tail 3·0.
_Female_ similar.
_Hab._ South Argentina and Patagonia.
I have found this _Synallaxis_, which was first described by Prof.
Burmeister, from specimens obtained near Buenos Ayres, in the swamps
along the Plata river; also on the Rio Negro, in Patagonia, where,
however, it is very scarce. It inhabits the dense rush-beds growing in
the water, where the _Limnornis curvirostris_ is also found. It closely
resembles that species in habits and language, and also assimilates to
it in colour and in the rather long, curved beak, sharp claws, stout
body, and short stiff tail. It is stationary, pairs for life, and lives
always closely concealed in its chosen bed of close-growing rushes. When
a person approaches their hiding-place the two birds creep up to the
summit of the rushes, protesting in peculiar, loud, angry rattling
notes. The _Limnornis_, which also pairs for life, has precisely the
same habit.
Durnford describes the nest, found in a rush-bed, as a circular or domed
structure of grass, with the aperture at the side; the eggs white.
202. SYNALLAXIS PATAGONICA (Lafr. et d'Orb.).
(PATAGONIAN SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis patagonica+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 544 (Rio Negro);
_Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 64; _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1874, p. 24;
_Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 35 (Chupat).
_Description._--Above greyish earthy brown; wing-feathers blackish
brown, basal halves of secondaries very pale clear brown, forming a
transverse band; tail blackish, edged with greyish brown; outer web
of outer feather on each side pale brown; beneath cinereous, with
an obscure blackish spot on the throat; belly and flanks dull buff;
under wing-coverts cinnamomeous; bill and feet blackish: whole
length 6·0 inches, wing 2·2, tail 2·5. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Patagonia.
This dull-coloured little bird, which is found in Patagonia and also
near the Andes in the north-western provinces of the Argentine Republic,
is one of those species which diverge greatly in habits from the typical
_S. ruficapilla_ and its nearest allies. The body is stout, the tail,
square and short, is carried vertically as in the House-Wren.
The Patagonian Spine-tail is a resident in the Rio Negro district. It is
a silent, shy, solitary little bird, which lives on the ground and seeks
its food after the manner of the Cachalote (_Homorus_). Being small and
feeble, however, it does not hunt about the roots of trees and large
bushes like the larger and more powerful _Homorus_, but keeps under the
diminutive scrubby plants in open sterile situations. About the roots of
these wiry little bushes, only twelve to eighteen inches high, the
bird searches for small insects, and when disturbed has a feeble jerky
flight, which carries it to a distance of about twenty yards. It flies
with great reluctance, and when approached runs swiftly away, leaving a
person in doubt as to whether he has seen a mouse or a little obscure
bird. The only note I have heard it utter is a faint creaking sound when
alarmed or flying.
203. SYNALLAXIS HUDSONI, Scl.
(HUDSON'S SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis hudsoni+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1874, p. 25; _Durnford, Ibis_,
1877, p. 36, et 1878, p. 396 (Chupat, Central Patagonia);
_Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 209 (Azul, Sierra de
la Ventana). +Synallaxis sclateri+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1878, p. 196.
_Description._--Above fulvous brown, mottled with black, each
feather being marked with a large black spot; on the upper part of
the back the feathers are faintly edged with whitish grey; wings
blackish, basal halves of feathers pale clear brown, forming a
transverse bar, the terminal part of the feathers slightly edged on
the outer webs and tips with ochraceous; tail blackish, the outer
pair of rectrices and broad tips of the next two pairs on each side
very pale brown, the two middle feathers broadly margined on both
webs with pale greyish brown; beneath pale ochraceous brown, with a
pale sulphur-yellowish gular spot; flanks with a few black marks;
under wing-coverts light cinnamon; bill and feet pale horn-colour:
whole length 7·8 inches, wing 3·2, tail 3·5. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Argentina.
This Spine-tail, which Sclater has named after me, is the Argentine
representative of _S. humicola_ of Chili. It is common on the pampas,
and is sometimes called by the gauchos "_Tiru-riru del campo_," on
account of its resemblance in the upper plumage and in language to
_Anumbius acuticaudatus_, which is named "_Tiru-riru_," in imitation of
its call-note. The addition of _del campo_ signifies that it is a bird
of the open country. It is, in fact, found exclusively on the grassy
pampas, never perching on trees, and in habits is something like a
Pipit, usually being taken for one when first seen. It is quite common
everywhere on the pampas, and specimens have also been obtained in
Cordova, Uruguay, and Patagonia.
This Spine-tail is resident, solitary, and extremely timid and stealthy
in its movements, living always on the ground among the long grass and
cardoon-thistles. At times its inquisitiveness overcomes its timidity,
and the bird then darts up three or four yards into the air, and jerking
its tail remains some moments poised aloft with breast towards the
intruder, emitting sharp little notes of alarm, after which it darts
down again and disappears in the grass. When driven up it has a wild
zigzag flight, and after reaching a considerable height in the air darts
down again with astonishing swiftness, and comes back to the very spot
from which it rose. It is, however, incapable of sustained flight, and
after being flushed two or three times refuses to rise again. In spring
the male perches on the summit of a cardoon-bush, or other slight
elevation, and at regular intervals utters a pleasing and melancholy
kind of song or call, which can be heard distinctly at a distance of a
thousand yards, composed of four long clear plaintive notes, increasing
in strength, and succeeded by a falling trill. When approached it
becomes silent, and dropping to the ground conceals itself in the grass.
Under a cardoon-bush or tussock of grass it scoops out a slight hollow
in the ground, and builds over this a dome of fine dry grass, leaving a
small aperture arched like the door of a baker's oven. The bed is lined
with dry powdered horse-dung, and the eggs are five, bluntly pointed and
of a very pale buff colour. The interior of the nest is so small that
when the five young birds are fledged they appear to be packed together
very closely, so that it is difficult to conceive how the parent bird
passes in and out.
The nest is always very cunningly concealed, and I have often spent days
searching in a patch of cardoon-bushes where the birds were breeding
without being able to find it.
204. SYNALLAXIS MALUROIDES, d'Orb.
(WREN-LIKE SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis maluroides+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 64; _Scl. P. Z.
S._ 1874, p. 26; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 180, et 1878, p. 61
(Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 208
(Entrerios).
_Description._--Above, front and middle of crown chestnut; hind
head, neck, and back pale fulvous brown, thickly marked with
longitudinal black shaft-spots; lores white; wings blackish, the
feathers edged with pale ochraceous, the basal part of secondaries
very pale brown, forming a transverse bar; tail pale chestnut-brown,
the two middle feathers with a broad black mark on the inner web;
beneath white, breast and flanks washed with pale brown, and
freckled with very small dark brown spots; under wing-coverts white;
bill and feet pale horn-colour: whole length 6·1 inches, wing 2·0,
tail 2·9. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ South Argentina.
D'Orbigny discovered this small Spine-tail near Buenos Ayres city,
but did not record its habits. Like the species just described it is
abundant on the pampas, but in its habits resembles a Wren of the genus
_Cistothorus_ rather than a Pipit, being partial to moist situations,
where there is a rank growth of grass and herbage. The wings are very
short, and the flight so feeble that the bird refuses to rise after
being pursued a distance of one or two hundred yards. And yet I am not
prepared to say that it does not migrate, as I have found that in spring
it all at once becomes very abundant, while in the cold season it is
rarely seen. It is solitary, and in spring sits on a thistle or stalk,
uttering at short intervals its small grasshopper-like song or call. The
nest is a slight open structure of grass, lined with a few feathers,
placed in a tuft of grass or reeds. The eggs are pure white in colour.
205. CORYPHISTERA ALAUDINA, Burm.
(LARK-LIKE CORYPHISTERA.)
+Coryphistera alaudina+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 470 (Paraná);
_Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 64; _Salv. Ibis_, 1880, p. 359
(Tucuman, Salta); _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 40 (Cordova).
_Description._--Above dark greyish brown; elongated crest-feathers
blackish; ear-coverts chestnut; on the back, upper tail-coverts, and
upper wing-coverts the feathers have white and whity-brown edgings;
wing-feathers blackish, the basal part of the inner webs pale brown;
rectrices bright chestnut, broadly tipped with blackish; beneath
white, thickly striated with fulvous brown; under wing-coverts pale
cinnamon; bill and feet light brown: whole length 6·2 inches, wing
2·7, tail 2·3. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Argentina.
This highly interesting little bird, the only known member of its genus,
inhabits the dry plains of Paraná and Cordova.
The following meagre note from White, which only serves to excite
curiosity, comprises all that we know of its habits:--
"These birds are not found in dense woods, but in the open, tenanted
only by a few small trees or bushes. Five or six are usually seen
running about together with a quick, abrupt movement, meanwhile uttering
a sharp cry."
206. ANUMBIUS ACUTICAUDATUS (Less.).
(FIREWOOD-GATHERER.)
+Anumbius acuticaudatus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 467 (Paraná,
Mendoza); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 64; _Hudson, P. Z. S._
1874, p. 159 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 181
(Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 612 (Buenos Ayres);
_Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 211 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above earthy brown, forehead chestnut, superciliaries
white, head, neck, and back marked with black striations; primaries
blackish, secondaries pale chestnut-brown; tail black, all the
feathers except the middle pair broadly tipped with cream-colour;
beneath pale ochraceous brown, white on the throat, the white
bordered on each side by numerous small black spots; bill and feet
pale horn-colour: whole length 8·3 inches, wing 3·6, tail 3·7.
_Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay.
This is a common and very well-known species throughout the Argentine
country and Patagonia, also in Uruguay and Paraguay, and is variously
called _Espinero_ (Thorn-bird), _Tiru-riru_, in imitation of its note,
and _Añumbi_ (the Guarani name); but its best known name is _Leñatero_,
or "Firewood-Gatherer," from the quantity of sticks which it collects
for building-purposes.
The Firewood-Gatherer is a resident in Argentina, and pairs for life.
Sometimes the young birds remain with their parents for a period of
three or four months, all the family going about and feeding in company,
and roosting together in the old nest. The nest and the tree where it
is placed are a favourite resort all the year round. Here the birds sit
perched a great deal, and repeat at intervals a song or call, composed
of four or five loud ticking chirps, followed by a long trilling note.
They feed exclusively on the ground, where they creep about, carrying
the body horizontally and intently searching for insects. When
disturbed, they hurry to their usual refuge, rapidly beating their very
feeble wings, and expanding the broad acuminated tail like a fan. When
the male and female meet at their nest, after a brief separation, they
sing their notes in concert, as if rejoicing over their safe reunion;
but they seldom separate, and Azara says that when one incubates, the
other sits at the entrance to the nest, and that when one returns to the
nest with food for the young the other accompanies it, though it has
found nothing to carry.
To build, the _Añumbi_ makes choice of an isolated tree in an open
situation, and prefers a dwarf tree with very scanty foliage; for small
projecting twigs and leaves hinder the worker when carrying up sticks.
This is a most laborious operation, as the sticks are large and the
bird's flight is feeble. If the tree is to its liking, it matters
not how much exposed to the winds it may be, or how close to a human
habitation, for the bird is utterly unconcerned by the presence of man.
I have frequently seen a nest in a shade or ornamental tree within ten
yards of the main entrance to a house; and I have also seen several
on the tall upright stakes of a horse-corral, and the birds working
quietly, with a herd of half-wild horses rushing round the enclosure
beneath them, pursued by the men with lassos. The bird uses large sticks
for building, and drops a great many; frequently as much fallen material
as would fill a barrow lies under the tree. The fallen stick is not
picked up again, as the bird could not rise vertically with its load,
and is not intelligent enough, I suppose, to recover the fallen stick,
and to carry it away thirty yards from the tree and then rise obliquely.
It consequently goes far afield in quest of a fresh one, and having got
one to its liking, carefully takes it up exactly by the middle, and,
carrying it like a balancing-pole, returns to the nest, where, if one
end happens to hit against a projecting twig, it drops like the first.
The bird is not discouraged, but, after a brief interview with its mate,
flies cheerfully away to gather more wood.
Durnford writes wonderingly of the partiality for building in poplar
trees shown by this bird in Buenos Ayres, and says that in a tall tree
the nest is sometimes placed sixty or seventy feet above the ground, and
that the bird almost invariably rises with a stick at such a distance
from the tree as to be able just to make the nest, but that sometimes
failing it alights further down, and then climbs up the twigs with its
stick. He attributes the choice of the tall poplar to _ambition_; but
the _Añumbi_ has really a much simpler and lowlier motive. In the rich
Buenos Ayres soil all trees have a superabundance of foliage, and in the
slim poplar alone can the nest be placed where the bird can reach it
laden with building-material, without coming in contact with long
projecting twigs.
The nest of the _Añumbi_ is about two feet in depth, and from ten
to twelve inches in diameter, and rests in an oblique position
amongst the branches. The entrance is at the top, and a crooked or
spiral passage-way leads down to the lower extremity, where the
breeding-chamber is situated; this is lined with wool and soft grass,
and five white eggs are laid, varying considerably in form, some being
much more sharply pointed than others.
The nest, being so secure and comfortable an abode, is greatly coveted
by several other species of birds to breed in; but on this subject
I have already spoken in the account of the genus _Molothrus_. When
deprived of their nest, the birds immediately set to work to make a new
one; but often enough, without being ejected from the first they build a
second nest, sometimes demolishing the first work to use the materials.
I watched one pair make three nests before laying; another pair made two
nests, and after the second was completed they returned to the first and
there elected to remain. Two or three nests are sometimes seen on one
tree, and Azara says he has seen as many as six. Mr. Barrows observed
the bird at Concepcion, where it is very common, and writes that in that
district the nest is sometimes four feet long with an average diameter
of two feet, and that the same nest in some cases is used for several
seasons successively; also that several nests are sometimes joined
together and all occupied at the same time.
207. LIMNORNIS CURVIROSTRIS, Gould.
(CURVED-BILL RUSH-BIRD.)
+Limnornis curvirostris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 64; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1877, p. 182 (Buenos Ayres).
_Description._--Above rufous-brown, brighter on the rump; lores and
superciliaries white; wings and tail chestnut-brown; beneath white;
flanks and under tail-coverts pale brown; under wing-coverts white;
bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 3·0, tail
2·0. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Argentina and Uruguay.
This species is found everywhere in marshy places in the eastern part
of the Argentine Republic, and is also common in Uruguay, where Darwin
discovered it. It inhabits dense reed-beds which grow in the water,
and is not found in any other situation. It pairs for life, has a very
feeble flight, and flies with great reluctance, but lives always in
close concealment in one spot. It is, however, very inquisitive, and
when approached the two birds creep up to the summit of the rushes
and utter peculiar loud, rattling, and jarring notes, as if angrily
protesting against the intrusion.
The Rush-bird has a stout body and short graduated tail, strong claws,
and a slender curved beak three-fourths of an inch long. The upper
plumage is brown, the tail rufous, the under surface and a mark over
the eye white.
208. PHACELLODOMUS FRONTALIS (Licht.).
(RED-FRONTED THORN-BIRD.)
+Phacellodomus frontalis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 467
(Tucuman); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 65; _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880,
p. 359 (Salta); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 612 (Buenos Ayres).
+Phacellodomus sincipitalis+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 433.
_Description._--Above nearly uniform olive-brown, crown blackish
brown, superciliaries white; beneath dirty brownish white; under
wing-coverts pale cinnamon; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length
6·8 inches, wing 2·6, tail 2·6. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ S. America, from Venezuela to Argentina.
The Red-fronted Thorn-bird, which is found in the Northern provinces of
Argentina, and only occurs as a straggler near Buenos Ayres, resorts to
the thickets, and in its habits is said to resemble the _Synallaxes_ of
the group to which _S. spixi_ and _S. albescens_ belong. It builds a
large nest of sticks, and White says that it makes a peculiar chattering
sound that has the effect of exciting other small birds, and causes them
to crowd about it.
209. PHACELLODOMUS SIBILATRIX, Scl.
(WHISTLING THORN-BIRD.)
+Phacellodomus sibilatrix+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1879, p. 461; _White, P.
Z. S._ 1882, p. 612 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn.
Cl._ viii. p. 209 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above dull olive-brown, paler on the sides of the
head; front and lesser wing-coverts chestnut-red; wing-feathers
blackish, edged with olive-brown; tail light chestnut, the middle
pair of feathers and the inner webs of the two next pairs brown,
like the back; beneath dirty brownish white, washed with ochraceous
on the flanks; under wing-coverts bright cinnamon: whole length 5·3
inches, wing 2·2, tail 2·2.
_Hab._ Argentina.
This species resembles _P. frontalis_, but differs in its much smaller
size, and in having the upper lesser wing-coverts bright rufous.
