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All rights reserved
eo.)
SPUR-WINGED LAPWING
Vanellus cayennensis (Gm.) ~
we - BIRDS “2? OF LA PLATA
BY
W. H. HUDSON
WITH TWENTY-TWO COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS BY H, GRONVOLD
VOLUME TWO
1920 LONDON & TORONTO
J. M. DENT & SONS LTD. NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.
ie \ NOV 9
oes
ge ye Re Tes
There have been printed of this Edition 1500 Copies for England and 1500 Copies for United States of America, also a Large Paper Edition of 200 Copies, and the type then distributed.
Vt on ee 3a) VEG zt
CONTENTS
FAM, XIII.—TROCHILIDZ, OR HUMMING-BIRDS PAGE
GLITTERING HUMMING-BIRD, Chlorostilbon splendidus, Vieill. . I
FAM. XIV.—CAPRIMULGIDA, OR GOATSUCKERS NAcuUNDA GOATSUCKER, Podager nacunda, Vieill. ; 4
FAM. XV.—PICIDE, OR WOODPECKERS
RED-CRESTED WOODPECKER, Chrysoptilus cristatus, Vieill, . : 7 Pampas WOODPECKER, Colaptes agricola, Malh. : ‘ Ate Go}
FAM. XVI—ALCEDINIDA, OR KINGFISHERS RINGED KINGFISHER, Ceryle torquata, Linn. . 4 ‘ KS
FAM, XVII.—CUCULID2, OR CUCKOOS
Gurra Cuckoo, Guira piririgua, Vieill. - : 6 eS, BLACK-BILLED Cuckoo, Coccyzus melanocoryphus, Vici A DS
FAM, XVIII—PSITTACIDA, OR PARROTS
PATAGONIAN PARROT, Conurus patagonus, Vieill. ‘ : oy Ne iy] GREEN PARRAKEET, Bolborhynchus monachus, Bodd. . 4 BO
FAM. XIX.—BUBONIDA, OR OWLS SHORT-EARED OWL, Asio brachyotus, Forst. ‘ A Anite Be
- BurROWING-OWL, Speotyto cunicularia, Mol. . ; : “5530
FAM. XX.—FALCONIDE, OR FALCONS | ARGENTINE HEN-HARRIER, Circus cinereus, Vieill. § SOAS
VociFEROUS HAWK, Asturina pucherani, Verr. . . é - 44 WHITE-TAILED BUZZARD, Buteo albicaudatus, Vieill. . : Stas RED-BACKED BUZZARD, Buteo erythronotus, King . 6 Lemay, Grey EAGLE, Geranoaétus melanoleucus, Vieill. . ‘ - 48
Vv
vi BIRDS OF LA PLATA
FAM. XX.—FALCONIDA, OR FALCONS—continued
PAGE CROWNED EAGLE, Harpyhaliaétus coronatus, Vieill. . 5 SCY I PEREGRINE FALCON, Falco peregrinus, Linn. . <5 5 SS ARGENTINE Hossy, Falco fusco-cezrulescens, Vieill. . : Caney 5 ARGENTINE KESTREL, Tinnunculus cinnamominus, Sw. 4 eS O Wuite Kite, Elanus leucurus, Vieill. a : . Sieg) SOCIABLE IMARSH-HAWK, Rostrohamus sociabilis, WAHL 3 ai |) Go) PicMy FALcon, Spiziapteryx circumcinctus, Kaup. . : 61
CHIMANGO, OR COMMON CARRION HAWK, Milvago chimango, Wall 62 CARANCHO, OR CARACARA, Polyborus tharus, Mol. . 6 TS
FAM, XXI.—CATHARTIDE, OR CONDORS BLACK VULTURE, Cathartes atratus, Bartram . . fs aN Metso)
FAM. XXII.—PHALACROCARACIDE, OR CORMORANT S BRAZILIAN CORMORANT, Phalacrocorax brasilianus, Gm. . 5 Ye)
FAM, XXIII—ARDEIDZ, OR HERONS
Cocot HERON, Ardea cocoi, Linn. . 4 5% i 31192 WHITE EcretT, Ardea egretta, Gm. . : A A Aas - IOI
SNowy EGrET, Ardea candidissima, Gm. . z A x - I01 WHISTLING HERON, Ardea sibilatrix, Temm. . : A LOS LITTLE BLUE HERON, Butorides cyanurus, Vieill. é 3 - 104 LITTLE RED HERON, Ardetta involucris, Vieill. . . + 105 Nicut HERON, Wycticorax obscurus, Bp. « : ‘ pe
FAM. XXIV.—CICONIDZE, OR STORKS
MAGUARI STORK, Euxenura maguari, Gm. . a . a) anit Woop Isis, Tantalus loculator, Linn. . 6 3 5 1) 305865)
FAM. XXV.—PLATALEID&, OR IBISES
_ WHITE-FACED [Bis, Plegadis guarauna, Linn. . s + «118 BLACK-FACED Isis, Theristicus caudatus, Bodd. . + 120 BLUE Isis, Harpiprion cerulescens, Vieill. i A , - 122 WHISPERING Ipis, Phimosus infuscatus, Licht. . ; : oe Lien ROSEATE SPOONBILL, Ajaja rosea, Reichenb. . . ‘ * 125
FAM. XXVI.—PHGNICOPTERIDZ, OR FLAMINGOES
ARGENTINE FLAMINGO, Phenicopterus ignipalliatus, Geoffr. et d’Orb. + + ¢ ¢ + + + 5 + o 127
CONTENTS : Vil
FAM. XXVII.—PALAMEDEID/, OR SCREAMERS PAGE CRESTED SCREAMER, Chauna chavaria, Linn, . ° . + 130
FAM. XXVIII—ANATIDE, OR DUCKS
