: Argentine Ornithology, Volume I (of 2) - P. L Sclater, W. H Hudson (inspirational books to read .TXT) 📗

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.

 

 

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.

 

 

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_.

 

 

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.

 

 

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.

 

 

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._

 

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._

 

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,