It inhabits the thorny woods of the northern districts of the Argentine
country, but I have no reason to regret that I have not personally
observed this species, since Mr. Barrows's careful account of
its nesting-habits leaves nothing to be desired. He writes:--"An
abundant species among the open woods along the Uruguay, and hardly
distinguishable at ten paces from half a dozen others. Its nest,
however, is unmistakable. The birds begin by fixing a few crooked and
thorny twigs among the terminal sprays of some slender branch which juts
out horizontally from a tree, or rises obliquely from near its base, and
around these twigs as a nucleus more are gathered, until, by the time
the nest has reached the proper size, its weight has bent the branch so
that its tip points directly to the earth. Nests which are thus begun at
a distance of fifteen or twenty feet from the ground are often only two
or three feet from it when finished, and a thorough soaking by a heavy
rain will sometimes weigh them down until they actually touch. They are
more or less oval or cylindrical in shape, and commonly about two feet
long by twelve or fifteen inches in diameter, and contain from a peck
to a bushel of twigs and thorns. The nest-cavity within is small in
proportion to the size of the nest, and occupies its upper part. It is
reached by a more or less direct passage-way from below, the external
opening being very nearly at the lowest part of the nest, though
sometimes a little shelf, or even a pocket, is built on to the side,
forming a resting-place in front of the door.
"The nests vary interminably in size and shape, but are pretty constant
in the material used; this being almost always irregular and thorny
twigs of various trees growing in the neighbourhood, while the interior
is formed of less thorny twigs and with some wool and hair. Usually,
also, if the material be at hand, a quantity of old dry horse-droppings
is placed loosely on the top of the nest, and gradually becomes felted
into it, rendering it more nearly waterproof. In place of this I have
frequently found quantities of broken straw, weed-stalks, grass, and
even chips; all doubtless collected from the ridges of drift which the
last overflow of the river had left near at hand. So compactly is the
whole nest built, that it often lasts more than one year, and may
sometimes serve the same pair two successive summers. More often,
however, a new nest is built directly above the old one, which serves
as a foundation, and occasionally as many as three nests are seen thus
on the same branch-tip, two of them at least being occupied. When other
branches of the same tree are similarly loaded, and other trees close at
hand also bear the same kind of fruit, the result is very picturesque.
The eggs, which are white, are laid from October 1 to January 1, but
many of the birds work at nest-building all the winter, sometimes
spending months on a single nest."
210. PHACELLODOMUS STRIATICOLLIS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(RED-WINGED THORN-BIRD.)
+Anumbius striaticollis+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 255 (Buenos Ayres).
+Phacellodomus striaticollis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 65.
_Description._--Above, forehead and crown rufous; lores white; sides
of head, neck, and back brown; whole wing chestnut, the feathers
tipped with blackish; tail chestnut; beneath white, clearer on the
throat and breast, which are marked with slight white shaft-spots;
sides of breast and flanks washed with reddish brown; under
tail-coverts brown; under wing-coverts cinnamon; bill and feet
horn-colour: whole length 8·0 inches, wing 2·9, tail 3·1. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ Argentina and Uruguay.
D'Orbigny, who discovered this species in Uruguay, and found it also
near Buenos Ayres, remarks that it lives in pairs in the thorny bushes,
and resembles its congeners in habits. It is, however, certainly not
common in the vicinity of the Argentine capital, for Hudson has never
met with it.
211. PHACELLODOMUS RUBER (Vieill.).
(RED THORN-BIRD.)
+Phacellodomus ruber+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 467 (Paraná,
Cordova); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 65; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877,
p. 183 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p.
210 (Entrerios). +Phacellodomus maculipectus+, _Cab. J. f. O._
1883, p. 109 (?).
_Description._--Above olive-brown, front chestnut; tail brownish
chestnut; beneath whitish, throat, breast, and flanks washed and
mottled with bright reddish brown; under wing-coverts and inner
margins of wing-feathers bright cinnamon; bill and feet horn-colour:
whole length 7·3 inches, wing 2·6, tail 3·2. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Argentina.
This is a common species throughout the eastern portion of the
Argentine country, and extends as far south as the southern boundary
of the Buenos Ayrean province.
It is resident, living in pairs in places where there are scattered
thorny trees and bushes, and is never found in deep woods. It never
attempts to conceal itself, but, on the contrary, sits exposed on a bush
and will allow a person to approach within three or four yards of it.
Nor has it the restless manner of most Synallaxine birds which live in
the same places with it, but moves in a slow deliberate way, and spends
a great deal of time sitting motionless on its perch, occasionally
uttering its call or song, composed of a series of long, shrill,
powerful notes in descending scale and uttered in a very leisurely
manner. It builds a large oblong nest of sticks, about two feet deep,
and placed obliquely among the thorny twigs of a bush or low tree. Mr.
Barrows writes:--"There are commonly two cavities in the nest, one being
half open to the weather, and forming the entrance, the other further
back and connected with the former by only a short passage-way, which in
many cases is reduced to a simple hole through a broad partition, which
alone separates them." The eggs are four and of a pure white.
The name commonly used for this species is founded on the "_Anumbé
roxo_" of Azara's 'Apuntamientos'; but the description given there of
the bird's nesting-habits shows either that some other species was
meant--perhaps _P. sibilatrix_, Döring--or that the nesting-habits of
a different bird have been assigned to _P. ruber_.
212. HOMORUS LOPHOTES, Reichenb.
(BROWN CACHALOTE.)
[Plate IX.]
[Illustration: HOMORUS LOPHOTES.]
+Homorus lophotes+, _Reichb. Handb._ p. 172; _Barrows, Bull. Nutt.
Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 212 (Entrerios); _Hudson, Ibis_, 1885,
p. 283 (Buenos Ayres). +Anabates unirufus+, _Burm. La-Plata
Reise_, ii. p. 466 (Cordova). +Homorus unirufus+, _Scl. et Salv.
Nomencl._ p. 65; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 612 (Catamarca).
_Description._--Above brown, tinged with olive on the back, but
clear and rufescent on the hind head and rump; crest-feathers
blackish brown; wings blackish; tail chestnut; beneath earthy brown,
throat rufous; under wing- and tail-coverts and inner margins
of wing-feathers pale rufous; bill pale bluish, feet bluish
horn-colour: whole length 9·8 inches, wing 4·6, tail 4·2. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ Argentina.
This species interested me greatly during my observations of the
Argentine birds, but, owing to its rarity and to its recluse habits,
my knowledge of it is very scanty. It is found in the north and
north-western parts of the Argentine territory; in the province of
Buenos Ayres its presence is confined to the narrow strip of subtropical
wood fringing the low shores of the Plata river.
When surprised, its white eye, blue dagger-like beak, and raised crest
give it a strikingly bold and angry appearance, the effect of which is
heightened by the harsh rasping scream it utters when disturbed. This
resentful look is deceptive, however, for the bird is the shiest
creature imaginable. Its language has the shrill excited character
common to this most loquacious family; and at intervals throughout the
day two birds, male and female, meet together and make the woods echo
with their screaming concert. For many weeks after I had become familiar
with these loud-sounding notes, while collecting in the littoral forest
where it is found, the bird was still to me only a "wandering voice";
but I did not give up the pursuit till I had seen it several times
and had also secured two or three specimens. I found one nest, though
without eggs, a rough-looking domed structure, made with material enough
to fill a barrow. I also discovered that the bird feeds exclusively on
the ground, close to the boles of low-branching trees, where there is
usually an accumulation of fallen bark, dead leaves, and other rubbish.
Here the bird digs with its sharp beak for the small insects it preys
on. When approached it does not fly away, but runs swiftly to the
nearest tree, behind the trunk of which it hides, then scuttles on to
the next tree, and so escapes without showing itself.
Mr. Barrows, who observed the Cachalote at Concepcion, says that it is
a bird which cannot be overlooked, with an outrageous disposition and
voice, and a nest the size of a barrel. He gives the following account
of its nidification:--"His nest is built entirely of sticks, and many of
them of goodly size, frequently as large round as your little finger and
two feet or more long. These are disposed in such a way as to form a
structure three or four feet in length by about two in breadth in the
widest part, the whole very much resembling a gigantic powder-flask
lying on its side among the lower branches of a spreading tree. It is
quite loosely built and the nest-cavity is rather indefinite, being
any portion of the floor of the nest which the bird selects for the
reception of the eggs. These are usually three or four in number, pure
white, and are laid from October until January. They can usually be
counted through the loose floor of the nest, though sometimes its
thickness prevents this."
213. HOMORUS GUTTURALIS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(WHITE-THROATED CACHALOTE.)
+Anabates gutturalis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 467 (Mendoza).
+Homorus gutturalis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 65; _Hudson,
P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 545 (Rio Negro); _id. Ibis_, 1885, p. 284;
_Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 36, et 1878, p. 396 (Chupat, Central
Patagonia).
_Description._--Nearly uniform earthy grey, faintly tinged with
olivaceous brown above, and much paler beneath; lores and upper part
of throat pure white, lower part of throat black, or white and black
mixed; under wing-coverts white, faintly tinged with pale cinnamon;
beak and feet bluish grey: whole length 9·4 inches, wing 4·0, tail
3·2. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Patagonia.
I found this bird quite common on the dry open plains in the
neighbourhood of the Rio Negro in Patagonia. In size, form, and crest
it is like the northern Cachalote, but has a white throat, while the
rest of the plumage is of a pale earthy brown instead of rufous. Like
the Brown Cachalote it is also shy in disposition, and, being so dull
in colour and without the bright beak and eye tints, has not the
bold, striking appearance of that species; still I do not think any
ornithologist can meet with it and fail to be strongly impressed with
its personality, if such a word can be applied to a bird.
Dendrocolaptine birds are, as a rule, builders of big nests and very
noisy; _H. gutturalis_ is, I believe, the loudest screamer and greatest
builder of the family. Male and female live together in the same
locality all the year; the young, when able to fly, remain with
their parents till the breeding-season, so that the birds are found
occasionally in pairs, but more frequently in families of five or six
individuals. When feeding they scatter about, each bird attaching itself
to a large bush, scraping and prodding for insects about the roots; and
at intervals one of the old birds, ascending a bush, summons the others
with loud shrill cries, on which they all hurry to the place of meeting,
and from the summits of the bushes burst forth in a piercing chorus,
which sounds at a distance like screams of hysterical laughter. At one
place, where I spent some months, there were some bushes over a mile
and a quarter from the house I lived in, where these birds used to hold
frequent meetings, and in that still atmosphere I could distinctly hear
their extravagant cries at this distance. After each performance they
pursue each other, passing from bush to bush with a wild jerky flight,
and uttering harsh angry notes.
They select a low, strong, wide-spreading bush to build in; the nest,
which is made of stout sticks, is perfectly spherical and four to five
feet deep, the chamber inside being very large. The opening is at the
side near the top, and is approached by a narrow arched gallery, neatly
made of slender sticks resting along a horizontal branch, and about
fourteen inches long. This peculiar entrance, no doubt, prevents the
intrusion of snakes and small mammals. So strongly made is the nest that
I have stood on the dome of one and stamped on it with my foot without
injuring it in the least, and to demolish one I had to force my
gun-barrel into it, then prize it up by portions. I examined about a
dozen of these enormous structures, but they were all met with before
or after the laying season, so that I did not see the eggs.
214. ANABAZENOPS OLEAGINEUS, Scl.
(OILY-GREEN ANABAZENOPS.)
+Anabazenops rufo-superciliatus+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 613
(Catamarca). +Anabazenops oleagineus+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1883, p.
654.
_Description._--Above and beneath dark olive-green; lores,
superciliaries, and spots on the sides of the head yellowish white;
wings blackish, the outer webs of the feathers olive-brown; tail
bright chestnut; throat whitish yellow, on the lower part the yellow
feathers tipped with olive; breast and belly spotted with same
colour as the throat; bend of wing, under wing-coverts, and margins
of inner webs of secondaries fulvous yellow; bill and feet blackish:
whole length 6·2 inches, wing 3·2, tail 3·0. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ South Brazil and Argentina.
White obtained examples of this species on the Sierra of Totoral. He
says it is a very wild bird and exceedingly scarce.
215. SITTOSOMUS ERITHACUS (Licht.).
(ROBIN-LIKE WOOD-HEWER.)
+Sittosomus olivaceus+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 613 (Salta).
+Sittasomus erithacus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 66.
_Description._--Above olive-green, tinged with chestnut on the back,
rump, and upper wing-coverts; wings black, the basal part of the
inner webs of the secondaries fulvous yellow, forming a well-marked
transverse bar; outer webs and broad tips of inner secondaries and
whole of outer secondaries chestnut; tail and upper tail-coverts
chestnut; beneath yellowish olive, brighter on the throat and
breast; under wing-coverts fulvous yellow; under tail-coverts pale
chestnut; bill and feet black: whole length 6·2 inches, wing 3·0,
tail 3·0. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ South America from Colombia to Northern Argentina.
This is a straggler from the north, a specimen of which was obtained by
White near Oran in 1880.
216. GLYPHORHYNCHUS CUNEATUS (Licht.).
(WEDGE-BILLED WOOD-HEWER.)
+Glyphorhynchus cuneatus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 67; _White, P.
Z. S._ 1882, p. 613 (Misiones).
_Description._--Above olive-brown, superciliaries and small spots on
the side of the head yellowish white, rump and upper tail-coverts
chestnut; wings blackish, outer webs of wing-feathers olive-brown,
basal part of inner webs of secondaries yellowish white, forming a
transverse bar; tail chestnut; beneath earthy olive-brown, whitish
yellow on the throat, and with spots of the same colour on the
upper part of the breast; under wing-coverts white; bill and feet
horn-colour: whole length 5·1 inches, wing 2·5, tail 2·4. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ South America from Colombia to Northern Argentina.
This is another northern form of which White obtained specimens in
Misiones. He says it is not uncommon there in the thick woods, also in
the orange-groves about the Jesuit ruins of St. Javier.
217. DENDROCOLAPTES PICUMNUS (Licht.).
(FLAT-BILLED WOOD-HEWER.)
+Dendrocolaptes picumnus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 67; _White, P.
Z. S._ 1882, p. 613 (Misiones).
_Description._--Above olivaceous brown; head blackish, thickly
covered with yellowish-buff elongated shaft-spots; rump and upper
tail-coverts tinged with chestnut; wing-feathers chestnut, tinged
with olivaceous; tail chestnut; beneath pale earthy olive-brown,
paler on the throat, the shafts of the feathers of the breast buffy
white, forming long lines, the feathers of the belly and under
tail-coverts transversely barred with blackish; under wing-coverts
yellowish white, spotted with blackish; bill and feet black: whole
length 10·5 inches, wing 4·7, tail 4·6. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Brazil and Northern Argentina.
White obtained specimens of this species at Concepcion, "in the thickest
parts of the woods, near the river, climbing up the trees, around which
it turned in corkscrew fashion."
218. DRYMORNIS BRIDGESI, Eyton.
(BRIDGES'S WOOD-HEWER.)
[Plate X.]
[Illustration: DRYMORNIS BRIDGESI.]
+Drymornis bridgesi+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 67; _White, P.
Z. S._ 1882, p. 613 (Catamarca); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 20
(Entrerios). +Nasica gracilirostris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii.
p. 466 (Rio Quinto).
_Description._--Above and below brown, brightest on the rump, and
palest beneath; long superciliaries extending down the neck, and
a mystacal stripe formed of white spots with faint black edgings;
wing-feathers blackish; tail chestnut; on the throat a broad white
band extending to the breast; breast and belly marked with large
oblong white spots, which are margined with narrow black edgings;
under wing-coverts and inner margins of secondaries bright cinnamon;
bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 12·10 inches, wing 5·6, tail
4·6. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ North and West Argentina.
Eyton, when he described this species from Bridges's specimens, gave its
habitat as Bolivia. It may inhabit the southern part of that Republic,
but it is more probable that Bridges's examples were obtained in
Northern Argentina, which he likewise visited. Bridges's Wood-hewer is
the only member of its genus, and is one of the largest of the whole
family _Dendrocolaptidæ_, measuring some 13 or 14 inches in length,
inclusive of the great curved beak. Although found throughout the
northern portion of the Argentine Republic, its habits are as yet
imperfectly known, but the following extracts show that they must be
very interesting, and that the bird is remarkably versatile. Mr. Barrows
writes:--"These birds are somewhat gregarious, being oftenest seen in
small parties of six to ten. They sometimes cling against the bark of a
tree in the manner of Woodpeckers, but also spend much of their time on
the ground. I think they use their curved bill much oftener for probing
in the ground than for searching the bark of trees, as many of those
shot had the base of the bill and the frontal feathers plastered with
mud. In the stomach of the first one killed I found the silken sac,
three fourths of an inch in diameter, or the eggs of a large spider,
which makes holes ten or twelve inches deep in the hard soil
everywhere."