BARRED UPLAND Goose, Bernicla dispar, Ph. et Landb. . Le atey ASHY-HEADED UPLAND Goose, Bernicla poliocephala, Grey . ne BLACK-NECKED SWAN, Cygnus nigricollis, Gm. . A A 4 136 CoscoROBA SWAN, Coscoroba candida, Vieill. . 3 ‘ Dooiets FuLvous TREE-Duck, Dendrocygna fulva, Gm. - : 5) HEC) WHITE-FACED TREE-Duck, Dendrocygna viduata, Linn. . oa TAT BLUE-WINGED TEAL, Querquedula cyanoptera, Vieill. . . + 142 YELLOW-BILLED TEAL, Querquedula flavirostris, Vieill. ‘ tas Grey TEAL, Querquedula versicolor, Vieill. < C 6 7 LAA RING-NECKED TEAL, Querquedula torquata, Vieill. . ‘ + 45 BRAZILIAN TEAL, Querquedula brasiliensis, Gm. : ‘ a A6 BROWN PINTAIL, Dafila spinicauda, Vieill. : . ‘ META, WHITE-FACED PINTAIL, Dafila bahamensis, Linn. : é - 148 CHILOE WIGEON, Mareca sibilatrix, Poepp. < ‘ ESO RED SHOVELLER, Spatula platalea, Vieill. : A : ark ROSyY-BILLED Duck, Metopiana peposaca, Vieill. é a + 152 FAM. XXIX.—COLUMBIDE, OR PIGEONS ARGENTINE WooD-PIGEON, Columba picazuro, Temm. 3 + 154 SPOTTED WooD-PIGEON, Columba maculosa, Temm. . . - 155 SPOTTED DovE, Zenaida maculata, Vieill. 4 ‘ ‘ + 157 Picmy Dove, Columbula picui, Temm. . “ + 158 SOLITARY PIGEON, Engyptila chalcauchenia, Sell et Salv. . + 159 FAM. XXX.—RALLIDA, OR RAILS BLACK RAIL, Rallus rhytirhynchus, Vieill. 3 A + 160 YPECAHA RAIL, Aramides ypecaha, Vieill. y . Gee TOS LITTLE WATERHEN, Porphyriops melanops, Vieill. : C + 170 YELLOW-BILLED Coot, Fulica leucoptera, Vieill. < : « 170 FAM, XXXI—ARAMIDA:, OR COURLANS ARGENTINE COURLAN, Aramus scolopaceus,Gm. 5 A SIGE
FAM. XXXIIL.—PARRIDZ, OR JACANAS Jacana, Parra jacana, Linn. . . . . . . 5 GE
Vill BIRDS OF LA PLATA
FAM. XXXIII—CHARADRIIDE, OR PLOVERS
PAGE SPUR-WING LAPWING, Vanellus cayennensis, Gm. . s.17S AMERICAN GOLDEN PLovER, Charadrius dominicus, Miller . : - 185 WINTER PLover, Eudromias modesta, Licht. . : - 87 PATAGONIAN RINGED PLOVER, 4¢gialitis falklandicus, Lath. - 188
SLENDER-BILLED PLOVER, Oreophilus ruficollis, Wagl. . , Be i atteo)
FAM. XXXIV.—THINOCORID, OR SEED-SNIPES SEED-SNIPE, Thinocorus rumicivorus, Eschsch. . ‘ : weeLOr
FAM. XXXV.—SCOLOPACIDE, OR SNIPES BRAZILIAN STILT, Hirmantopus brasiliensis, Brehm. .« 3 Si HOB}
PARAGUAY SNIPE, Gallinago paraguaiz, Vieill. : - IQ5 ARGENTINE PAINTED SNIPE, Rhynchea camnianilarig Vieill, LOY, PECTORAL SANDPIPER, Tringa maculata, Vieill. . : : LOS GREATER YELLOWSHANKS, Totanus melanoleucus, Gm. : - 199
SOLITARY SANDPIPER, Rhyacophilus solitarius, Wils. . ; Oe BARTRAM’S SANDPIPER, Actitura bartramius, Wils. . 3 + 202
BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER, J ryngites rufescens, Vieill. : 1) 2205 HupDsoNIAN GopwiItT, Limosa hemastica, Linn. ‘ . + 206 Esquimo WHIMBREL, Numenius borealis, Fourt. A x e207,
FAM. XXXVI—LARIDA, OR GULLS
BLACK-TAILED SKIMMER, Rhynchops melanura, Sw. . . eos DoMINICAN GULL, Larus dominicanus, Licht. 5 Say ARGENTINE BLACK-HEADED GULL, Larus maculipennis, leche Sete
FAM. XXXVIL—PODICIPEDID&, OR GREBES Great GrEBE, 4ichmophorus major, Bodd. . «. « « ary
FAM. XXXVIIIL—TINAMIDA, OR TINAMUS
TATAUPA TINAMU, Crypturus tataupa, Temm., . 4 - « 219 RuFous TINAMU, Rhynchotus rufescens, Temm. ; i + 221 SPOTTED TINAMU, JVothura maculosa, Temm. . i : “222 MARTINETA, Calodromas elegans, d’Orb. et Geoffr. . 4 e227,
FAM. XXXIX.—RHEIDZ, OR RHEAS CoMMON RuHEA, Rhea americana, Lath. . A A . 2230
INDEX 5 i 5 4 ; ‘ 5 : : ear,
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
SPUR-WING LAPWING, Vanellus cayennensis, Gm, 3 Frontispiece One-third natural size See p. 178 PAMPAS WOODPECKER, Colaptes agricola, Malh. . facing page 11
One-third natural size
BURROWING-OWL, Speotyto cunicularia, Mol. . - % 36 One-fourth natural size
RED-BACKED BUZZARD, Buteo erythronotus, King. a 47 One-fourth natural size
CARANCHO CARRION-HAWE, Polyborus tharus, Mol. . 5 75 One-fifth natural size
WHISTLING HERON, Ardea sibilatrix, Temm. . ‘ 103 One-fourth natural size
BLACK-FACED Ibis, Theristicus caudatus, Bodd. . : tp I21 One-fifth natural size
BRAZILIAN TEAL, Querquedula brasiliensis, Gm. 4 np 147 One-third natural size
CoMMON JACANA, Parra jacana, Linn. . : an 174 Two-fifths natural size
SLENDER-BILLED PLovER, Oreophilus ruficollis, Wagl. . Py) 189 Three-fifths natural size
MARTINETA TINAMU, Calodromas elegans, d’Orb. et Geoffr. o ¢ ¢ e o ° ° 99 i 228 One-third natural size
1x
BIRDS OF LA PLATA
GLITTERING HUMMING-BIRD Chlorostilbon splendidus
Head, upper parts, and wing-coverts golden bronze, inclining to green on upper tail-coverts; wings purplish brown; tail black glossed with green; throat and breast glittering emerald-green ; beak bright red; length 3.5 inches. Female bronze-green above and grey beneath.