White obtained examples of this species at Catamarca, and also notices
its strangely contrasted habits. He writes:--"The cry of this bird is
much the same as that of a Woodpecker, and it clings to the algarroba
trees in a similar way; but in the afternoon it is seen scattered about
on the sandy ground in the pursuit of insects."
219. XIPHOCOLAPTES ALBICOLLIS (Vieill.).
(WHITE-THROATED WOOD-HEWER.)
+Xiphocolaptes albicollis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 68; _White,
P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 613 (Misiones).
_Description._--Above, head black, with clear whitish-yellow
shaft-spots; lores and long superciliaries white; neck, back, and
upper wing-coverts olive-brown; rump and upper tail-coverts washed
with bright chestnut; wing-feathers dark chestnut, the outer webs
glossed with olivaceous; tail chestnut; beneath pale olive-brown,
buffy white on the throat and with similar shaft-spots on the
breast; feathers of the belly and under tail-coverts transversely
barred with black; under wing-coverts cinnamomeous yellow barred
with black; bill and feet black: whole length 12·0 inches, wing 5·4,
tail 4·8. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Brazil and N. Argentina.
White obtained examples of this large Wood-hewer in Misiones.
220. XIPHOCOLAPTES MAJOR (Vieill.).
(CHESTNUT WOOD-HEWER.)
+Xiphocolaptes major+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 68; _White, P. Z.
S._ 1882, p. 613 (Salta); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1880, p. 359
(Tucuman).
_Description._--Above and below nearly uniform chestnut, tinged
with olivaceous on the crown and throat; narrow shaft-spots on the
breast-feathers whitish, forming faint lines; beak pale horn-colour;
feet bluish grey: whole length 11·10 inches, wing 5·5, tail 4·0.
_Female_ similar.
_Hab._ North Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia.
This large and powerful Wood-hewer is confined to the hottest portion of
the Argentine Republic, and also inhabits Paraguay and Bolivia. White
met with it at Oran, in the province of Salta, and writes concerning its
habits:--"Common here in the dense forest, where their continued hard
pecking at the lofty tree-trunks is very accentuated. Two or three at a
time maintain a continued race up a magnificent clear stem as far as the
branches, when they fly to the bottom of the next and do likewise."
This species is nearly a foot in length, the beak being about two inches
long, curved and very powerful. The tail is stiff, being used as a
support in climbing, and the claws are strong and sharply hooked. The
colour of the whole plumage is nearly uniformly bright rufous.
221. PICOLAPTES ANGUSTIROSTRIS (Vieill.).
(NARROW-BILLED WOOD-HEWER.)
+Picolaptes angustirostris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 69; _White,
P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 433 (Cordova). +Lepidocolaptes atripes+,
_Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 21 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above, head and neck blackish, with oblong whitish
shaft-spots on the crown and neck; broad superciliaries white,
extending nearly to the back and broken at their lower ends into
shaft-spots; rest of upper surface dull brown, brighter on the
rump; wing-feathers pale obscure chestnut; outer webs and broad tips
of primaries blackish; tail chestnut; beneath white, clearer on the
throat; sides of breast and belly thickly marked with faint blackish
stripes; under wing-coverts cinnamon; bill pale horn-colour; feet
grey: whole length 8·2 inches, wing 3·8, tail 2·5. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Paraguay and Argentina.
This is the only member of the genus _Picolaptes_ as yet met with
within the limits of the Argentine Republic. Azara found it abundant in
Paraguay, and on this account named it the Common Climber, "_Trepador
comun_." In Buenos Ayres it is a summer visitant, appearing at the end
of September. It is a solitary bird, never seen away from the woods, and
invariably utters a loud melancholy cry when passing from one tree to
another. It always alights on the trunk close to the ground, clinging to
the bark in a vertical position, supported by the tail, and with head
thrown far back in order to give free play to the extremely long beak.
Having thus alighted, it progresses upwards by short hops, exploring the
crevices in the wood for small insects, until it reaches the branches,
when it flies off to the next tree.
Fam. XVIII. FORMICARIIDÆ, or ANT-BIRDS.
The Formicariidæ, or Ant-birds, are another very important constituent
of the Neotropical Avifauna, but are less generally diffused than the
Dendrocolaptidæ, the greater number of the forms being restricted to the
hot forests of South and Central America. In the Argentine Republic we
meet with only four species of the widely-spread genus _Thamnophilus_,
and of them only one appears to extend as far south as Buenos Ayres.
222. THAMNOPHILUS LEACHI (Such).
(LEACH'S BUSH-BIRD.)
+Thamnophilus leachi+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 69; _White, P. Z.
S._ 1882, p. 614 (Misiones).
_Description._--Black, thickly and conspicuously spotted above with
white or pale yellowish; on the wings the spots occur on the outer
webs of the feathers; upper tail-coverts faintly edged with grey;
tail black, unspotted; feathers on the lower breast and belly
slightly edged with grey; bill and feet black: whole length 10·5
inches, wing 3·4, tail 5·0. _Female_: spots larger and yellow, on
the crown lengthening to stripes and tinged with rufous; inner webs
of the wing-feathers also spotted on their margins; whole under
surface thickly spotted with pale yellow.
_Hab._ Brazil and N. Argentina.
White met with a single individual of this fine Bush-bird at Concepcion,
Misiones. It was observed on the ground feeding on a swarm of black
ants.
223. THAMNOPHILUS MAJOR, Vieill.
(LARGER BUSH-BIRD.)
+Thamnophilus major+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 69; _White, P. Z.
S._ 1882, p. 614 (Salta); _Salvin, Ibis_. 1880, p. 359 (Salta).
+Thamnophilus stagurus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 471
(Paraná, Tucuman).
_Description._--Above black, upper wing-coverts crossed by a row of
white spots; the outer rectrix on each side tipped and barred with
white, the other rectrices, excepting the middle pair, spotted with
white on their inner webs; beneath pure white; bill black, feet
grey: whole length 8·0 inches, wing 3·6, tail 2·8. _Female_ above
rufous, beneath white, lower flanks and under tail-coverts tinged
with ochraceous; tail wholly rufous.
_Hab._ Paraguay and N. Argentina.
White found this species common in the gardens round the town of Oran.
He noted the iris as "crimson."
Azara's account of this species is prefaced by the following remarks on
the birds of this genus known to him in Paraguay:--"These birds inhabit
only the dense and tangled thickets, and never show themselves outside
of their hiding-places, except for a few moments in the early morning
and in the evening; but at no time do they perch high on the trees, but
keep always within a few feet of the earth. They live in pairs; feed
solely on insects caught in the bushes which they frequent, or on the
ground, on which, however, the bird alights only to pick up its prey,
and then returns to the twig to devour it. They are stationary, and fly
only from one thicket to another. Many of the species have a similar
voice or song, which is singular, powerful, and heard only in the
love-season. The call is a trill of a single note rapidly reiterated,
and loud enough to be heard half a mile away; the cry being accompanied
by vibratory motions of the wings."
224. THAMNOPHILUS CÆRULESCENS, Vieill.
(SLATY-BLUE BUSH-BIRD.)
+Thamnophilus cærulescens+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 472
(Paraná, Mendoza, Tucuman); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 70;
_White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 614 (Corrientes, Misiones); _Barrows,
Auk_, 1884, p. 21 (Entrerios); _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 361
(Salta).
_Description._--Above grey, black on the crown, and a patch of white
and black feathers on the middle of the back; wings black, the
coverts thickly spotted and the inner webs of the remiges edged with
white; tail black, all the feathers, except the middle pair, tipped
with white, the outer rectrix on each side has also a long white
spot in the middle part of the outer web; beneath cinereous, white
on the belly; bill and feet black: whole length 5·6 inches, wing
2·7, tail 2·3. _Female_: above earthy olive-green, yellowish on
the crown; wing-coverts and tail as in the male; wing-feathers
olive-brown; beneath yellowish olive-grey, brightening into
ochraceous on the belly and flanks.
_Hab._ Paraguay and Argentina.
Mr. Barrows says concerning this species that it is "frequently seen,
especially during the winter" (on the Lower Uruguay). A nest, taken
November 24th, "was almost precisely like that of our Red-eyed Vireo
(_V. olivaceus_), being pensile in the fork of a horizontal spray, only
four feet from the ground. It contained three fresh eggs, white, with
spots and dashes of light brown."
White says that these birds frequent the banks of streams, and have a
deep bass call-note, rather mournful and slow.
225. THAMNOPHILUS RUFICAPILLUS, Vieill.
(RED-CAPPED BUSH-BIRD.)
+Thamnophilus argentinus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 472
(Paraná, Tucuman); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 70; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1877, p. 183 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 21
(Entrerios). +Thamnophilus ruficapillus+, _Pelz. Orn. Bras._ p.
79; _Berl. et Jher. Zeitschr. ges. O._ 1885, p. 49.
_Description._--Above olivaceous brown, tinged with rufous, brighter
on the crown; lores yellowish white, superciliaries and sides of
head whitish grey; wing-feathers dark olive-brown, the inner webs
edged with ochraceous; tail black, all the rectrices, except the
middle pair, slightly tipped and broadly spotted on the inner webs
with white; beneath greyish white, the feathers from the lower
throat to the belly transversely barred with black; bill and feet
black: whole length 6·2 inches, wing 2·7, tail 2·6. _Female_: above
the same as the male, except the tail, which is rufous brown;
beneath whitish, tinged with ochraceous, and with scarcely
perceptible greyish mottlings.
_Hab._ Paraguay and Argentina.
This species is very common in the eastern provinces of Argentina, and
extends south to Buenos Ayres. It is a shy, solitary bird, found in
woods and thickets along the shores of La Plata; and utters occasionally
a singular low rasping note, its only language. The nest is a slight
shallow structure placed in a low tree; the eggs are white, thinly
spotted with reddish brown. Probably this species is to some extent
migratory, as I have only observed it in the summer season.
Fam. XIX. PTEROPTOCHIDÆ, or TAPACOLAS.
The Pteroptochidæ form a small but very peculiar family of
Tracheophonine Passeres, mostly restricted to Chili and the
south-western extremity of the South-American Continent, but also
represented in the Andes of Ecuador and Colombia and in the high
plateau of Central Brazil. They are ground-birds, remarkable for their
large and robust feet with long claws, their strangely formed bills, and
the elevated position in which the tail is carried in the living bird.
In the Argentine Republic four species of Pteroptochidæ are known to
occur, only one of which, however, is a well-known bird. Two of the
remaining three are recent discoveries, and the fourth a Chilian
species, which extends over the Andes into the western borders of
Argentina.
226. SCYTALOPUS SUPERCILIARIS, Cab.
(WHITE-EYEBROWED SCYTALOPUS.)
+Scytalopus superciliaris+, _Cab. Journ. f. Orn._ 1883, p. 105, t.
ii. fig. 3 (Tucuman).
_Description._--Nearest to _S. indigoticus_ of Brazil, but without
the white colour on the breast and belly, only the throat being
clear white; superciliaries striped white; front and sides of the
head and neck, breast and belly grey; rest of the upper surface,
together with the flanks and crissum, light brown, with fine
blackish cross-markings; bill blackish, feet light-coloured.
_Hab._ Sierra of Tucuman.
This species is one of Schulz's recent discoveries in the Sierra of
Tucuman, where he found it west of Sauciyaca, frequenting the deep
ravines.
227. RHINOCRYPTA LANCEOLATA, Geoffr. et d'Orb.
(GALLITO.)
+Rhinocrypta lanceolata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii, p. 471
(Mendoza, San Juan, Catamarca); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 70;
_Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 543 (Rio Negro); _White, P. Z. S._
1882, p. 614 (Catamarca).
_Description._--Above, head and upper neck reddish brown with a
fine white shaft-stripe on each feather, the stripes being most
conspicuous on the crest-feathers; lower neck, back, rump, and wings
greyish olive; tail blackish; beneath, throat and upper part of
breast, grey, becoming pure white on the middle of the belly; sides
of belly and flanks bright chestnut; lower part of belly and flanks
and under tail-coverts like the back; bill horn-colour, feet black:
whole length 8·2 inches, wing 3·3, tail 3·0. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Western and Southern Argentina and Patagonia.
The vernacular name _Gallito_, or "Little Cock," by which this species
is familiarly known in Patagonia, cannot fail to strike every one who
sees the bird as very appropriate, for it struts and runs on the ground
with tail erect, looking wonderfully like a small domestic fowl. In the
neighbourhood of Carmen, on the Rio Negro, it is very abundant, and
when I went there its loud deep chirrup, heard from every side in the
thicket, quickly arrested my attention, just as the perpetual chirping
of the Sparrows did when I first landed in England. In the interior of
the country it is not nearly so abundant, so that man's presence has
probably in some way affected it favourably. Its habits amuse and baffle
a person anxious to make its acquaintance; for it scarcely possesses the
faculty of flight, and cannot be driven up, but it is so easily alarmed,
so swift of foot, and so fond of concealment, that it is most difficult
to catch a sight of it. At the same time it is extremely inquisitive,
and no sooner does it spy an intruder in the bush than the warning note
is sounded, whereupon every bird within hearing hops up into a thick
thorn-bush, where it utters every three or four seconds a loud hollow
chirrup, and at intervals a violent scolding cry, several times
repeated. When approached they all scuttle away, masked by the bushes,
with amazing swiftness, to take refuge at a distance, where the loud
protest is again resumed; but when the pursuer gives up the pursuit
in disgust and turns away, they immediately follow him, so that he is
perpetually encircled with the same ring of angry sound, moving with
him, coming no nearer and never allowing its cause to be seen.
On three or four occasions I have seen one rise from the ground and fly
several yards with a feeble fluttering flight; but when closely pursued
in an open place they seem incapable of rising. They generally fly down
from the top of a bush, but always ascend it by hopping from twig to
twig.
The nest is made in the centre of a thorny bush two or three feet from
the ground; and is round and domed, with a small aperture at the side,
and built entirely of fine dry grass. The eggs are four in number and of
a pure white.
The Little Cock is nine inches long, has long stout legs, and short,
curved beak. The colour of the head and neck is deep reddish brown,
lined with white, the feathers of the crown forming a crest. The upper
surface and wings olive-brown; tail dark; throat and breast grey; middle
of the belly white, with a broad ruddy rufous patch on each side
reaching to the belly.
228. RHINOCRYPTA FUSCA, Scl. et Salv.
(BROWN GALLITO.)
+Rhinocrypta fusca+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ pp. 76, 161.
_Description._--Above uniform pale cinnamomeous brown; superciliaries
whitish; tail blackish, except the middle pair of rectrices, which
are the same as the back; beneath white, faintly tinged with
cinnamomeous; bill horn-colour, feet black: whole length 6·5 inches,
wing 2·5, tail 2·4.
_Hab._ Mendoza.
The original examples of this species were obtained by the German
collector, Weisshaupt, near Mendoza. It appears to have been mistaken
for the young of the preceding species, but is decidedly different.
229. PTEROPTOCHUS ALBICOLLIS, Kittl.
(WHITE-NECKED TAPACOLA.)
+Pteroptochus albicollis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 471
(Mendoza); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 76.
_Description._--Above chestnut-brown, obscure or slightly olivaceous
on the neck and upper part of back; inner webs of wing-feathers
blackish; lores, superciliaries, and under surface white, the breast
sparsely, and the belly and flanks thickly marked with transverse
spots of blackish brown; lower flanks and under tail-coverts
chestnut-brown, obscurely spotted with black; bill and feet black:
whole length 8·5 inches, wing 3·1, tail 2·9. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Chili and Western Argentina.
Dr. Burmeister tells us that he met with this Chilian species in the
water-courses near Mendoza, where it was seen running about on the
stones like a Dipper.
Darwin has given us some interesting notes on this bird:--"This species
is called by the Chilenos 'Tapacola,' or 'cover your posteriors.' The
name is well applied, as the Tapacola generally carries its short tail
more than erect, that is, inclined backward and toward the head. It is
extremely common in Central Chile. The Tapacola frequents hedge-rows
and the bushes which are scattered at a considerable elevation over the
sterile hills, where scarcely another bird can exist; hence it plays
a conspicuous part in the ornithology of Chile. The Tapacola is very
crafty; when frightened by any person, it will remain motionless at the
bottom of a bush, and will then, after a little while, try with much
address to crawl away on the opposite side. It is also an active bird,
and continually making a noise; these noises are various and strangely
odd; one is like the cooing of doves, another like the bubbling of
water, and many defy all similes. The country-people say it changes
its cry five times in the year, which is according, I suppose, to some
change of season. I was told that the Tapacola builds its nest at the
bottom of a deep burrow." (Darwin, in Zool. Voy. 'Beagle,' iii. p. 72.)
INDEX.
_Acahé_, i. 110.
Acanthylis collaris, ii. 11.
Actiturus bartramius, ii. 189.
Actodromas bairdi, ii. 184.
---- fuscicollis, ii. 185.
---- maculata, ii. 183.
Æchmophorus major, ii. 202.
Ægialitis cantiana, ii. 174.
---- collaris, ii. 173.
---- falklandica, ii. 172.
_Afeytado_, ii. 114.
_Agachona_, ii. 181.
Agelæus flavus, i. 98.
---- ruficapillus, i. 99.
---- thilius, i. 97.
Agriornis leucurus, i. 112.
---- maritima, i. 112.
---- striata, i. 111.
_Aiaiai_, ii. 106.
Ajaja rosea, ii. 114, 115, 116.
_Alas-amarillas_, ii. 163.
Alectrurus psalurus, i. 123.
---- risorius, i. 123.
---- tricolor, i. 122.
_Allied Saltator_, i. 41.
---- _Woodpecker_, ii. 20.
_Alma do gato_, ii. 37.
_Alonzito_, i. 167.
_Alonzo Garsia_, i. 167.
Aluco flammeus, ii. 48.
_Amazon, Blue-fronted_, ii. 47.
----, _Vinaceous_, ii. 46.
_Amazonian Kingfisher_, ii. 27.
Amblycercus solitarius, i. 72.
Amblypterus anomalus, ii. 16.
Amblyrhamphus holosericeus, i. 101.
---- ruber, i. 101.
_American Dabchick_, ii. 205.
---- _Golden Plover_, ii. 170.
---- _Oyster-catcher_, ii. 176.
---- _Waterhen_, ii. 156.
Anabates gutturalis, i. 197.
---- unirufus, i. 195.
_Anabazenops, Oily-green_, i. 198.
---- oleagineus, i. 198.
---- rufo-superciliatus, i. 198.
Anæretes flavirostris, i. 142.
---- parulus, i. 141.
Anas bahamensis, ii. 135.
---- brasiliensis, ii. 133.
---- chiloënsis, ii. 135.
---- cyanoptera, ii. 130.
---- flavirostris, ii. 131.
---- maculirostris, ii. 131.
---- melanocephala, ii. 130.
---- oxyura, ii. 134.
---- peposaca, ii. 137.
---- platalea, ii. 136.
---- spinicauda, ii. 134.
_Andean Flamingo_, ii. 119.
---- _Goose_, ii. 122.
_Angela Humming-bird_, ii. 5.
_Angelito de las Animas_, i. 118.
_Ani, Black_, ii. 31.
_Antarctic Rail_, ii. 148.
Antenor unicinctus, ii. 63.
Anthus correndera, i. 17, 19, 54, 80.
---- furcatus, i. 19.
---- pratensis, i. 17.
---- rufus, i. 17.
Antrostomus longirostris, ii. 14.
---- parvulus, ii. 14.
_Anumbé roxo_, i. 195.
_Añumbi_, i. 189, 190, 191.
Anumbius acuticaudatus, i. 31, 67, 88, 96, 133, 187, 189.
---- striaticollis, i. 194.
Aphobus chopi, i. 108.
Aptenodytes demersa, ii. 206.
Aramides gigas, ii. 150.
---- nigricans, ii. 150.
---- rhytirhynchus, ii. 149.
---- ypecaha, ii. 150.
Aramus scolopaceus, ii. 159.
Ardea cærulea, ii. 99.
---- candidissima, ii. 98, 99.
---- cocoi, ii. 93, 94.
---- egretta, ii. 98, 99, 105.
---- gardeni, ii. 105.
---- leuce, ii. 98.
---- marmorata, ii. 104.
---- nivea, ii. 99.
---- sibilatrix, ii. 100.
Ardetta involucris, ii. 93, 101, 227.
_Argentine Blackbird_, i. 4.
---- _Cow-bird_, i. 72.
---- _Flamingo_, ii. 117.
Arremon orbignii, i. 41.
Arundinicola flaviventris, i. 137.
---- leucocephala, i. 122.
_Ashy Tyrant_, i. 121.
_Ashy-black Tyrant_, i. 126.
_Ashy-headed Goose_, ii. 124.
Asio accipitrinus, ii. 49.
---- brachyotus, ii. 49.
Asturina pucherani, ii. 58.
---- rutilans, ii. 63.
---- unicincta, ii. 63.
Athene cunicularia, ii. 52.
Atticora cyanoleuca, i. 33, 166.
---- fucata, i. 35.
Aulanax latirostris, i. 121.
_Avestruz petizo_, ii. 219.
_Aymara Dove_, ii. 142.
---- _Parrakeet_, ii. 46.
_Azara's Sand-Plover_, ii. 173.
---- _Tanager_, i. 40.
---- _Trogon_, ii. 29.
_Azure Jay_, i. 110.
_Bahama Duck_, ii. 135.
---- _Pintail_, ii. 135.
_Bailarin_, ii. 71.
_Baird's Sandpiper_, ii. 184, 185.
_Banduria_, ii. 112.
_Bank Parrot_, ii. 41.
---- _Swallow_, i. 33.
_Barn-Owl, Common_, ii. 48.
_Barred Upland Goose_, ii. 123.
Bartramia longicauda, ii. 189.
_Bartram's Sandpiper_, ii. 189.
Basileuterus auricapillus, i. 21.
---- vermivorus, i. 21.
_Batitú_, ii. 189.
_Bay-winged Cow-bird_, i. 95.
_Bécard, White-winged_, i. 162.
Bernicla antarctica, ii. 123.
---- dispar, ii. 123.
---- magellanica, ii. 123.
---- melanoptera, ii. 122.
---- poliocephala, ii. 124.
_Bienteveo Tyrant_, i. 147.
_Bittern, Marbled Tiger-_, ii. 104.
_Black Ani_, ii. 31.
---- _Duck_, ii. 137.
---- _Rail_, ii. 149.
---- _Vulture_, ii. 89.
_Black-and-chestnut Warbling Finch_, i. 49.
_Black-and-yellow Thickbill_, i. 43.
_Black-and-yellow-crested Tyrant_, i. 157.
_Black-billed Cuckoo_, ii. 38.
_Blackbird, Argentine_, i. 4.
_Black-crowned Tyrant_, i. 115.
_Black-faced Ibis_, ii. 110.
_Black-headed Duck_, ii. 130.
---- _Finch_, i. 45.
---- _Reed-Wren_, i. 13.
---- _Siskin_, i. 64.
---- _Thrush_, i. 4.
---- _Tyrant_, i. 157.
_Black-necked Tanager_, i. 37.
_Black-tailed Skimmer_, ii. 193.
_Black-winged Dove_, ii. 142.
_Blackish Finch_, i. 54.
---- _Tyrant_, i. 141.
_Blue Heron_, ii. 99.
---- ----, _Little_, ii. 101.
---- _Tanager_, i. 39.
_Blue-and-yellow Tanager_, i. 39.
_Blue-billed Tyrant_, i. 127.
_Blue-fronted Amazon_, ii. 47.
_Blue-winged Teal_, ii. 130.
_Boat-tail, Chopi_, i. 108.
_Boie's Woodpecker_, ii. 17.
Bolborhynchus aymara, ii. 46.
---- monachus, ii. 43.
Bolborhynchus rubrirostris, ii. 46.
_Bonaparte's Sandpiper_, ii. 185.
_Boyero_, i. 101, 116.
_Brazilian Cormorant_, ii. 91.
---- _Lochmias_, i. 174.
---- _Stilt_, ii. 179.
---- _Teal_, ii. 133.
_Bridges's Wood-hewer_, i. 199.
_Bright-cheeked Grebe_, ii. 204.
_Broad-billed Tyrant_, i. 136.
_Brown Buzzard_, ii. 63.
---- _Cinclodes_, i. 172.
---- _Cuckoo_, ii. 35.
---- _Gallito_, i. 207.
---- _House-Wren_, i. 13.
---- _Martin_, i. 35.
---- _Pintail_, ii. 134.
---- _Tinamou_, ii. 207.
_Brown-capped Wood-singer_, i. 21.
_Brown-crested Spine-tail_, i. 177.
_Brown-fronted Spine-tail_, i. 178.
_Brown-headed Wood-bird_, i. 23.
_Brush-loving Fly-snapper_, i. 12.
Buarremon citrinellus, i. 41.
---- (Atlapetes) citrinellus, ii. 223.
Bubo crassirostris, ii. 50.
---- magellanicus, ii. 50, 51.
---- virginianus, ii. 50.
Bucco chacuru, ii. 30.
---- maculatus, ii. 30.
---- striatipectus, ii. 30.
_Buff-breasted Sandpiper_, ii. 190.
_Burmeister's Cariama_, ii. 162.
---- _Humming-bird_, ii. 2.
_Burrito_, ii. 150.
_Burrowing Owl_, ii. 52.
---- _Parrot_, ii. 41.
_Bush-bird, Larger_, i. 203.
----, _Leach's_, i. 202.
----, _Red-capped_, i. 204.
----, _Slaty-blue_, i. 204.
Buteo albicaudatus, ii. 59, 61, 62.
---- erythronotus, ii. 62.
---- fuliginosus, ii. 60.
---- macropterus, ii. 58.
---- melanoleucus, ii. 64.
---- obsoletus, ii. 59.
---- oxypterus, ii. 59.
---- pterocles, ii. 61.
---- swainsoni, ii. 59, 60.
---- tricolor, ii. 62.
---- unicolor, ii. 60.
Butorides cyanurus, ii. 101.
---- striata, ii. 101.
_Buzzard, Brown_, ii. 63.
----, _One-banded_, ii. 63.
----, _Red-backed_, ii. 62.
----, _Swainson's_, ii. 59.
----, _White-tailed_, ii. 61.
_Cabanis's Tyrant_, i. 128.
_Cabeza amarilla_, i. 98.
_Caburé_, ii. 52.
_Cachalote_, i. 195.
----, _White-throated_, i. 197.
_Cuchila_, i. 18.
---- _Pipit_, i. 17.
_Cactus Woodpecker_, ii. 19.
Cairina moschata, ii. 129.
_Calandria_, i. 5.
---- _blanca_, i. 9.
---- _de las tres colas_, i. 9.
---- _Mocking-bird_, i. 5.
Calidris arenaria, ii. 186.
Calliperidia angelæ, ii. 5.
---- furcifera, ii. 1, 5, 8.
Calodromas elegans, ii. 209, 214.
_Caminante_, i. 166.
Campephilus boiæi, ii. 17, 18.
---- pileatus, ii. 18.
---- schulzi, ii. 18.
_Campestre_, ii. 24.
Campias frontalis, ii. 20.
Campylopterus inornatus, ii. 5, 6.
Capito maculatus, ii. 30.
Caprimulgus europæus, ii. 14.
---- parvulus, ii. 14.
_Caracara_, ii. 82.
_Carancho_, ii. 74, 82.
---- _Carrion-Hawk_, ii. 81.
_Carau_, ii. 160, 161.
_Cardinal Finch_, i. 47.
---- ----, _Lesser_, i. 48.
----, _Yellow_, i. 55.
Carduelis atrata, i. 65.
Cariama burmeisteri, ii. 162.
----, _Burmeister's_, ii. 162.
----, _Crested_, ii. 161.
---- cristata, ii. 161.
_Carpintero_, ii. 24.
_Carrion-Hawk, Carancho_, ii. 81.
----, _Chimango_, ii. 74.
_Casera_, i. 167.
_Caserita_, i. 166.
Casiornis rubra, i. 163.
Cassicus solitarius, i. 72.
_Cassin's Tern_, ii. 196.
_Cassique, Solitary_, i. 72.
Catamenia analis, i. 57.
---- inornata, i. 57.
Catharista atrata, ii. 89.
Cathartes atratus, ii. 89.
---- aura, ii. 89.
---- fœtans, ii. 89.
_Catita_, ii. 44.
---- _de las sierras_, ii. 46.
_Cayenne Lapwing_, ii. 165, 166.
Centrites niger, i. 134.
Cerchneis cinnamomina, ii. 70.
Ceryle amazona, ii. 26, 27, 28.
---- americana, ii. 27.
---- stellata, ii. 26.
---- torquata, ii. 26, 27.
_Chacuru_, ii. 30.
Chætocercus bombus, ii. 2.
---- burmeisteri, ii. 2.
_Chajá_, ii. 120.
Chamæpelia talpacoti, ii. 144.
Charadrius azaræ, ii. 173.
---- collaris, ii. 173.
---- dominicus, ii. 170.
---- falklandicus, ii. 172.
---- fulvus americanus, ii. 170.
---- modestus, ii. 171.
---- totanirostris, ii. 174.
---- virginianus, ii. 170.
---- virginicus, ii. 170.
_Chat-like Tyrant_, i. 120.
Chauna chavaria, ii. 119.
---- derbiana, ii. 119.
_Cheese-bird, Rufous_, i. 163.
_Chestnut Cuckoo_, ii. 36.
---- _Wood-hewer_, i. 201.
_Chestnut-shouldered Hang-nest_, i. 107.
_Chicli_, i. 179.
_Chilian Eagle_, ii. 64.
_Chiloe Wigeon_, ii. 135.
_Chimango_, ii. 74.
---- _Carrion-Hawk_, ii. 74.
_Chingolo_, i. 58.
---- _grande_, i. 164.
---- _Song-Sparrow_, i. 58.
_Chin-spotted Tyrant_, i. 133.
_Chipiu pardo y canela_, i. 45.
_Chiriví_, ii. 136.
Chiroxiphia caudata, i. 161.
_Chisel-bill_, i. 101.
_Chivi Greenlet_, i. 22.
Chloephaga dispar, ii. 123.
---- magellanica, ii. 123.
---- melanoptera, ii. 122.
---- poliocephala, ii. 124.
Chloroceryle amazona, ii. 27.
---- americana, ii. 27.
Chloronerpes affinis, ii. 20.
---- aurulentus, ii. 21.
---- frontalis, ii. 20.
---- maculifrons, ii. 20.
---- rubiginosus, ii. 21.
---- tucumanus, ii. 21, 223.
---- (Campias) frontalis, ii. 223.
Chlorostilbon aureiventris, ii. 9.
---- phaethon, ii. 9, 229.
---- splendidus, ii. 1, 6, 9.
_Chochi_, ii. 35.
_Chocolate Dove_, ii. 144.
---- _Tyrant_, i. 112.
_Chocoyno_, i. 4.
_Choliba_, ii. 51.
---- _Owl_, ii. 51.
_Chopi_, i. 108.
---- _Boat-tail_, i. 108.
Chordeiles virginianus, ii. 13.
_Chorlito de invierno_, ii. 172.
_Chorlo_, i. 113; ii. 170.
---- _canela_, ii. 174.
---- _solo_, ii. 189.
Chrysomitris atrata, i. 65.
---- barbata, i. 64.
---- icterica, i. 64.
---- magellanica, i. 64.
Chrysomus frontalis, i. 99.
Chrysoptilus chlorozostus, ii. 21.
---- cristatus, ii. 21, 228.
---- melanochlorus, ii. 21.
Chrysotis æstiva, ii. 47.
---- amazonica, ii. 47.
---- vinacea, ii. 46.
Chrysuronia chrysura, ii. 8.
---- ruficollis, ii. 8.
_Chueké_, ii. 216.
Chunga burmeisteri, ii. 162.
_Chuñia_, ii. 162.
_Churinche_, i. 152.
Ciconia maguari, ii. 99, 106.
Cinclodes bifasciatus, i. 173.
----, _Brown_, i. 172.
---- fuscus, i. 172.
---- vulgaris, i. 172.
----, _White-winged_, i. 173.
Cinclus schulzi, i. 11, ii. 223.
_Cinereous Cuckoo_, ii. 38.
---- _Harrier_, ii. 57.
---- _Plover_, ii. 173.
---- _Tinamou_, ii. 210.
---- _Tyrant_, i. 128.
_Cinnamomeous Kestrel_, ii. 69.
Circus cinereus, ii. 57.
---- macropterus, ii. 58.
---- maculosus, ii. 58.
---- megaspilus, ii. 58.
Cistothorus fasciolatus, i. 16.
---- platensis, i. 15.
Cnipolegus anthracinus, i. 126, 127.
---- aterrimus, i. 126.
---- cabanisi, i. 128; ii. 229.
---- cinereus, i. 128; ii. 229.
---- cyanirostris, i. 127.
---- hudsoni, i. 126, 131.
Coccoborus glaucocæruleus, i. 44.
Coccyzus americanus, ii. 37.
---- cinereus, ii. 38.
---- melanocoryphus, i. 81; ii. 38.
---- pumilus, ii. 39.
---- seniculus, ii. 38.