r “HE Trochilidz, or Humming-birds, a distinctly South American form, are one of the most numerous families of birds on the globe,
numbering over 400 known species, and ranging over
the entire continent down to Tierra del Fuego. How surprising then to find that of this multitude of species no more than about a dozen are found in the entire
Argentine country! It only adds to the surprise when
it is found that humming-birds of these few species
are common enough throughout the country. Even on the almost treeless grassy pampas of Buenos Ayres which are unsuited to the habits of this feathered forest sprite, one species at all events is found every- where. Personally I was acquainted with only three species, and I recall that when living on the open pampas, every season when the white acacia at my home was in flower we had an invasion of
Hummine-birds. The plantation was divided by A II
2 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
avenues of large acacia trees, about a thousand in all, and as long as the blossoms lasted the little glittering birds were to be seen all over the place, in almost every tree, revelling in the fragrant sweet- ness; but no sooner were the flowers faded than they were gone, and thereafter two or three pairs only remained to breed and spend the summer months in the plantation. All these birds were of one species —the Glittering Humming-bird, but on going a few miles from home to the marsh and forest on the low shores of the Plata river I would find the other two species. I spent a summer, bird-watching, in a herdsman’s hut in the marshy forest and used to go out at sunset to a small open space overgrown with viper’s-bugloss in flower. There is no flower the Hummine-bird likes so well, and he is most busy feeding just before dark. Here, standing among the flowers, I would watch the shining little birds coming and going, each bird spending a minute or two sucking honey, then vanishing back into the shadowy trees, and from fifty to a hundred of them would always be in sight all around me at atime. Here all three species were feeding together; but I was familiar with the habits of only one, the bird I describe here. ;
The Glittering Humming-bird appears in the vicinity of Buenos Ayres in September, and later in the spring is found everywhere on the pampas where there are plantations, but it is never seen on the treeless plains. Its sudden appearance in con-
GLITTERING HUMMING-BIRD 3
siderable numbers in plantations on the pampas, where there are flowers to which it is partial, like those of the acacia tree, and its just as sudden de- parture when the flowers have fallen, have led me to conclude that its migration extends much further south, probably into mid-Patagonia. Like most Humming-birds it is an exquisitely beautiful little creature, in its glittering green mantle; and in its aerial life and swift motions a miracle of energy. To those who have seen the Humming-bird in a state of nature all descriptions of its appearance and movements must seem idle. In the life-habits of the Trochilide there is a singular monotony; and the Glittering Humming-bird differs little in its customs from other species that have been de- scribed, It is extremely pugnacious; the males meet to fight in the air, and rapidly ascend, revolving round each other, until when at a considerable height they suddenly separate and dart off in opposite directions, Occasionally two or three are seen flashing by, pursuing each other, with such velocity that even the Swift’s flight, which is said to cover four hundred miles an hour, seems slow in com- parison. This species also possesses the habit of darting towards a person and hovering bee-like for some time close to his face. It also flies frequently into a house, at window or door, but does not, like birds of other kinds, become confused on such occasions, and is much too lively to allow its retreat to be cut off. It feeds a great deal on minute spiders, and is fond of exploring the surfaces of mud and
4 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
brick walls, where it is seen deftly inserting its slender crimson bill into the small spider-holes in search of prey. The nest, like that of most humming- birds, is a small, beautifully-made structure, com- posed of a variety of materials held closely together with spiders’ webs, and is placed on a branch, or in a fork, or else suspended from slender drooping vines or twigs. Sometimes the nest is suspended to the thatch overhanging the eaves of a cottage, for except where persecuted the bird is quite fearless of man’s presence. The eggs are two, and white.
Besides the little creaking chirp uttered at short intervals while flying or hovering, this species has a set song, composed of five or six tenuous and squeak- ing notes, uttered in rapid succession when the bird is perched. It is a song like that of the European Goldcrest in shape, and resembles it in sound, but is less musical, or more squeaky.
NACUNDA GOATSUCKER
Podager nacunda
Above brown with black vermiculations and blotches; wings black with a broad white bar across the base of the primaries; four outer tail-feathers broadly tipped with white; breast brown variegated with black; chin fulvous; band across throat and belly white; length 11, wing 9.5 inches. Female similar but without white on tail,
THE specific name of this Goatsucker is from the Guarani word Nacunda, which Azara tells us is the Indian nickname for any person with a very large
NACUNDA GOATSUCKER 5
mouth. In the Argentine country it has several names, being called Dormilon (Sleepy-head) or Duerme-duerme (Sleep-sleep), also Gallina ciega (Blind Hen). It is a large, handsome bird, and differs from its congeners in being gregarious, and in never perching on trees or entering woods. It is an in- habitant of the open pampas. In Buenos Ayres, and also in Paraguay, according to Azara, it is a summer visitor, arriving at the end of September and leaving at the end of February. In the love season the male is sometimes heard uttering a song or call, with notes of a hollow mysterious character; at other times they are absolutely silent, except when disturbed in the daytime, and then each bird when taking flight emits the syllable kuf in a hollow voice. When flushed the bird rushes away with a wild zigzag flight, close to the ground, then suddenly drops like a stone, disappearing at the same time from sight as effectively as if the earth had swallowed it up, so perfect is the protective resemblance in the colouring of the upper plumage to the ground. In the evening they begin to fly about earlier than most Caprimulgi, hawking after insects like swallows, skimming over the surface of the ground and water with a swift irregular flight ; possibly the habit of sitting in open places exposed to the full glare of the sun has made them somewhat less nocturnal than other species that seek the shelter of thick woods or herbage during the hours of light.