_Cock, Little_, i. 206.
_Cock-tailed Tyrant_, i. 122.
_Cocoi Heron_, ii. 93.
_Cola estraña_, i. 123.
Colaptes agricola, ii. 22, 24.
---- australis, ii. 24.
---- campestris, i. 82; ii. 24.
---- leucofrenatus, ii. 21, 228.
---- longirostris, ii. 23, 223.
---- pitius, ii. 24.
---- pura, ii. 24.
---- rupicola, ii. 23.
_Colegial_, i. 131.
Columba livia, i. 83.
---- maculosa, ii. 140.
---- picazuro, ii. 139, 140.
Columbina aurisquamata, ii. 142, 228.
Columbula picui, ii. 39, 143.
_Come-palo_, ii. 19.
Cometes sparganurus, ii. 3.
_Common Barn-Owl_, ii. 48.
---- _Jacana_, ii. 163.
---- _Miner_, i. 165.
---- _Rhea_, ii. 216.
---- _Seed-Snipe_, ii. 176.
_Condor, Great_, ii. 90.
Contopus brachyrhynohus, i. 155; ii. 223.
---- brachytarsus, i. 156.
_Contramaestre gaviero_, i. 22.
---- _pardo verdoso, corona amarilla_, i. 146.
Conurus acuticaudatus, ii. 42, 228.
---- aymara, ii. 46.
---- brunniceps, ii. 46.
---- fugax, ii. 42.
---- glaucifrons, ii. 42, 228.
---- hilaris, ii. 43, 222.
---- mitratus, ii. 43.
---- molinæ, ii. 43.
---- murinus, ii. 43.
---- patachonicus, i. 25; ii. 41.
---- patagonus, ii. 41.
---- rubrirostris, ii. 46.
_Coot, Red-fronted_, ii. 157.
----, _Red-gartered_, ii. 157.
----, _Yellow-billed_, ii. 158.
Corethrura leucopyrrha, ii. 154.
_Cormorant, Brazilian_, ii. 91.
_Correndera, La_, i. 17.
Coryphistera alaudina, i. 188; ii. 229.
----, _Lark-like_, i. 188.
Coryphospingus cristatus, i. 48.
---- pusillus, i. 48.
Coscoroba Candida, ii. 126.
---- _Swan_, ii. 126.
Cotile ruficollis, i. 36.
_Cotorra_, ii. 44.
Coturniculus manimbe, i. 60.
---- peruanus, i. 60.
Cotyle fucata, i. 35.
---- leucorrhoa, i. 31.
---- pyrrhonota, i. 30.
---- tapera, i. 26.
_Coucou_, ii. 38.
_Courlan, Southern_, ii. 159.
_Cow-bird, Argentine_, i. 72.
----, _Bay-winged_, i. 95.
----, _Screaming_, i. 86.
_Crake, Marked_, ii. 155.
----, _Red-and-white_, ii. 154.
----, _Spot-winged_, ii. 155.
_Crane-Hawk, Grey_, ii. 67.
Crax alector, ii. 145, 146.
---- sclateri, ii. 145.
_Creeper, Patagonian Earth-_, i. 170.
----, _Red-tailed Earth-_, i. 171.
----, _Warbling Earth-_, i. 171.
_Creole Duck_, ii. 129.
_Crested Cariama_, ii. 161.
---- _Duck_, ii. 128.
---- _Oven-bird_, i. 170.
---- _Screamer_, ii. 119.
_Crispin_, i. 4; ii. 35.
Crotophaga ani, ii. 31, 34.
_Crowned Harpy_, ii. 66.
Crypturus cinereus, ii. 207, 208.
Crypturus obsoletus, ii. 207, 208.
---- tataupa, ii. 208.
_Cuckoo, Black-billed_, ii. 38.
----, _Brown_, ii. 35.
----, _Chestnut_, ii. 36.
----, _Cinereous_, ii. 38.
----, _Dwarf_, ii. 39.
----, _Guira_, ii. 32.
----, _Yellow-billed_, ii. 37.
_Cuervo_, ii. 90.
Culicivora boliviana, i. 12.
---- dumicola, i. 12.
---- stenura, i. 139.
_Curahí-remimbí_, ii. 100.
_Curassow, Sclater's_, ii. 145.
_Curved-bill Rush-bird_, i. 191.
Cyanocorax azureus, i. 110.
---- cæruleus, i. 110.
---- chrysops, i. 110.
---- pileatus, i. 110.
---- tucumanus, i. 110; ii. 223.
Cyanotis azaræ, i. 142, 144, 175.
Cybernetes yetapa, i. 124.
Cyclorhis altirostris, i. 24.
---- ochrocephala, i. 23.
---- viridis, i. 23, 24.
Cygnus coscoroba, ii. 120.
---- nigricollis, ii. 124, 126.
_Dabchick, American_, ii. 205.
Dafila bahamensis, ii. 135.
---- spinicauda, ii. 134.
_Dark-backed Tanager_, i. 37.
_Dark-crested Finch_, i. 48.
_Dark Guan_, ii. 146.
---- _Night-Heron_, ii. 105.
_Dark-tailed Henicornis_, i. 173.
_Darwin's Rhea_, ii. 219.
---- _Tinamou_, ii. 213.
_Deep-billed Greenlet-Shrike_, i. 24.
_De Filippi's Marsh-Starling_, i. 105.
_Degollado_, i. 106.
Dendrobates cactorum, ii. 19.
Dendrocolaptes picumnus, i. 199.
Dendrocygna fulva, ii. 126, 128.
---- major, ii. 127.
---- viduata, ii. 128.
Dicholophus burmeisteri, ii. 162.
---- cristatus, ii. 161.
Diplopterus galeritus, ii. 35.
---- nævius, ii. 35.
_Dipper, Schulz's_, i. 11.
_Diuca Finch_, i. 55.
---- ----, _Lesser_, i. 56.
---- grisea, i. 55.
---- minor, i. 56.
---- vera, i. 55.
_Domestic Martin_, i. 25.
_Dominican Gull_, ii. 197.
---- _Tyrant_, i. 117.
Donacobius atricapillus, i. 13.
---- brasiliensis, i. 13.
Donacospiza albifrons, i. 49.
_D'Orbigny's Seed-Snipe_, ii. 178.
---- _Spine-tail_, i. 183.
---- _Tanager_, i. 41.
_Dormilon_, ii. 12, 183.
_Dove, Aymara_, ii. 142.
----, _Black-winged_, ii. 142.
----, _Chocolate_, ii. 144.
----, _Little Turtle-_, ii. 143.
----, _Picui_, ii. 143.
----, _Spotted_, ii. 141.
----, _Talpacoti_, ii. 144.
Drymornis bridgesi, i. 199.
Dryocopus atriventris, ii. 18.
---- erythrops, ii. 18.
---- lineatus, ii. 18.
_Duck, Bahama_, ii. 135.
----, _Black_, ii. 137.
----, _Black-headed_, ii. 130.
----, _Creole_, ii. 129.
----, _Crested_, ii. 128.
----, _Fulvous Tree-_, ii. 126.
----, _Muscovy_, ii. 129.
----, _Red_, ii. 137.
----, _Rosy-billed_, ii. 137.
----, _Rusty Lake_, ii. 138.
----, _White-faced Tree-_, ii. 128.
----, _White-winged Lake-_, ii. 138.
----, _Whistling_, ii. 127.
_Duerme-duerme_, ii. 12.
_Dusky Thrush_, i. 1.
_Dwarf Cuckoo_, ii. 39.
_Eagle, Chilian_, ii. 64.
----, _Grey_, ii. 64.
_Eared Wren_, i. 15.
_Earth-creeper, Patagonian_, i. 170.
----, _Red-tailed_, i. 171.
----, _Warbling_, i. 171.
_Egret, Snowy_, ii. 99.
----, _White_, ii. 98.
Elainea albiceps, i. 145.
---- grata, i. 146; ii. 223.
---- modesta, i. 145.
---- strepera, i. 145; ii. 223.
---- viridicata, i. 146.
Elanus leucurus, ii. 71, 72.
_El Campestre_, ii. 24.
---- _Chocolate_, i. 113.
---- _Mitu_, ii. 145.
---- _Yacúhú_, ii. 146.
Emberiza hypochondria, i. 60.
---- luctuosa, i. 54.
Emberizoides macrurus, i. 63.
---- sphenurus, i. 63.
Embernagra macrura, i. 63.
---- olivascens, i. 63.
---- platensis, i. 62, 63; ii. 50.
Empidagra suiriri, i. 146.
Empidochanes argentinus, i. 155.
Empidonax bimaculatus, i. 155.
---- brunneus, i. 155.
Empidonomus aurantio-atrocristatus, i. 157.
Engyptila chalcauchenia, ii. 144.
Erismatura dominica, ii. 138.
---- ferruginea, ii. 138.
Erythrocnema unicincta, ii. 63.
_Espatula_, ii. 137.
_Espinero_, i. 189.
_Esquimo Whimbrel_, ii. 192.
Eudromia elegans, ii. 214.
Eudromias modesta, ii. 171.
Euphonia aureata, i. 37.
---- chlorotica, i. 37.
---- nigricollis, i. 37.
Euscarthmus gularis, i. 136.
---- margaritaceiventris, i. 136.
Euxenura maguari, ii. 106, 107.
_Eyebrowed Spine-tail_, i. 178.
---- _Tern_, ii. 197.
Falcinellus guarauna, ii. 109.
---- igneus, ii. 109.
Falco circumcinctus, ii. 73.
---- communis, ii. 67,
---- femoralis, ii. 69.
---- fusco-cærulescens, ii. 69, 70.
---- peregrinus, ii. 67.
---- punctipennis, ii. 73.
---- sparverius, ii. 99.
_Falcon, Peregrine_, ii. 67.
----, _Spot-winged_, ii. 73.
_Fierce Tyrant_, i. 156.
_Finch, Black-and-Chestnut Warbling_, i. 49.
----, _Black-headed_, i. 45.
----, _Blackish_, i. 54.
----, _Cardinal_, i. 47.
----, _Dark-crested_, i. 48,
----, _Diuca_, i. 55.
----, _Gay's_, i. 52.
----, _Glaucous_, i. 44.
----, _Grey-headed_, i. 53.
----, _Indigo_, i. 43.
----, _Lesser Cardinal_, i. 48.
----, ---- _Diuca_, i. 56.
----, _Long-tailed Reed-_, i. 49.
----, _Many-coloured Ground-_, i. 61.
----, _Marsh-_, i. 45.
----, _Meadow Seed-_, i. 71.
----, _Misto Seed-_, i. 69.
----, _Mourning_, i. 54.
----, _Olive Ground-_, i. 63.
----, _Plain-coloured_, i. 57.
----, _Pretty Warbling_, i. 51.
----, _Prince Max's_, i. 44.
----, _Red-backed_, i. 53.
----, _Red-billed Ground-_, i. 62.
----, _Red-browed Warbling_, i. 50.
----, _Red-crested_, i. 48.
----, _Red-flanked Warbling_, i. 51.
----, _Red-stained_, i. 57.
----, _Ringed Warbling_, i. 51.
----, _Screaming_, i. 46.
----, _Slaty_, i. 53.
----, _Wedge-tailed Ground-_, i. 63.
----, _White-and-grey Warbling_, i. 52.
----, _White's Ground-_, i. 64.
----, _White's Warbling_, i. 50.
----, _Yellow Seed-_, i. 69.
_Firewood Gatherer_, i. 189.
_Flamingo, Andean_, ii. 119.
----, _Argentine_, ii. 117.
_Flat-billed Wood-hewer_, i. 199.
_Flauta del Sol_, ii. 100.
Florida cærulea, ii. 99.
Fluvicola albiventris, i. 121.
_Fly-snapper, Brush-loving_, i. 12.
_Forked-tail Pipit_, i. 19.
_Fork-tailed Goatsucker_, ii. 15.
_Four-coloured Tanager_, i. 40.
Fulica armillata, ii. 157.
---- leucoptera, ii. 158.
---- leucopyga, ii. 157.
_Fulvous Tree-Duck_, ii. 126.
Furnarius figulus, i. 170.
---- rufus, i. 27, 119, 167; ii. 80.
---- tricolor, i. 170; ii. 223.
_Gallina ciega_, ii. 12.
Gallinago paraguaiæ, ii. 178.
_Gallinazo_, ii. 90.
_Gallineta_, ii. 151.
Gallinula galeata, ii. 156.
_Gallito_, i. 206.
----, _Brown_, i. 207.
Gambetta flavipes, ii. 187.
---- melanoleuca, ii. 186.
_Ganso_, ii. 126.
Garza jaspeada, ii. 104.
Garzetta candidissima, ii. 99.
_Gaviota_, ii. 199.
_Gay's Finch_, i. 52.
Geobamon rufipennis, ii. 166, 226.
Geositta cunicularia, i. 33, 68, 165, 171.
---- tenuirostris, i. 165.
Geothlypis velata, i. 20.
Geranoaëtus melanoleucus, ii. 64.
Geranospiza cærulescens, ii. 67.
Geranospizias cærulescens, ii. 67.
Geronticus melanopis, ii. 110.
_Giant Humming-bird_, ii. 4.
Glaucidium nanum, ii. 56.
_Glaucous Finch_, i. 44.
_Glittering Humming-bird_, ii. 9.
Glyphorhynchus cuneatus, i. 199.
_Goatsucker, Fork-tailed_, ii. 15.
----, _Little_, ii. 14.
----, _Nacunda_, ii. 12.
----, _Short-winged_, ii. 16.
----, _White-banded_, ii. 14.
_Godwit, Hudsonian_, ii. 191.
_Gold-backed Woodpecker_, ii. 21.
_Golden-crowned Wood-singer_, i. 21.
_Golden Plover, American_, ii. 170.
_Golden-tailed Humming-bird_, ii. 8.
_Golondrina domestica_, i. 26.
_Goose, Andean_, ii. 122.
----, _Ashy-headed_, ii. 124.
----, _Barred Upland_, ii. 123.
_Great Condor_, ii. 90.
---- _Grebe_, ii. 202.
---- _Tern_, ii. 195.
---- _Tinamou_, ii. 209.
_Great-billed Tern_, ii. 194.
_Greater Yellowshank_, ii. 186.
_Grebe, Bright-cheeked_, ii. 204.
----, _Great_, ii. 202.
----, _Rolland's_, ii. 204.
----, _Thick-billed_, ii. 206.
_Green Parrakeet_, ii. 43.
_Greenish Tyrant_, i. 146.
_Greenlet, Chivi_, i. 22.
_Greenlet-Shrike, Deep-billed_, i. 24.
_Greenlet, Ochre-headed_, i. 23.
_Grey-capped Gull_, ii. 201.
_Grey Crane-Hawk_, ii. 67.
---- _Eagle_, ii. 64.
---- _Teal_, ii. 131.
_Grey-eyed Tyrant_, i. 147.
_Grey-headed Finch_, i. 53.
_Greyish Saltator_, i. 42.
_Ground-Finch, Many-coloured_, i. 61.
----, _Olive_, i. 63.
----, _Red-billed_, i. 62.
----, _Wedge-tailed_, i. 63.
----, _White's_, i. 64.
_Guan, Dark_, ii. 146.
----, _Hoary-necked_, ii. 147.
----, _White-headed_, ii. 146.
Gubernatrix cristatella, i. 55.
_Guira Cuckoo_, ii. 32.
---- piririgua, ii. 32.
_Guira-pitá_, i. 153.
_Guira-yetapá_, i. 123.
Guiraca cyanea, i. 43.
---- ---- argentina, i. 43.
---- glaucocærulea, i. 44.
_Gull, Dominican_, ii. 197.
----, _Grey-capped_, ii. 201.
----, _Spot-winged_, ii. 198.
_Habia de bañado_, i. 62.
---- _verde_, i. 24.
Habrura minima, i. 138.
---- pectoralis, i. 138.
Hæmatopus ater, ii. 176.
---- palliatus, ii. 176.
Hæmophila whitii, i. 64.
_Half-black Siskin_, i. 65.
Haliaëtus melanoleucus, ii. 64.
Haliæus brasilianus, ii. 91.
_Hang-nest, Chestnut-shouldered_, i. 107.
Hapalocercus flaviventris, i. 80, 137.
Harpiprion cærulescens, ii. 112.
_Harpy, Crowned_, ii. 66.
Harpyhaliaëtus coronatus, ii. 66.
_Harrier, Cinereous_, ii. 57.
----, _Long-winged_, ii. 58.
_Hawk, Carancho Carrion-_, ii. 81.
----, _Chimango Carrion-_, ii. 74.
----, _Grey Crane-_, ii. 67.
----, _Pucheran's_, ii. 58.
----, _Sociable Marsh-_, ii. 72.
Heleothreptus anomalus, ii. 16.
Heliomaster angelæ, ii. 5, 229.
---- furcifer, ii. 5.
Hemiiërax circumcinctus, ii. 73.
Hemiprocne zonaris, ii. 11.
_Henicornis, Dark-tailed_, i. 173.
---- phœnicurus, i. 173.
Herodias egretta, ii. 98.
_Heron, Blue_, ii. 99.
----, _Cocoi_, ii. 93.
----, _Dark Night-_, ii. 105.
----, _Little Blue_, ii. 101.
----, _Variegated_, ii. 101.
----, _Whistling_, ii. 100.
Heteronetta melanocephala, ii. 130.
Heterospizias meridionalis, ii. 63.
Himantopus brasiliensis, ii. 178, 179.
---- nigricollis, ii. 179.
Hirundinea bellicosa, i. 151.
Hirundo leucorrhoa, i. 30.
_Hoary-necked Guan_, ii. 147.
_Hobby, Orange-chested_, ii. 69.
Homorus gutturalis, i. 197.
---- lophotes, i. 195.
---- unirufus, i. 195.
_Hornero_, i. 167.
_House-Sparrow, Yellow_, i. 66.
_House-Wren, Brown_, i. 13.
_Hudsonian Godwit_, ii. 191.
_Hudson's Black Tyrant_, i. 126.
---- _Spine-tail_, i. 186.
_Humming-bird, Angela_, ii. 5.
----, _Burmeister's_, ii. 2.
----, _Giant_, ii. 4.
----, _Glittering_, ii. 9.
----, _Golden-tailed_, ii. 8.
----, _Red-throated_, ii. 8.
----, _Sappho_, ii. 3.
----, _Violet-eared_, ii. 3.
----, _White-breasted_, ii. 7.
----, _White-sided_, ii. 1.
----, _White-throated_, ii. 7.
Hydropsalis furcifera, ii. 15.
---- psalurus, ii. 15.
---- torquata, ii. 15.
Hylocharis bicolor, ii. 9.
---- sapphirina, ii. 1, 6, 8.
Hylophilus pœcilotis, i. 23.
Hypotriorchis femoralis, ii. 69.
Ibis albicollis, ii. 110.
----, _Black-faced_, ii. 110.
---- cærulescens, ii. 112.
---- chalcoptera, ii. 109.
---- falcinellus, ii. 109.
---- infuscata, ii. 113.
---- plumbea, ii. 112.
----, _Plumbeous_, ii. 112.
----, _Whispering_, ii. 113.
----, _White-faced_, ii. 109.
----, _Wood-_, ii. 108.
Ibycter chimango, ii. 74.
Icterus-pyrrhopterus, i. 73, 107.
_Indigo Finch_, i. 43.
_Jabiru_, ii. 106.
_Jacana, Common_, ii. 163.
_Jackass Penguin_, ii. 206.
_Jassana_, ii. 163.
_Jay, Azure_, i. 110.
----, _Urraca_, i. 110.
_Keanché_, ii. 82.
_Kestrel, Cinnamomeous_, ii. 69.
_Kingfisher, Amazonian_, ii. 27.
----, _Little_, ii. 27.
----, _Ringed_, ii. 26.
_Kite, White-tailed_, ii. 71.
_Lake-Duck, Rusty_, ii. 138.
----, _White-winged_, ii. 138.
Lanius ludovicianus excubitoroides, ii. 60.
_Lapwing, Cayenne_, ii. 165, 166.
_Larger Bush-bird_, i. 203.
_Lark-like Coryphistera_, i. 188.
Larus cirrhocephalus, ii. 198, 201.
---- dominicanus, ii. 197.
---- glaucodes, ii. 198.
---- maculipennis, ii. 198, 201, 202.
---- serranus, ii. 198.
---- vociferus, ii. 197.
_La Saria_, ii. 161.
_Leach's Bush-bird_, i. 202.
_Leaf-scraper, Spiny_, i. 174.
_Lechuzon_, ii. 49.
Leistes anticus, i. 102.
---- superciliaris, i. 100.
_Leñatero_, i. 31, 189.
Lepidocolaptes atripes, i. 201.
Leptasthenura ægithaloides, i. 177; ii. 19.
---- fuliginiceps, i. 177.
Leptopogon tristis, i. 144.
Leptoptila chalcauchenia, ii. 144.
---- megalura, ii. 144.
_Lesser Cardinal Finch_, i. 48.
---- _Diuca Finch_, i. 56.
---- _Yellowshank_, ii. 187.
Leucippus chionogaster, ii. 7.
Leucochloris albicollis, ii. 7.
Leuconerpes candidus, ii. 23.
Lichenops erythropterus, i. 129.
---- perspicillatus, i. 124, 126, 127, 129.
Limnornis curvirostris, i. 185, 191.
Limosa hæmastica, ii. 191.
---- hudsonica, ii. 191.
---- lapponica, ii. 191.
_Lindo_, i. 38.
---- _azul y oro cabeza celeste_, i. 37.
_Little Blue Heron_, ii. 101.
---- _Brown Tyrant_, i. 151.
---- _Cock_, i. 206.
---- _Goatsucker_, ii. 14.
---- _Kingfisher_, ii. 27.
---- _Turtle-Dove_, ii. 143.
---- _Waterhen_, ii. 156.
_Lochmias, Brazilian_, i. 174.
---- nematura, i. 174.
_Long-billed Woodpecker_, ii. 23.
_Long-tailed Manikin_, i. 161.
---- _Reed-Finch_, i. 49.
---- _Tyrant_, i. 139.
_Long-winged Harrier_, ii. 58.
Lophospingus pusillus, i. 48.
Lophospiza pusilla, i. 48.
_Macás cornudo_, ii. 203.
_Macasíto_, ii. 205.
Machetornis rixosa, i. 84, 85, 131.
_Magellanic Thrush_, i. 3.
_Maguari Stork_, ii. 106.
_Manduria_, ii. 112.
_Mandurria ó curucáu_, ii. 111.
_Manea-cola_, i. 166.
_Manikin, Long-tailed_, i. 161.
_Many-coloured Ground-Finch_, i. 61.
---- _Tyrant_, i. 142.
_Marbled Tiger-Bittern_, ii. 104.
Mareca chiloensis, ii. 135.
---- sibilatrix, ii. 135.
_Marked Crake_, ii. 155.
_Marsh-bird, Red-breasted_, i. 100.
----, _Red-headed_, i. 99.
----, _Scarlet-headed_, i. 101.
----, _Yellow-breasted_, i. 102.
----, _Yellow-headed_, i. 98.
----, _Yellow-shouldered_, i. 97.
_Marsh-Finch_, i. 45.
_Marsh-Hawk, Sociable_, ii. 72.
_Marsh-Starling, De Filippi's_, i. 105.
----, _Patagonian_, i. 104.
_Marsh-Wren, Platan_, i. 15.
_Martin, Brown_, i. 35.
----, _Domestic_, i. 25.
----, _Purple_, i. 24.
----, _Red-backed Rock-_, i. 30.
----, _Tree-_, i. 26.
_Martineta Tinamou_, ii. 214.
_Maximilian's Parrot, Prince_, ii. 47.
_Max's Finch, Prince_, i. 44.
_Meadow Seed-Finch_, i. 71.
Megaceryle torquata, ii. 26.
_Melancholy Tyrant_, i. 158.
_Merlo_, i. 4.
Merula fuscatra, i. 4.
Metopiana peposaca, ii. 137.
Metriopelia aymara, ii. 142, 228.
---- melanoptera, ii. 142.
Milvago chimango, i. 81; ii. 57, 74, 82.
---- pezoporus, ii. 74.
Milvulus tyrannus, i. 160; ii. 77.
---- violentus, i. 75.
Mimus calandria, i. 5, 9.
---- modulator, i. 5, 7.
---- patagonicus, i. 7, 79.
---- thenca, i. 1, 7.
---- triurus, i. 2, 8.
_Miner, Common_, i. 165.
----, _Red-winged_, i. 166.
_Minera_, i. 33, 166.
_Minto Seed-Finch_, i. 69.
_Mitu, El_, ii. 145.
_Mocking-bird, Calandria_, i. 5.
----, _Patagonian_, i. 7.
----, _White-banded_, i. 8.
_Modest Spine-tail_, i. 183.
_Molina's Parrot_, ii. 43.
Molothrus badius, i. 84, 86, 87, 88, 91, 92, 93, 95, 104.
---- bonariensis, i. 18, 72, 74, 75, 78, 79, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86,
88, 91, 92, 93, 154.
---- pecoris, i. 72, 74, 86.
---- rufoaxillaris, i. 86, 91, 92, 93, 95, 104.
---- sericeus, i. 72.
_Molú Chueké_, ii. 219.
Molybdophanes cærulescens, ii. 112.
_Mourning Finch_, i. 54.
_Mouse-brown Tyrant_, i. 119.
Muscicapara viridicata, i. 146.
Muscisaxicola macloviana, i. 133.
---- maculirostris, i. 134.
---- mentalis, i. 133, 134.
---- rufivertex, i. 134.
_Muscovy Duck_, ii. 129.
Mycteria americana, ii. 106.
Myiarchus atriceps, i. 157; ii. 223.
---- erythrocercus, i. 156.
---- fasciatus, i. 126; ii. 227.
---- ferocior, i. 156; ii. 223.
---- ferox, i. 156, 157.
---- tyrannulus, i. 156, 157.
Myiobius nævius, i. 151.
Myiodynastes solitarius, i. 150.
Myiotheretes rufiventris, i. 82, 112, 114, 117; ii. 76.
_Ñacundá_, ii. 12.
---- _Goatsucker_, ii. 12.
_Ñacurutú_, ii. 51.
_Nandú_, ii. 216.
_Narrow-billed Wood-hewer_, i. 201.
_Narrow-tailed Tyrant_, i. 139.
Nasica gracilirostris, i. 199.
_Night-Heron, Dark_, ii. 105.
Noctua cunicularia, ii. 52.
_Noisy Tyrant_, i. 145.
Nomonyx dominicus, ii. 138.
Nothoprocta cinerascens, ii. 210.
---- doeringi, ii. 210, 223.
---- pentlandi, ii. 210, 211.
Nothura cinerascens, ii. 210.
---- darwini, ii. 213.
---- maculosa, ii. 211, 213, 214.
---- major, ii. 211.
---- minor, ii. 213.
---- perdicaria, ii. 213.
Numenius borealis, ii. 192.
Nycticorax gardeni, ii. 105.
---- obscurus, ii. 98, 99, 105.
Ochetorhynchus dumetorius, i. 170.
---- luscinia, i. 171.
---- ruficauda, i. 171.
_Ochre-headed Greenlet-Shrike_, i. 23.
Ochthœca leucophrys, i. 121.
Œnops aura, ii. 89.
_Oily-green Anabazenops_, i. 198.
_Olive Ground-Finch_, i. 63.
_One-banded Buzzard_, ii. 63.
_Orange-chested Hobby_, ii. 69.
Oreophilus ruficollis, ii. 174.
---- totanirostris, ii. 174.
Oreotrochilus leucopleurus, ii. 1.
Ornismya angelæ, ii. 5.
---- aureoventris, ii. 9.
Orospina pratensis, i. 71; ii. 223.
Ortalida canicollis, ii. 147.
---- guttata, ii. 147.
Ortalis canicollis, ii. 147.
Ortygometra melanops, ii. 156.
Oryzoborus maximiliani, i. 44.
_Ostrich_, ii. 216.
Otus brachyotus, ii. 49.
---- palustris, ii. 49.
_Oven-bird, Crested_, i. 170.
----, _Red_, i. 167.
_Owl, Burrowing_, ii. 52.
----, _Choliba_, ii. 51.
----, _Common Barn-_, ii. 48.
----, _Pygmy_, ii. 56.
----, _Short-eared_, ii. 49.
----, _Virginian_, ii. 50.
_Oyster-catcher, American_, ii. 176.
Pachyrhamphus albescens, i. 146.
---- albinucha, ii. 222.
---- minimus, i. 138.
---- polychropterus, i. 162.
_Painted Snipe_, ii. 182.
_Pajaro ardilla_, ii. 37.
---- _Negro_, i. 72.
---- _Niño_, ii. 207.
Palamedea chavaria, ii. 119.
_Pampas Woodpecker_, ii. 24.
_Paraguay Snipe_, ii. 181.
Paroaria capitata, i. 48.
---- cucullata, i. 47.
Parra jacana, ii. 163.
_Parrakeet, Aymara_, ii. 46.
----, _Green_, ii. 43.
----, _Red-billed_, ii. 46.
_Parrot, Bank_, ii. 41.
----, _Burrowing_, ii. 41.
----, _Molina's_, ii. 43.
----, _Patagonian_, ii. 41.
----, _Prince Maximilian's_, ii. 47.
----, _Red-headed_, ii. 43.
----, _Sharp-tailed_, ii. 42.
Parula pitiayumi, i. 20.
Patagiœnas maculosa, ii. 139.
Patagona gigas, ii. 1, 4, 5.
_Patagonian Earth-Creeper_, i. 170.
---- _Marsh-Starling_, i. 104.
---- _Mocking-bird_, i. 7.
---- _Parrot_, ii. 41.
---- _Sand-Plover_, ii. 172.
---- _Song-Sparrow_, i. 59.
---- _Spine-tail_, i. 186.
_Pato ceja blanca_, ii. 132.
---- _collar negro_, ii. 132.
---- _creollo_, ii. 129.
---- _overo_, ii. 136.
---- _picaso_, ii. 136.
---- _Portugues_, ii. 133.
---- _real_, ii. 129.
---- _silvon_, ii. 127.
_Pavo del Monte_, ii. 146.
_Pearly-bellied Tyrant_, i. 136.
_Pecho-amarillo_, i. 102.
---- _colorado_, i. 106.
_Pectoral Sandpiper_, ii. 183, 184.
Penelope boliviana, ii. 146.
---- canicollis, ii. 147.
---- obscura, ii. 146.
---- pileata, ii. 146.
---- pipile, ii. 146.
_Penguin, Jackass_, ii. 206.
_Pentland's Tinamou_, ii. 210.
_Pepoazá_, i. 114.
---- _Tyrant_, i. 114.
_Perdiz chico_, ii. 214.
---- _comun_, ii. 211.
---- _grande_, ii. 209.
_Peregrine Falcon_, ii. 67.
Peristera frontalis, ii. 144.
Petasophora crispa, ii. 3.
---- serrirostris, ii. 3, 8.
Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, i. 26, 30.
Phacellodomus frontalis, i. 192.
---- maculipectus, i. 194; ii. 223.
---- ruber, i. 184, 194, 195.
---- sibilatrix, i. 192, 195.
---- sincipitalis, i. 192, 193; ii. 223.
---- striaticollis, i. 194.
Phaëthusa magnirostris, ii. 194.
Phalacrocorax albiventris, ii. 92.
---- brasilianus, ii. 91.
---- imperialis, ii. 92.
_Phalarope, Wilson's_, ii. 180, 181.
Phalaropus wilsoni, ii. 180.
Pheucticus aureiventris, i. 43.
Philomachus cayanus, ii. 165.
Phimosus infuscatus, ii. 113.
Phlœocryptes melanops, i. 174.
Phloeotomus schulzi, ii. 18, 223.
Phœnicopterus andinus, ii. 117, 119, 222.
---- ignipalliatus, ii. 117, 119, 222.
---- jamesi, ii. 117.
Pholeoptynx cunicularia, ii. 48, 52, 227.
Phrygilus caniceps, i. 53.
---- carbonarius, i. 54.
---- dorsalis, i. 53; ii. 223.
---- fruticeti, i. 54, 55; ii. 142.
---- gayi, i. 52.
---- ornatus, i. 51; ii. 227.
---- rusticus, i. 53.
---- unicolor, i. 53.
Phylloscartes flavo-cinereus, i. 139.
---- ventralis, i. 137.
Phytotoma rutila, i. 164.
Piaya cayana, ii. 36.
_Pica de punza azul y canela_, i. 37.
_Picaflor cola de topacio_, ii. 8.
_Picazuro Pigeon_, ii. 139.
_Pico de Plata_, i. 129.
Picolaptes angustirostris, i. 201.
_Picui Dove_, ii. 143.
Picus cactorum, ii. 19, 20.
---- mixtus, ii. 19.
_Pigeon, Picazuro_, ii. 139.
----, _Solitary_, ii. 144.
----, _Spot-winged_, ii. 140.
_Pintail, Bahama_, ii. 135.
----, _Brown_, ii. 134.
Pionus maximiliani, ii. 47.
Pipile cumanensis, ii. 146.
_Pipit, Cachila_, i. 17.