The Nacunda breeds in October, and makes no nest, but lays two eggs on a scraped place on the
6 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
open plain. Mr. Dalgleish says of the eggs: “They are oval-shaped, and resemble much in appearance those of the Nightjar, except that the markings, which are similar in character to those of the latter, are of a reddish-brown or port-wine colour.”
After the breeding-season they are sometimes found in flocks of forty or fifty individuals, and will spend months on the same spot, returning to it in equal numbers every year. One summer a flock of about two hundred individuals frequented a meadow near my house, and one day I observed them rise up very early in the evening and begin soaring about like a troop of swallows preparing to migrate. I watched them for upwards of an hour; but they did not scatter as on previous evenings to seek for food, and after a while they began to rise higher and higher, still keeping close together, until they dis- appeared from sight. Next morning I found that they had gone. ,
In Entrerios, Mr. Barrows tells us, this Goat- sucker is an abundant summer resident, arriving early in September and departing again in April. It is strictly crepuscular or nocturnal, never voluntarily taking wing by daylight. In November it lays a pair of spotted eggs in a hollow scooped in the soil of the open plain. These in shape and markings re- semble eggs of the Night-hawk (Chordeiles virginianus), somewhat, but are of course much larger, and have a distinct reddish tinge. “* We found the birds not uncommon near Bahia Blanca, 17th February, 1881,
RED-CRESTED WOODPECKER 7
but elsewhere on the Pampas we did not observe them.”
There are altogether close on fifty species of Goatsuckers in South America; of these, six are found in Argentina. I only knew two; the one here described and the small species Antrostomus parvulus, which is rare in Buenos Ayres.
RED-CRESTED WOODPECKER
Chrysoptilus cristatus
Above black barred with white; rump white with black spots ; top of head black, nape scarlet; sides of head white, bordered with black ; beneath white, yellowish on the neck, covered with round black spots; throat white striped with black; tail black, lateral rectrices slightly barred with yellow; length 10.5 inches. Female similar,
SOUTH and Central America has not fewer than 120 species of Woodpeckers; in Argentina there are only thirteen species. known, and most of these are confined to the northern and forest districts. Five species range as far south as Buenos Ayres; of these I was acquainted with the following four. : The Red-crested Woodpecker ranges as far south as the vicinity of Buenos Ayres, and is not uncommon there in the few localities which possess wild forests. It is the handsomest of our Woodpeckers, having brighter tints than its congener of the plains, Colaptes
8 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
agricola. Like that bird, though not to the same extent, it has diverged from the typical Picide in its habits, alighting sometimes on the ground to feed, and also frequently perching crosswise on branches of trees. It has a powerful, clear, abrupt, and oft-repeated note, and a rapid undulating flight.
The following interesting account of its breeding habits appears in a paper by Mr. Gibson: “ The ex- cavation for the nest is begun as early as September ; but the eggs are only laid during the first half of October. The hole is generally commenced where some branch has decayed away; but care is taken that the remainder of the tree is sound. It opens at a height of from six to nine feet from the ground, and is excavated to a depth of nearly a foot. Occasion- ally it is sufficiently wide to admit of one’s hand, but such is not always the case. No preparation is made for the eggs beyond the usual lining of some chips of wood.
“ The pair which frequented the garden excavated a hole in a paradise-tree, and bred there for two consecutive years. The tree stood near one of the walks, and on any one passing the sitting bird imme- diately showed its head at the aperture, like a jack- in-the-box, and then flew away. Last year this pair actually bred in one of the posts of the horse-corral, notwithstanding the noise and bustle incident to such a locality. While waiting there, at sunrise, for the herd of horses to be shut in I used often to knock at the post, in order to make the Woodpecker leave its
RED-CRESTED WOODPECKER 9
nest, but the bird seemed indifferent to such a mild attack, and would even sit still while a hundred horses and mares rushed about the corral or hurled themselves against the sides of it. In another case I had worked with hammer and chisel for half-an-hour, cutting a hole on a level with the bottom of a nest, when the female first demonstrated her presence by flying out almost into my face. This last nest con- tained four (considerably incubated) eggs, which I took. Happening to pass the spot a fortnight after, I inspected the hole and was surprised to find that it had been deepened and another five eggs laid, while the entrance I had cut was the one now used by the birds. The nest was again resorted to the following year and a brood hatched out, but since then a pair of Wrens have occupied the place to the exclusion of the rightful owners.”’
The eggs are white, four or five in number, pear- shaped, and with polished shells.
White obtained specimens of this Woodpecker in Catamarca, and Mr. Barrows found it resident in Entrerios. The latter tells us it is “* abundant in the woods everywhere, and conspicuous for its activity, bright colours, and large size.”’
IO BIRDS OF LA PLATA
PAMPAS WOODPECKER
Colaptes agricola
Above greyish white, transversely barred with black; wings black with golden-yellow shafts, and white bars on the outer webs; rump white with small black cross-bars; crested head black; sides of head and neck in front yellow; malar stripe red; length 13 inches. Female similar, but without the red malar stripe.
THE species commonly called Carpintero in the Argentine country, and ranging south to Patagonia, is one of a group of the Picide of South America which diverge considerably in habits from the typical Woodpeckers. On trees they usually perch horizon- tally and crosswise, like ordinary birds, and only occasionally cling vertically to trunks of trees, using the tail as a support. They also seek their food more on the ground than on trees, in some cases not at all on trees, and they also breed oftener in holes in banks or cliffs than in the trunks of trees. As Darwin remarks in The Origin of Species, in his chapter on Instinct, these birds have, to some slight extent, been modified structurally in accordance with their less arboreal habits, the beak being weaker, the rectrices less stiff, and the legs longer than in other Woodpeckers. In South Brazil and Bolivia the Colaptes campestris represents this group, in Chili C. pitius, and in the Argentine country C. agricola. Azara’s description, under the heading El Cam- pestre, probably refers to the Brazilian species, but agrees so well in every particular with the Pampas
- < CO OC
INN
IW ENS
a < NG ~ oO
S
PAMPAS WOODPECKER Colaptes agricola, Malh.