----, _Forked-tail_, i. 19,
Pipridea melanonota, i. 37.
_Piririgua_, ii. 32.
Pitangus bellicosus, i. 82, 147, 154.
---- bolivianus, i. 147.
_Pitiayume_, i. 20.
_Pitiayumi Wood-singer_, i. 20.
_Piuquen_, ii. 123.
_Plain-coloured Finch_, i. 57.
_Plant-cutter, Red-breasted_, i. 164.
Platalea ajaja, ii. 114, 115, 117.
_Platan Marsh-Wren_, i. 15.
Platyrhynchus mystaceus, i. 136.
Plegadis falcinellus, ii. 109.
---- guarauna, ii. 109.
_Plover, American Golden_, ii. 170.
----, _Azara's Sand-_, ii. 173.
----, _Cinereous_, ii. 173.
----, _Patagonian Sand-_, ii. 172.
----, _Slender-billed_, ii. 174, 175.
----, _Winter_, ii. 171, 172.
_Plumbeous Ibis_, ii. 112.
---- _Rail_, ii. 150.
Podager nacunda; ii. 12.
Podiceps bicornis, ii. 202.
---- caliparæus, ii. 204.
---- chilensis, ii. 203.
---- dominicus, ii. 205.
---- major, ii. 203, 205.
---- rollandi, ii. 204, 205.
Podilymbus antarcticus, ii. 206.
---- podiceps, ii. 206.
Polioptila dumicola, i. 12.
Polyborus brasiliensis, ii. 81.
---- tharus, ii. 65, 74, 81.
---- vulgaris, ii. 81.
Poospiza albifrons, i. 49.
---- assimilis, i. 51.
---- erythrophrys, i. 50; ii. 229.
---- lateralis, i. 51.
---- melanoleuca, i. 52.
---- nigrorufa, i. 49.
---- ornata, i. 51.
---- thoracica, i. 51.
---- torquata, i. 51.
---- whitii, i. 50.
Porphyriops melanops, ii. 156.
Porzana leucopyrrha, ii. 154.
---- notata, ii. 155.
---- salinasi, ii. 155.
---- spilonota, ii. 155.
---- spiloptera, ii. 155, 225.
_Pretty-throated Spine-tail_, i. 181.
---- _Warbling Finch_, i. 51.
_Prince Maximilian's Parrot_, ii. 47.
---- _Max's Finch_, i. 44.
Progne chalybea, i. 25.
---- domestica, i. 25.
---- furcata, i. 24, 25.
---- purpurea, i. 24.
---- tapera, i. 26, 85.
Psarocolius unicolor, i. 108.
Pseudoleistes virescens, i. 76, 97, 102.
Psittacus amazonicus, ii. 47.
Pterocnemis darwini, ii. 219.
Pterocyanea cyanoptera, ii. 130.
Pteroptochus albicollis, i. 207.
Ptiloleptis guira, ii. 32.
Ptyonura maculirostris, i. 134.
_Pucheran's Hawk_, ii. 58.
_Puff-bird, Spotted_, ii. 30.
_Purple Martin_, i. 24.
_Purple-and-Yellow Tanager_, i. 37.
_Purple-breasted Trogon_, ii. 29.
_Pygmy Owl_, ii. 56.
Pyranga azaræ, i. 40.
---- coccinea, i. 40.
---- saira, i. 40.
Pyrocephalus parvirostris, i. 152.
---- rubescens, i. 138.
---- rubineus, i. 111, 152; ii. 227.
_Quarhi-rahi_, i. 153.
_Queltregue_, ii. 166.
Querquedula brasiliensis, ii. 45, 133.
---- cyanoptera, ii. 130.
---- flavirostris, ii. 131.
---- maculirostris, ii. 131.
---- torquata, ii. 132.
---- versicolor, ii. 131.
_Rail, Antarctic_, ii. 148.
----, _Black_, ii. 149.
----, _Plumbeous_, ii. 150.
----, _Spotted_, ii. 148.
----, _Ypecaha_, ii. 150.
Rallus antarcticus, ii. 148.
---- maculatus, ii. 148.
---- nigricans, ii. 149, 150.
---- rhytirhynchus, ii. 149, 150.
---- salinasi, ii. 155.
_Red Duck_, ii. 137.
---- _Oven-bird_, i. 167.
---- _Shoveller_, ii. 136.
---- _Thorn-bird_, i. 194.
_Red-and-White Crake_, ii. 154.
_Red-backed Buzzard_, ii. 62.
---- _Finch_, i. 53.
---- _Rock-Martin_, i. 30.
---- _Tyrant_, i. 134.
_Red-bellied Thrush_, i. 3.
_Red-billed Ground-Finch_, i. 62.
---- _Parrakeet_, ii. 46.
_Red-breasted Marsh-bird_, i. 100.
---- _Plant-cutter_, i. 164.
_Red-browed Warbling Finch_, i. 50.
_Red-capped Bush-bird_, i. 204.
---- _Tanager_, i. 40.
_Red-crested Finch_, i. 48.
---- _Woodpecker_, ii. 21.
_Red-faced Woodpecker_, ii. 18.
_Red-flanked Song-Sparrow_, i. 60.
---- _Warbling Finch_, i. 51.
_Red-fronted Coot_, ii. 157.
---- _Thorn-bird_, i. 192.
---- _Woodpecker_, ii. 20.
_Red-gartered Coot_, ii. 157.
_Red-headed Marsh-bird_, i. 99.
---- _Parrot_, ii. 43.
_Red-necked Swallow_, i. 36.
_Red-stained Finch_, i. 57.
_Red-tailed Earth-Creeper_, i. 171.
_Red-throated Humming-bird_, ii. 8.
---- _Tyrant_, i. 136.
_Red-topped Tyrant_, i. 134.
_Red-winged Miner_, i. 166.
_Red-winged Thorn-bird_, i. 194.
_Reed-Finch, Long-tailed_, i. 49.
_Reed-Tyrant_, i. 137.
_Reed-Wren, Black-headed_, i. 13.
_Rey de los Pajaros_, ii. 73.
Rhamphastos toco, ii. 40.
Rhea americana, ii. 216, 220.
----, _Common_, ii. 216.
---- darwini, ii. 219.
----, _Darwin's_, ii. 219.
Rhinocrypta fusca, i. 207.
---- lanceolata, i. 206.
Rhinogryphus aura, ii. 89.
Rhyacophilus solitarius, ii. 188.
Rhynchæa hilarii, ii. 182.
---- semicollaris, ii. 179, 182.
Rhynchocyclus sulphurescens, i. 147.
Rhynchops melanura, ii. 193.
---- nigra, ii. 193.
Rhynchotus pentlandii, ii. 210.
---- punctulatus, ii. 210.
---- rufescens, ii. 50, 209, 214.
_Ringed Kingfisher_, ii. 11.
---- _Spine-tailed Swift_, ii. 11.
---- _Warbling Finch_, i. 51.
_Ring-necked Teal_, ii. 132.
_Robin-like Wood-hewer_, i. 198.
_Rock-Martin, Red-backed_, i. 30.
_Rolland's Grebe_, ii. 204.
_Roseate Spoonbill_, ii. 114.
Rostrhamus hamatus, ii. 72.
---- leucopygus, ii. 72.
---- sociabilis, ii. 72.
_Rosy-billed Duck_, ii. 137.
_Rufous Cheese-bird_, i. 163.
_Ruisiñor luscinia_, i. 172.
_Rush-bird, Curved-bill_, i. 191.
_Rush-loving Spine-tail_, i. 174.
_Rusty Lake-Duck_, ii. 138.
_Rusty-tailed Tyrant_, i. 156.
_Saltator, Allied_, i. 41.
---- aurantiirostris, i. 42.
---- cærulescens, i. 42.
----, _Greyish_, i. 42.
---- similis, i. 41.
---- superciliaris, i. 41.
----, _Yellow-billed_, i. 42.
Saltatricula multicolor, i. 61.
_Sanderling_, ii. 186.
_Sandpiper, Baird's_, ii. 184, 185.
----, _Bartram's_, ii. 189.
----, _Bonaparte's_, ii. 185.
----, _Buff-breasted_, ii. 190.
----, _Pectoral_, ii. 183, 184.
----, _Solitary_, ii. 188.
_Sand-Plover, Azara's_, ii. 173.
----, _Patagonian_, ii. 172.
_Sangre de Toro_, i. 152.
---- _Pura_, i. 152.
_Sappho Humming-bird_, ii. 3.
---- sparganura, ii. 3.
Sarcidiornis carunculata, ii. 128.
---- regia, ii. 128.
Sarcorhamphus gryphus, ii. 90.
_Saria, La_, ii. 161.
Saurophagus sulphuratus, i. 147.
Sayornis cineracea, i. 121.
_Scarlet Tyrant_, i. 152.
_Scarlet-headed Marsh-bird_, i. 101.
_Schulz's Dipper_, i. 11.
---- _Woodpecker_, ii. 18.
_Scissor-bill_, ii. 193.
_Scissor-tail Tyrant_, i. 160.
_Sclater's Curassow_, ii. 145.
Sclerurus caudacutus, i. 174.
---- umbretta, i. 174.
Scolopax frenata, ii. 181.
---- ---- magellanica, ii. 181.
Scops brasilianus, ii. 51.
_Screamer, Crested_, ii. 119.
_Screaming Cow-bird_, i. 86.
---- _Finch_, i. 46.
Scytalopus indigoticus, i. 205.
---- superciliaris, i. 205; ii. 223.
----, _White-eyebrowed_, i. 205.
_Seed-Finch, Meadow_, i. 71.
----, _Misto_, i. 69.
----, _Yellow_, i. 69.
_Seed-Snipe, Common_, ii. 176.
----, _D'Orbigny's_, ii. 178.
_Seriema_, ii. 161.
Serpophaga nigricans, i. 141.
---- subcristata, i. 140, 141, 142.
Setophaga brunneiceps, i. 21.
_Sharp-tailed Parrot_, ii. 42.
_Short-billed Tyrant_, i. 155.
_Short-eared Owl_, ii. 49.
_Short-footed Tyrant_, i. 156.
_Short-winged Goatsucker_, ii. 16.
---- _Tyrant_, i. 131.
_Shoveller, Red_, ii. 136.
_Shrike, Deep-billed Greenlet-_, i. 24.
----, _Ochre-headed Greenlet-_, i. 23.
_Silver-bill Tyrant_, i. 129.
_Siskin, Black-headed_, i. 64.
----, _Half-black_, i. 65.
Sisopygis icterophrys, i. 76, 125.
Sittosomus erithacus, i. 198.
---- olivaceus, i. 198.
_Skimmer, Black-tailed_, ii. 193.
_Slaty Finch_, i. 53.
_Slaty-blue Bush-bird_, i. 204.
_Slender-billed Plover_, ii. 174, 175.
_Small-crested Tyrant_, i. 140.
_Snipe, Common Seed-_, ii. 176.
----, _D'Orbigny's Seed-_, ii. 178.
----, _Painted_, ii. 182.
----, _Paraguay_, ii. 181.
_Snowy Egret_, ii. 99.
_Sociable Marsh-Hawk_, ii. 72.
_Solitary Cassique_, i. 72.
---- _Pigeon_, ii. 144.
---- _Sandpiper_, ii. 188.
---- _Tyrant_, i. 150.
_Song-Sparrow, Chingolo_, i. 58.
----, _Patagonian_, i. 59.
----, _Red-flanked_, i. 60.
----, _Stripe-headed_, i. 60.
----, _Yellow-shouldered_, i. 60.
_Sordid Spine-tail_, i. 184.
_Sorry Tyrant_, i. 144.
_Southern Courlan_, ii. 159.
Sparganura sappho, ii. 3.
_Sparrow, Common Song-_, i. 58.
----, _Patagonian Song-_, i. 59.
----, _Red-flanked Song-_, i. 60.
----, _Stripe-headed Song-_, i. 60.
----, _Yellow House-_, i. 66.
----, _Yellow-shouldered Song-_, i. 60.
Spatula platalea, ii. 136.
Speotyto cunicularia, ii. 52.
Spermophila analis, i. 57.
---- cærulescens, i. 46, 79.
---- inornata, i. 57.
---- melanocephala, i. 45.
---- palustris, i. 45.
---- rufirostris, i. 57.
Spheniscus magellanicus, ii. 206, 207.
_Spine-tail, Brown-crested_, i. 177.
----, _Brown-fronted_, i. 178.
----, _D'Orbigny's_, i. 183.
----, _Eyebrowed_, i. 178.
----, _Hudson's_, i. 186.
----, _Modest_, i. 183.
----, _Patagonian_, i. 186.
----, _Pretty-throated_, i. 181.
----, _Rush-loving_, i. 174.
----, _Sordid_, i. 184.
----, _Spix's_, i. 179.
----, _Striped_, i. 182.
----, _Tit-like_, i. 177.
----, _White's_, i. 181.
----, _White-throated_, i. 179.
----, _Wren-like_, i. 188.
----, _Yellow-marked_, i. 185.
_Spine-tailed Swift, Ringed_, ii. 11.
_Spiny Leaf-scraper_, i. 174.
_Spix's Spine-tail_, i. 179.
Spiziapteryx circumcinctus, ii. 73.
_Spoonbill, Roseate_, ii. 114.
Sporophila ornata, i. 46.
---- rufirostris, ii. 227.
_Spot-billed Tyrant_, i. 134.
_Spot-winged Crake_, ii. 155.
---- _Falcon_, ii. 73.
---- _Gull_, ii. 198.
---- _Pigeon_, ii. 140.
_Spotted Dove_, ii. 141.
---- _Puff-bird_, ii. 30.
---- _Rail_, ii. 148.
---- _Tinamou_, ii. 211.
_Starling, De Filippi's_, i. 105.
----, _Patagonian Marsh-_, i. 104.
Steganopus wilsoni, ii. 180.
Stelgidopteryx ruficollis, i. 36.
Stenopsis bifasciata, ii. 14.
Stephanophorus cæruleus, i. 38.
---- leucocephalus, i. 38.
Sterna argentea, ii. 197.
---- cassini, ii. 196.
---- frobeenii, ii. 195.
---- hirundinacea, ii. 196.
---- magnirostris, ii. 194.
---- maxima, ii. 195.
---- minuta, ii. 197.
---- superciliaris, ii. 197.
---- trudeauii, ii. 195.
Stigmatura budytoides, i. 139.
---- flavo-cinerea, i. 10, 139.
_Stilt, Brazilian_, ii. 179.
_Stork, Maguari_, ii. 106.
_Strange-tailed Tyrant_, i. 123.
_Stripe-headed Song-Sparrow_, i. 60.
_Striped Spine-tail_, i. 182.
---- _Tyrant_, i. 111.
Strix flammea, ii. 48.
---- perlata, ii. 48.
Sturnella defilippii, i. 105.
---- militaris, i. 104.
Sublegatus griseocularis, i. 147.
_Suiriri chorreado_, i. 129.
_Suiriri pardo y roxo_, i. 156.
---- _roxo_, i. 163.
---- _Tyrant_, i. 146.
_Sulphury Tyrant_, i. 147.
_Surucuá_, ii. 29.
_Swainson's Buzzard_, ii. 59.
_Swallow, Bank_, i. 33.
----, _Red-necked_, i. 36.
----, _White-rumped_, i. 30.
_Swan, Coscoroba_, ii. 126.
_Swift, Ringed Spine-tailed_, ii. 11.
Sycalis chloropis, i. 69.
---- lutea, i. 69.
---- luteiventris, i. 69.
---- luteola, i. 69.
---- pelzelni, i. 66, 85.
---- uropygialis, i. 69.
Sylbeocyclus dominicus, ii. 205.
Sylvia chivi, i. 22.
---- viridicata, i. 146.
Sylvicola venusta, i. 20.
Synallaxis ægitholoides, i. 84, 177.
---- albescens, i. 179, 180, 182, 192.
---- crassirostris, i. 183; ii. 227.
---- flavigularis, i. 183.
---- frontalis, i. 178.
---- fuliginiceps, i. 177.
---- hudsoni, i. 81, 186; ii. 79.
---- humicola, i. 183, 187.
---- maluroides, i. 188.
---- melanops, i. 174.
---- modesta, i. 183, 184.
---- orbignii, i. 183.
---- patagonica, i. 186.
---- phryganophila, i. 181.
---- ruficapilla, i. 178, 179, 186.
---- sclateri, i. 186; ii. 223.
---- scutata, i. 181.
---- sordida, i. 177, 184.
---- spixi, i. 79, 179, 180, 192.
---- striaticeps, i. 182.
---- sulphurifera, i. 185; ii. 222.
---- superciliosa, i. 178; ii. 223.
---- whitii, i. 181; ii. 229, 231.
Sysopygis icterophrys, i. 125.
Tachybaptes dominicus, ii. 205.
Tachycineta leucorrhoa, i. 30, 32.
Tachyeres cinereus, ii. 137.
Tachytriorchis albicaudatus, ii. 61.
Tænioptera coronata, i. 115, 118, 119.
---- dominicana, i. 117, 119.
---- icterophrys, i. 125.
---- irupero, i. 115, 118.
---- mœsta, i. 118.
---- murina, i. 119.
---- nengeta, i. 114.
---- rubetra, i. 114, 120.
---- suiriri, i. 146.
---- variegata, i. 113.
_Talpacoti Dove_, ii. 144.
_Tanager, Azara's_, i. 40.
----, _Black-necked_, i. 37.
----, _Blue_, i. 39.
----, _Blue-and-Yellow_, i. 39.
----, _Dark-backed_, i. 37.
----, _D'Orbigny's_, i. 41.
----, _Four-coloured_, i. 40.
----, _Purple-and-Yellow_, i. 37.
----, _Red-capped_, i. 40.
----, _White-capped_, i. 38.
----, _Yellow-striped_, i. 41.
Tanagra bonariensis, i. 39.
---- cyanoptera, i. 39.
---- sayaca, i. 39.
---- striata, i. 39.
Tantalus loculator, ii. 108.
_Tapacola, White-necked_, i. 207.
_Tataupa Tinamou_, ii. 208.
_Teal, Blue-winged_, ii. 130.
----, _Brazilian_, ii. 133.
----, _Grey_, ii. 131.
----, _Ring-necked_, ii. 132.
----, _Yellow-billed_, ii. 131.
_Tern, Cassin's_, ii. 196.
----, _Eyebrowed_, ii. 197.
----, _Great_, ii. 195.
----, _Great-billed_, ii. 194.
----, _Trudeau's_, ii. 195.
_Tero-tero_, ii. 195.
_Téru-real_, ii. 179.
_Téru-réru_, ii. 80.
---- _del campo_, ii. 79.
_Téru-téru_, ii. 166.
Thamnophilus argentinus, i. 204.
---- cærulescens, i. 204.
---- leachi, i. 202.
---- major, i. 203.
---- ruficapillus, i. 204.
---- stagurus, i. 203.
Thaumatias albicollis, ii. 7.
Theristicus caudatus, ii. 110.
---- melanops, ii. 110.
_Thickbill, Black-and-Yellow_, i. 43.
_Thick-billed Grebe_, ii. 206.
Thinocorus orbignyanus, ii. 178.
Thinocorus rumicivorus, ii. 176.
_Thin-tailed Tyrant_, i. 138.
Thlypopsis ruficeps, i. 40.
_Thorn-bird, Red_, i. 194.
----, _Red-fronted_, i. 192.
----, _Red-winged_, i. 194.
----, _Whistling_, i. 192.
_Thrush, Black-headed_, i. 4.
----, _Dusky_, i. 1.
----, _Magellanic_, i. 3.
----, _Red-bellied_ i. 3.
_Tiger-Bittern, Marbled_, ii. 104.
Tigrisoma brasiliense, ii. 104, 105.
---- fasciatum, ii. 104, 105.
---- marmoratum, ii. 104.
_Tijereta_, i. 160.
_Tinamou, Brown_, ii. 207.
----, _Cinereous_, ii. 210.
----, _Darwin's_, ii. 213.
----, _Great_, ii. 209.
----, _Martineta_, ii. 214.
----, _Pentland's_, ii. 210.
----, _Spotted_, ii. 211.
----, _Tataupa_, ii. 208.
Tinnunculus cinnamominus, ii. 69, 70, 77.
---- sparverius, ii. 69.
_Tiru-riru_, i. 189.
---- _del campo_, i. 187.
_Tit-like Spine-tail_, i. 177.
---- _Tyrant_, i. 141.
_Tit-Tyrant, Yellow-billed_, i. 142.
_Toco Toucan_, ii. 40.
Todirostrum margaritaceiventor, i. 136.
_Torcasa_, ii. 141.
_Tordo_, i. 72.
---- _Comun_, i. 72.
---- _negro cabeza roxa_, i. 101.
---- _pardo roxiso_, i. 96.
_Tortola_, ii. 141.
_Tortolita_, ii. 143.
Totanus bartramia, ii. 189.
---- chilensis, ii. 186.
---- flavipes, ii. 187.
---- melanoleucus, ii. 25, 186, 187.
---- solitarius, ii. 188.
_Toucan, Toco_, ii. 40.
_Trarú_, ii. 82.
_Tree-Duck, Fulvous_, ii. 126.
----, _White-faced_, ii. 128.
_Tree-Martin_, i. 26.
_Trepador comun_, i. 202.
Triceus margaritiventro, i. 136.
Trichothraupis quadricolor, i. 40.
Tringa acuminata pectoralis, ii. 183.
---- arenaria, ii. 186.
---- bairdi, ii. 184.
---- bonapartii, ii. 185.
---- dorsalis, ii. 184.
---- fuscicollis, ii. 185.
---- maculata, ii. 183.
---- rufescens, ii. 190.
---- rufus, i. 82.
Trochilus colubris, ii. 6.
Troglodytes auricularis, i. 15.
---- fasciolatus, ii. 226.
---- furvus, i. 13, 16, 85.
---- musculus, i. 13.
---- platensis, i. 13.
---- (Uropsila) auricularis, i. 15; ii. 223.
_Trogon, Azara's_, ii. 29.
----, _Purple-breasted_, ii. 29.
---- surucura, ii. 29.
---- variegatus, ii. 29.
_Trudeau's Tern_, ii. 195.
Trupialis defilippii, i. 105.
---- guianensis, i. 100.
---- loyca, i. 104.
---- militaris, i. 104, 105.
Tryngites rufescens, ii. 190.
_Tucuman Woodpecker_, ii. 21.
Turdus crotopezus, i. 1.
---- falklandicus, i. 3.
---- fuscater, i. 4.
---- leucomelas, i. 1.
---- magellanicus, i. 3.
---- nigriceps, i. 4.
---- rufiventer, i. 3.
---- rufiventris, i. 2, 3, 4.
_Turkey-Vulture_, ii. 89.
_Turtle-Dove, Little_, ii. 143.
Tyrannus aurantio-atrocristatus, i. 157.
---- melancholicus, i. 111, 158.
---- verticalis, ii. 60.
---- violentus, i. 160.
_Tyrant, Ashy_, i. 121.
----, _Ashy-black_, i. 126.
----, _Bienteveo_, i. 147.
----, _Black-and-yellow-crested_, i. 157.
----, _Black-crowned_, i. 115.
----, _Black-headed_, i. 157.
----, _Blackish_, i. 141.
----, _Blue-billed_, i. 127.
----, _Broad-billed_, i. 136.
----, _Cabanis's_, i. 128.
----, _Chat-like_, i. 120.
----, _Chin-spotted_, i. 133.
----, _Chocolate_, i. 112.
----, _Cinereous_, i. 128.
----, _Cock-tailed_, i. 122.
----, _Dominican_, i. 117.
----, _Fierce_, i. 156.
----, _Greenish_, i. 146.
----, _Grey-eyed_, i. 147.
----, _Hudson's Black_, i. 126.
----, _Little Brown_, i. 151.
----, _Long-tailed_, i. 139.
----, _Many-coloured_, i. 142.
----, _Melancholy_, i. 158.
----, _Mouse-brown_, i. 119.
----, _Narrow-tailed_, i. 139.
----, _Noisy_, i. 145.
----, _Pearly-bellied_, i. 136.
----, _Pepoaza_, i. 114.
----, _Red-backed_, i. 134.
----, _Red-throated_, i. 136.
----, _Red-topped_, i. 134.
----, _Reed_, i. 137.
----, _Rusty-tailed_, i. 156.
----, _Scarlet_, i. 152.
----, _Scissor-tail_, i. 160.
----, _Short-billed_, i. 155.
----, _Short-footed_, i. 156.
----, _Short-winged_, i. 131.
----, _Silver-bill_, i. 129.
----, _Small-crested_, i. 140.
----, _Solitary_, i. 150.
----, _Sorry_, i. 144.
----, _Spot-billed_, i. 134.
----, _Strange-tailed_, i. 123.
----, _Striped_, i. 111.
----, _Suiriri_, i. 146.
----, _Sulphury_, i. 147.
----, _Thin-tailed_, i. 138.
----, _Tit-like_, i. 141.
----, _Wagtail_, i. 139.
----, _Warlike_, i. 151.
----, _White-bellied_, i. 121.
----, _White-browed_, i. 121.
----, _White-crested_, i. 145.
----, _White-headed_, i. 122.
----, _White-tailed_, i. 112.
----, _Widow_, i. 118.
----, _Wing-banded_, i. 155.
----, _Yellow-bellied_, i. 137.
----, _Yellow-billed Tit-_, i. 142.
----, _Yellow-browed_, i. 125.
----, _Yetapa_, i. 124.
_Upland Goose, Barred_, ii. 123.
Upucerthia dumetoria, i. 170.
---- luscinia, i. 171.
---- ruficauda, i. 171.
_Urraca_, ii. 32.
---- _Jay_, i. 110.
Urubitinga meridionalis, ii. 63.
---- unicincta, ii. 63.
_Vanduria aplomado_, ii. 112.
---- _barroso_, ii. 112.
---- _de Invierno_, ii. 111.
---- _de las lagunas_, ii. 112.
Vanellus cayennensis, ii. 165, 195, 200.
---- modestus, ii. 171.
_Varied Woodpecker_, ii. 19.
_Variegated Heron_, ii. 101.
_Veiled Wood-singer_, i. 20.
_Viguá_, ii. 92.
_Vinaceous Amazon_, ii. 46.
_Violet-eared Humming-bird_, ii. 3.
Vireo chivi, i. 22.
---- olivaceus, i. 22, 204.
Vireosylvia chivi, i. 22.
_Virginian Owl_, ii. 50.
_Viudita_, i. 118.
_Vulture, Black_, ii. 89.
---- _Turkey_, ii. 89.
_Wagtail Tyrant_, i. 139.
_Warbling Earth-Creeper_, i. 171.
_Warbling Finch, Black-and-Chestnut_, i. 49.
----, _Pretty_, i. 51.
----, _Red-browed_, i. 50.
----, _Red-flanked_, i. 51.
----, _Ringed_, i. 51.
----, _White-and-Grey_, i. 52.
----, _White's_, i. 50.
_Warlike Tyrant_, i. 151.
_Waterhen, American_, ii. 156.
----, _Little_, ii. 156.
_Wedge-billed Wood-hewer_, i. 199.
_Wedge-tailed Ground Finch_, i. 63.
_Whimbrel, Esquimo_, ii. 192.
_Whip-poor-Will_, ii. 13.
_Whispering Ibis_, ii. 113.
_Whistling Duck_, ii. 127.
---- _Heron_, ii. 100.
---- _Thorn-bird_, i. 192.
_White Egret_, ii. 98.
_White-and-Grey Warbling Finch_, i. 52.
_White-banded Goatsucker_, ii. 14.
---- _Mocking-bird_, i. 8.
_White-bellied Tyrant_, i. 121.
---- _Woodpecker_, ii. 23.
_White-breasted Humming-bird_, ii. 7.
_White-browed Tyrant_, i. 121.
_White-capped Tanager_, i. 38.
_White-crested Tyrant_, i. 145.
_White-eyebrowed Scytalopus_, i. 205.
_White-faced Ibis_, ii. 109.
---- _Tree-Duck_, ii. 128.
_White-headed Guan_, ii. 146.
---- _Tyrant_, i. 122.
_White-necked Tapacola_, i. 207.
_White-rumped Swallow_, i. 30.
_White-sided Humming-bird_, ii. 1.
_White-tailed Buzzard_, ii. 61.
---- _Kite_, ii. 71.
---- _Tyrant_, i. 112.
_White-throated Cachalote_, i. 197.
---- _Humming-bird_, ii. 7.
---- _Spine-tail_, i. 179.
---- _Wood-hewer_, i. 200.
_White-winged Bécard_, i. 162.
---- _Cinclodes_, i. 173.
---- _Lake-Duck_, ii. 138.
_White's Ground-Finch_, i. 64.
---- _Spine-tail_, i. 181.
---- _Warbling Finch_, i. 50.
_Widow Tyrant_, i. 118.
_Wigeon, Chiloe_, ii. 135.
_Wilson's Phalarope_, ii. 180, 181.
_Wing-banded Tyrant_, i. 155.
_Winter Plover_, ii. 171, 172.
_Wood-bird, Brown-headed_, i. 23.
_Wood-hewer, Bridge's_, i. 199.
----, _Chestnut_, i. 201.
----, _Flat-billed_, i. 199.
----, _Narrow-billed_, i. 201.
----, _Robin-like_, i. 198.
----, _Wedge-billed_, i. 199.
----, _White-throated_, i. 200.
_Wood-Ibis_, ii. 108.
_Woodpecker, Allied_, ii. 20.
----, _Boie's_, ii. 17.
----, _Cactus_, ii. 19.
----, _Gold-backed_, ii. 21.
----, _Pampas_, ii. 24.
----, _Red-crested_, ii. 21.
----, _Red-faced_, ii. 18.
----, _Red-fronted_, ii. 20.
----, _Schulz's_, ii. 18.
----, _Tucuman_, ii. 21.
----, _Varied_, ii. 19.
----, _White-bellied_, ii. 23.
_Wood-singer, Brown-capped_, i. 21.
----, _Golden-crowned_, i. 21.
----, _Pitiayumi_, i. 20.
----, _Veiled_, i. 20.
_Wren, Black-headed Reed-_, i. 13.
----, _Brown House-_, i. 13.
----, _Eared_, i. 15.
----, _Platan Marsh-_, i. 15.
_Wren-like Spine-tail_, i. 188.
Xanthornus pyrrhopterus, i. 107.
Xanthosomus flavus, i. 98.
---- ruficapillus, i. 99.
Xiphocolaptes albicollis, i. 200.
---- major, i. 201.
Xolmis variegata, i. 116.
_Yabirú_, ii. 106.
_Yacú caraguata_, ii. 147.
_Yacúhú, El_, ii. 146.
_Yellow Cardinal_, i. 55.
---- _House-Sparrow_, i. 66.
---- _Seed-Finch_, i. 69.
_Yellow-bellied Tyrant_, i. 137.
_Yellow-billed Coot_, ii. 158.
---- _Cuckoo_, ii. 37.
---- _Saltator_, i. 42.
---- _Teal_, ii. 131.
---- _Tit-Tyrant_, i. 142.
_Yellow-breasted Marsh-bird_, i. 102.
_Yellow-browed Tyrant_, i. 125.
_Yellow-headed Marsh-bird_, i. 98.
_Yellow-marked Spine-tail_, i. 185.
_Yellow-shouldered Marsh-bird_, i. 97.
---- _Song-Sparrow_, i. 60.
_Yellow-striped Tanager_, i. 41.
_Yellowshank, Greater_, ii. 106.
----, _Lesser_, ii. 187.
_Yetapa Tyrant_, i. 124.
_Ynambū azulado_, ii. 207.
---- _tatāupā_, ii. 208.
_Ypecaha Rail_, ii. 150.
_Zancudo_, ii. 179.
Zapornia notata, ii. 155.
Zenaida maculata, ii. 141.
Zonotrichia canicapilla, i. 55, 59.
---- hypochondria, i. 60.
---- matutina, i. 58.
---- pileata, i. 58, 59.
---- strigiceps, i. 60, 64.
_Zorsal_, i. 4.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: The following amendments were made to the text:
--------------------------+-----------------+-------------------------
Page | Original Word | Amendment
--------------------------+-----------------+-------------------------
TOC #218 | Bridge's | Bridges's
10 | Churrinche | Churinche
25 | daries | diaries
56 | Nigro | Negro
61 | Andagala | Andalgala
64 | ochaceous | ochraceous
66 | Uspellata | Uspallata
72 | Carhue | Carhué
86 | Beunos | Buenos
106 | In | It
122 | Alectorurus | Alectrurus
136 | {missing name} | (PEARLY-BELLIED TYRANT.)
142 | _subscristata_ | _subcristata_
157 | _Haslehust_ | _Haslehurst_
158 | Cowbird's | Cow-bird's
202 | appers | appears
Index entries: | |
_American_ | _Oystercatcher_ | _Oyster-catcher_
_Chorlo_ | 170 | ii. 170
_Cock-tailed Tyrant_ | _Cck-tailed_ | _Cock-tailed_
_Eyebrowed Spine-tail_ | _Eye-browed_ | _Eyebrowed_
_Heron, Whistling_ | i. 100 | ii. 100
--------------------------+-----------------+-------------------------
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