PAMPAS WOODPECKER II
Woodpecker that I cannot do better than quote it in full.
“ Though this name (Campestre) seems inappro- priate for any Woodpecker, no other better describes the present species, since it never enters forests, nor climbs on trunks to seek for insects under the bark, but finds its aliment on the open plain, running with ease on the ground, for its legs are longer than in the others. There it forcibly strikes its beak into the matted turf, where worms or insects lie concealed, and when the ant-hills are moist it breaks into them to feed on the ants or their larve. It also perches on trees, large or small, on the trunks or branches, _ whether horizontal or upright, sometimes in a cling- ing position, and sometimes crosswise in the manner common to birds. Its voice is powerful, and its cry uttered frequently both when flying and perching. It goes with its mate or family, and is the most common species in all these countries. It lays two to four eggs, with white, highly polished shells, and breeds in holes which it excavates in old walls of mud or of unbaked brick, also in the banks of streams; and the eggs are laid on the bare floor without any lining.”
In Patagonia, where I have found this bird breeding in the cliffs of the Rio Negro, its habits are precisely as Azara says; but on the pampas of Buenos Ayres, where the conditions are different, there being no cliffs or old mud-walls suitable for breeding-places, the bird resorts to the big solitary ombu tree (Pircunia dioica), which has a very soft wood, and excavates
12 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
a hole seven to nine inches deep, inclining upwards near the end, and terminating in a round chamber.
This reversal to an ancestral habit, which (con- sidering the modified structure of the bird) must have been lost at a very remote period in its history, is exceedingly curious. Formerly this Woodpecker was quite common on the pampas. I remember that when I was a small boy quite a colony lived in the ombt trees growing about my home; now it is nearly extinct, and one may spend years on the plains without meeting with a single example.
Mr. Barrows speaks as follows of this species: “* Abundant and breeding at all points visited. At Concepcion, where it is resident, it is by far the commonest Woodpecker. The ordinary note very much resembles the reiterated alarm-note of the Greater Yellow-legs (Totanus melanoleucus), but so loud as to be almost painful when close at hand, and easily heard a mile or more away. They spend much time on the ground, and I often found the bills of those shot quite muddy. A nest found near Concep- cion, 6th November, 1880, was in the hollow trunk of a tree, the entrance being through an enlarged crack at a height of some three feet from the ground. The five white eggs were laid on the rubbish at the bottom of the cavity, perhaps a foot above the ground. In the treeless region about the Sierra de la Ventana we saw this bird about holes on the banks of the | streams, where it doubtless had nests.”
RINGED KINGFISHER 13
RINGED KINGFISHER
Ceryle torquata
Above greyish blue with narrow black shaft-stripes and small round white spots; wings black with a portion of the inner webs towards the base white, tail black barred with white; beneath chestnut-red ; throat and belly white; length 15 inches. Female similar but with broad blue pectoral band.
Tuis beautiful bird, the largest of the American Kinefishers, is found throughout the greater portion of South and Central America. In Argentina it is not common but is widely distributed and is known both in Buenos Ayres and Patagonia. In southern Patagonia it varies in colour and is of a slatey grey- blue on the upper parts, thickly sprinkled like a suinea-fowl with minute round white spots, hence the specific name stellata, bestowed on it by some ornithologists who regard it as a separate species.
Notwithstanding its wide distribution and great beauty, little has been recorded of the habits of this species, In Amazonia, Bartlett says, ‘‘ it breeds in company with Ceryle amazona. The nest, however, is placed very much deeper in the bank than in the case of the last-named bird, the hole being from four to six feet in depth, with a chamber at the end sufficiently large for the young birds when nely full-grown.”
Two other species of Kingfishers range as far south as the Buenos Ayres pampas. The first, a third less in size than the Ringed Kingfisher, is the
14 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
Amazonian Kingfisher, Cerylefamazona, its colour above dark green, beneath white with a broad chest- nut pectoral band. In Buenos Ayres this bird was fairly common and was usually seen in pairs. Its cry is exceedingly loud, hard, and abrupt, and so rapidly reiterated as to give it a sound resembling that of a policeman’s rattle. But this is not its only language, and I was greatly surprised one day at hearing one warbling long clear notes, somewhat flute-like in quality, as it flew from tree to tree along the borders of a stream. It seems very strange that there should be a melodious Kingfisher; but Mr. Barrows also heard the allied Ceryle americana sing, much to his surprise. My belief is that the birds of this group possess a singing faculty but very rarely exercise it; with C. americana I am well acquainted, yet I never heard it utter any note except its hard rattling cry, resembling that of C. amazona, but less powerful.
This Kingfisher was found by White at Cosquin, where it is usually met with along the acequias, or canals made for the purpose of irrigating the culti- vated lands. These canals are in places bordered © with brushwood and trees, and are tolerably deep, with a swiftly flowing current, and abound in small fishes, so that this bird seems to prefer them as hunting-grounds to the rocky river-bed.
In Entrerios Mr. Barrows tells us this Kingfisher is not uncommon along the Lower Uruguay, and sometimes ascends the smaller streams a short distance. It is much more easily approached than C. torquata.
GUIRA CUCKOO 15
The other species, the smallest of its family in South America, the Little Kingfisher, Ceryle ameri- cana, is about the size of the European Kingfisher, and resembles the last one described in its colouring. In its habits and language it also resembles the C. amazona.
It should be noted that the Kingfishers are poorly represented in South America, there being but eight species known in the entire continent, and these all of the one genus Ceryle. In the Old World there are 120 species known, and many genera.
GUIRA CUCKOO
Guira piririgua
Above dark brown with white shaft-stripes ; head brown; wings reddish brown; rump white; tail white, crossed by a broad black band, the two central feathers uniform brown; beneath dull white; throat and breast with long linear black shaft-stripes ; bill and feet yellow ; length 15 inches, Female similar,
PiriricuA, the specific term adopted by naturalists for this bird, is, according to Azara, the verna- cular name of the species in Paraguay. He says in that country it is abundant, but scarce in the Plata district. No doubt it has greatly increased and extended its range southwards during the hundred years which have elapsed since his time, as it is now very common in Buenos Ayres, where its vernacular name is Urraca (Magpie). In the last-named country
16 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
it is not yet quite in harmony with its environment. Everywhere its habit is to feed exclusively on the ground, in spite of possessing feet formed for climb- ing; but its very scanty plumage, slow laborious flight, and long square tail, so unsuitable in cold boisterous weather, show that the species is a still unmodified intruder from the region of perpetual summer many degrees nearer to the equator.
The Guira Cuckoo is about sixteen inches long, has red eyes and blue feet, and an orange-red beak. The crown of the head is deep rufous, and the loose hair-like feathers are lengthened into a pointed crest. The back and rump are white, the wings and other upper parts very deep fuscous, marked with white and pale brown. Under surface dull white, with hair-like black marks on the throat and breast. The tail is square, nine to ten inches long; the two middle feathers dark brown, the others three-coloured— yellow at the base, the middle portion dark glossy ereen, the ends white; and when the bird is flying the tail, spread out like a fan, forms a conspicuous and beautiful object.
During the inclement winter of Buenos Ayres the Guira Cuckoo is a miserable bird, and appears to suffer more than any other creature from cold. In the evening the flock, usually composed of from a dozen to twenty individuals, gathers on the thick horizontal branch of a tree sheltered from the wind, the birds crowding close together for warmth, and some of them roosting perched on the backs of their fellows. I have frequently seen them roosting three
GUIRA CUCKOO 17 deep, one or two birds at the top to crown the pyra- mid; but with all their huddling together a severe frost is sure to prove fatal to one or more birds in the flock; and sometimes several birds that have dropped from the branch stiff with cold are found under the trees in the morning. If the morning is fair the flock betakes itself to some large tree, on which the sun shines, to settle on the outermost twigs on the northern side, each bird with its wings drooping, and its back turned towards the sun. In this spiritless attitude they spend an hour or two warming their blood and drying the dew from their scanty dress. During the day they bask much in the sun, and towards evening may be again seen on the sunny side of a hedge or tree warming their backs in the last rays. It is owing, no doubt, to its fecun- dity and to an abundance of food that the Guira Cuckoo is able to maintain its existence so far south in spite of its terrible enemy the cold.
With the return of warm weather this species becomes active, noisy, and the gayest of birds; the flock constantly wanders about from place to place, the birds flying in a scattered desultory manner one behind the other, and incessantly uttering while on the wing a long complaining cry. At intervals during the day they also utter a kind of song, composed of a series of long modulated whistling notes, two- syllabled, the first powerful and vehement, and becoming at each repetition lower and shorter, then ending in a succession of hoarse internal sounds like
the stertorous breathing of a sleeping man. When B II
18 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
approached all the birds break out into a chorus of alarm, with rattling notes so annoyingly loud and sustained that the intruder, be it man or beast, is generally glad to hurry out of ear-shot. As the breeding-season approaches they are heard, probably the males, to utter a variety of soft low chattering notes, sounding sometimes like a person laughing and crying together: the flock then breaks up into pairs, the birds becoming silent and very circum- spect in their movements. The nest is usually built in a thorn-tree, of rather large sticks, a rough large structure, the inside often lined with green leaves plucked from the trees. The eggs are large for the bird, and usually six or seven in number; but the number varies greatly, and I have known one bird lay as many as fourteen. They are elliptical in form and beautiful beyond comparison, being of an ex- quisite turquoise-blue, the whole shell roughly spattered with white. The white spots are composed of a soft calcareous substance, apparently deposited on the surface of the shell after its complete forma- tion: they are raised, and look like snow-flakes, and when the egg is fresh-laid may be easily washed off — with cold water, and are so extremely delicate that their purity is lost on the egg being taken into the hand. The young birds hatched from these lovely eggs are proverbial for their ugliness, Pichon de Urraca being a term of contempt commonly applied to a person remarkable for want of comeliness. They are as unclean as they are ugly, so that the nest, usually containing six or seven young, is unpleasant
GUIRA CUCKOO 19
both to sight and smell. There is something ludicrous in the notes of these young birds, resem- bling as they do the shrill half-hysterical laughter of a female exhausted by over-indulgence in mirth. One summer there was a large brood in a tree close to my home, and every time we heard the parent bird hastening to her nest with food in her beak, and uttering her plaintive cries, we used to run to the door to hear them. As soon as the old bird reached the nest they would burst forth into such wild extravagant peals and continue them so long that we could not but think it a rare amusement to listen to them,
According to Azara the Guira Cuckoo in Paraguay has very friendly relations with the Ani (Crotophaga ani), the birds consorting together in one flock, and _ even laying their eggs in one nest; and he affirms that he has seen nests containing eggs of both species. These nests were probably brought to him by his Indian collectors, who were in the habit of deceiving him, and it is more than probable that in this matter they were practising on his credulity ; though it is certain that birds of different species do sometimes lay in one nest, as I have found—the Common Teal and the Tinamu for instance. I also doubt very much that the bird is ever polygamous, as Azara suspected; but it frequently wastes eggs, and its procreant habits are sometimes very irregular and confusing, as the following case will show :
A flock numbering about sixteen individuals passed the winter in the trees about my home, and
20 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
in spring scattered about the plantation, screaming and chattering in their usual manner when about to breed. I watched them, and found that after a time the flock broke up into small parties of three or four, and not into couples, and I could not detect them building. At length I discovered three broken eges on the ground, and on examining the tree overhead found an incipient nest composed of about a dozen sticks laid crossways and out of which the eggs had been dropped. This was in October, and for a long time no other attempt at a nest was made; but wasted eggs were dropped in abundance on the sround, and I continued finding them for about four months. Early in January another incipient nest was found, and on the ground beneath it six broken eggs. At the end of that month two large nests were made, each nest by one pair of birds, and in the two fourteen or fifteen young birds were reared.
When taken young the Guira Cuckoos become very tame, and make bold, noisy, mischievous pets, fond of climbing over and tugging at the clothes, buttons, and hair of their master or mistress. They appear to be more intelligent than most birds, and in a domestic state resemble the Magpie. I knew one tame Cuckoo that would carry off and jealously conceal bits of bright-coloured ribbon, thread, or cloth. In a wild state their food consists largely of insects, which they sometimes pursue running and flying along the ground. They also prey on mice
and small reptiles, and carry off the fledglings from
95 x " = Spe eT ME ig eo a ¥ es aS a
ae
BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO aI
the nests of Sparrows and other small birds, and in spring they are frequently seen following the plough to pick up worms. |
BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO
Coccyzus melanocoryphus
Above pale greyish brown; head cinereous, a black stripe through the eyes; beneath white, tinged with ochreous; tail black, tipped with white, the two central feathers like the back; length 11.5 inches. Female similar.
THE Coucou, so called from its note, is the commonest species of the genus in the Argentine Republic, and has an extensive range in South America. In September it migrates south, and a pair or a few individuals re-appear faithfully every spring in every orchard or plantation on the pampas. At intervals its voice is heard amidst the green trees— deep, hoarse, and somewhat human-like in sound, the song or call being composed of a series of notes, like the syllables cou-cou-cou, beginning loud and full, and becoming more rapid until at the end they run together. It is a shy bird, conceals itself from prying eyes in the thickest foliage, moves with ease and grace amongst the closest twigs, and feeds principally on large insects and caterpillars, for which it searches amongst the weeds and bushes near the ground.
The nest is the flimsiest structure imaginable, being composed of a few dry twigs, evidently broken
22 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
by the bird from the trees and not picked up from the ground. They are laid across each other to make a platform nest, but so small and flat is it that the eggs frequently fall out from it. That a bird should make no better preparation than this for the great business of propagation seems very wonderful. The eggs are three or four in number, elliptical in form, and of a dull sea-green colour.
There are three more species in Argentina of the characteristic American genus Coccyzus; one of these which I discovered to be an Argentine species being the common Yellow-billed Cuckoo of North America, Coccyzus americanus. I met with it in plantations on the pampas, but always in the late summer or autumn months—February to April— and am therefore unable to say whether or not it breeds in that district. It may be that this Cuckoo, like some of the Sandpipers and other shore birds of North America, extends its annual migration south to the pampas and Patagonia. But it is hardly believ- able that any Cuckoo could make that journey. If not, one must suppose that this Cuckoo, like the Purple Martin, has two races, which may have their meeting-ground in the tropics; at all events both winter in the tropics, and to breed one flies north in May, the other south in September.
Another interesting species is the Cuinereous Cuckoo, Coccyzus cinereus, of a nearly uniform ashy grey colour with black bill. This Cuckoo is smaller than the preceding species, and also differs in having a square tail and a more curved beak. The
BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO 23
beak is black, and the irides blood-red, which contrasts well with the blue-grey of the head, giving the bird a bold and striking appearance.
This species is not common, but it is, I believe, slowly extending its range southwards, as within the last few years it has become much more common than formerly. Like other Cuckoos, it is retiring in its habits, concealing itself in the dense foliage, and it cannot be attracted by an imitation of its call, an expedient which never fails with the Coucou. Its language has not that deep mysterious or monkish quality, as it has been aptly called, of other Coccyzz. Its usual song or call, which it repeats at short intervals all day long during the love-season, re- sembles the song of our little Dove (Columbula picui), and is composed of several long monotonous notes, loud, rather musical, but not at all plaintive. It also has a loud harsh cry, which one finds it hard to believe to be the voice of a Cuckoo, as in character itis more like the scream of a Dendrocolaptine species.
Of the thirty species of Cuckoos inhabiting South America eight are found in Argentina. Four of the five species described above were known to me; the remaining three did not range so far south as Buenos Ayres—*‘ my parish of Selborne,”’ as I have ventured to call it in the Naturalist in La Plata—but they are such interesting birds that I cannot resist the tempta- tion of giving a brief account of their habits in this place. |
The Ani, Crotophaga ani, is about the size of our Magpie, and is one of the strangest of this strange
24 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
family, with the plumage and some of the habits of a crow, being almost entirely of a uniform black, glossed with bronze, dark green, and purple. Its most peculiar feature is the beak, which is greater in depth than in length, and resembles an immense Roman nose, occupying the whole face, and with the bridge bulging up above the top of the head. The Ani is found only in the northern portion of the Argentine territory. According to Azara it is very common in Paraguay, and goes in flocks, associating with the Guira Cuckoo, which it resembles in its manner of flight, in being gregarious, in feeding on the ground, and in coming a great deal about houses : in all which things these two species differ widely from most Cuckoos. He also says that it has a loud disagreeable voice, follows the cattle about in the © pastures like the Cow-bird, and builds a large nest of sticks lined with leaves, in which as many as twenty or thirty eggs are frequently deposited, several females laying together in one nest. His account of these strange and disorderly breeding-habits has been confirmed by independent observers in other parts of the continent. The eggs are oval and out- wardly white, being covered with a soft white cretaceous deposit; but this can be easily scraped off, and under it is found a smooth hard shell of a clear beautiful blue colour.
The second species is the Brown Cuckoo, Diplop- terus nzvius, called Crispin in the vernacular and found throughout the hot portion of South America, and in different districts varying considerably in
BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO 25
size and colouring. It is about twelve inches long, the beak much curved; the prevailing colour of the upper parts is light brown, the loose feathers on the head, which form a crest, deep rufous. The upper tail-coverts are long loose feathers of very unequal length, the longest reaching nearly to the end of the tail. The under surface is dirty white, or dashed with grey.
Azara says it is called Chochi in Paraguay, and has a clear, sorrowful note of two syllables, which it repeats at short intervals during the day, and also at night during the love-season. It is solitary, scarce, and excessively shy, escaping at the opposite side of the tree when approached, and when seen having the head and crest raised in an attitude of alarm. In the northern part of the Argentine country it is called Crispin, from its note which clearly pronounces that name. Mr. Barrows found it common at Con- cepcion on the Uruguay river, and has written the following notes about it :
** Several were taken in open bushy places, and many others were heard. It is a plain but attractive Cuckoo with a few-feathered crest, and long soft flowing upper tail-coverts. The note is very clear and penetrating, sounding much like the word ‘ crispin ’ slowly uttered, and with the accent on the last syllable. The birds are very shy, and I followed one for nearly an hour before I saw it at all, and nearly twice that time before any chance of a shot was offered. There is some peculiarity in the note which makes it impossible to tell whether the bird is
26 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
in front of or behind you—even when the note itself is distinctly heard. I know nothing of nest or eggs.”
From personal observation I can say nothing about this species, as I never visited the district where it is found; but with the fame of the Crispin I have always been familiar, for concerning this Cuckoo the Argentine peasants have a very pretty legend. It is told that two children of a woodcutter, who lived in a lonely spot on the Uruguay, lost themselves in the woods—a little boy named Crispin and his sister. They subsisted on wild fruit, wandering from place to place, and slept at night on a bed of dry grass and leaves. One morning the little girl awoke to discover that her brother had disappeared from her side. She sprang up and ran through the woods to seek for him, but never found him; but day after day continued wandering in the thickets calling “ Cris- pin, Crispin,’”’ until at length she was changed into a little bird, which still flies through the woods on its never-ending quest, following every stranger who enters them, calling after him “ Crispin, Crispin” if by chance it should be her lost brother.
The last species is the Chestnut Cuckoo, Piaya cayana. This is a widely spread form of Cuckoo in Central and South America, and reaches the northern territories of the Argentine Republic, having been obtained by Durnford near Tucuman, and by White in Misiones. The whole bird is about eighteen inches long, and the tail very long in proportion, about eleven inches. The entire plumage, except the breast and belly, which are grey, is chestnut colour. The
PATAGONIAN PARROT 27
beak is very strong, and yellowish green in colour ; the irides ruby-red, the eyelids scarlet.
In Colombia this Cuckoo is said to be called Pajaro ardilla (Squirrel-bird), from its chestnut tint. It seems to feed chiefly, if not altogether, on the sround, and when perched always appears awkward and ill at ease. On a branch it sits motionless, until approached, and then creeps away through the leaves and escapes on the opposite side of the tree. This, however, is a habit common to most Cuckoos. Its. language is a loud screaming cry, on account of which the Brazilians call it Alma do gato, implying that it possesses the soul of a cat. It is a very shy retiring
bird, and in this respect is more like a Coccyzus than a Guira.
For these facts we are indebted to Leotaud, Fraser, Forbes, White, and others; each of these observers having contributed a few words to a history of this interesting bird’s habits.
PATAGONIAN PARROT
Conurus patagonus
Above dark olive-green ; wings edged with bluish ; lower part of back yellow; beneath olive-green, darkest on throat; whitish band across the neck; belly yellow, with patch in the middle and thighs dark crimson; length 18, wing 9.2, tail 10.5 inches. Female similar.
Tuts Parrot, called in La Plata the Bank- or Bur- rowing-Parrot, from its nesting-habits, is the only member of its order found so far south as Patagonia.
28 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
In habits it differs somewhat from most of its con- geners, and it may be regarded, I think, as one of those species which are dying out—possibly owing to the altered conditions resulting from the settle- ment of the country by Europeans. It was formerly abundant on the southern pampas of La Plata, and being partially migratory its flocks ranged in winter to Buenos Ayres, and even as far north as the Parana river. When, as a child, I lived near the capital city (Buenos Ayres), I remember that I always looked forward with the greatest delight to the appearance of these noisy dark-green winter visitors. Now they are rarely seen within a hundred miles of Buenos Ayres; and I have been informed by old gauchos that half a century before my time they invariably appeared in immense flocks in winter, and have since gradually diminished in numbers, until now in that district the Bank-Parrot is almost a thing of the past. Two or three hundreds of miles south of Buenos Ayres city they are still to be met with in rather large flocks, and have a few ancient breeding-places, to which they cling very tenaciously. Where there are trees or bushes on their feeding-ground they perch on them; they also gather the berries of the Empetrum rubrum and other fruits from the bushes ; but they feed principally on the ground, and while the flock feeds one bird is invariably perched on a stalk or other elevation to act as sentinel. They are partial to the seeds of the giant thistle (Carduus mariana) and the wild pumpkin, and to get at the latter they bite the hard dry shell into pieces with
PATAGONIAN PARROT 29
their powerful beaks. When a horseman appears in the distance they rise in a compact flock, with loud harsh screams, and hover above him, within a very few yards of his head, their combined dissonant voices producing an uproar which is only equalled in that pandemonium of noises, the Parrot-house in the Zoological Gardens of London. They are extremely social, so much so that their flocks do not break up in the breeding-season ; and their burrows, which they excavate in a perpendicular cliff or high bank, are placed close together ; so that when the gauchos take the young birds—esteemed a great delicacy—the person who ventures down by means of a rope attached to his waist is able to rifle a colony. The burrow is three to five feet deep, and four white eggs are deposited on a slight nest at the extremity. I have only tasted the old birds, and found their flesh very bitter, scarcely palatable.
The natives say that this species cannot be taught to speak; and it is certain that the few individuals I have seen tame were unable to articulate.
Doubtless these Parrots were originally stray colonists from the tropics, although now resident in so cold a country as Patagonia. When viewed closely one would also imagine that they must at one time have been bfilliant-plumaged birds; but either natural selection or the direct effect of a bleak climate has given a sombre shade to their colours—egreen, blue, yellow, and crimson; and when seen flying at a distance, or in cloudy weather, they look as dark as crows,
30 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
GREEN PARRAKEET
Bolborhynchus monachus
Green; front grey; wings blackish with slight bluish edgings ; beneath grey; bill whitish; length 11 inches, Female similar.
THE Common Green Parrakeet, called Cotorra or Catita in the vernacular, is a well-known resident species in the Argentine Republic. It is a lively, restless bird, shrill-voiced, and exceedingly voci- ferous, living and breeding in large communities, and though it cannot learn to speak so distinctly as some of the larger Parrots, it is impossible to observe its habits without being convinced that it shares in the intelligence of the bee order to which it belongs.
In Buenos Ayres it was formerly very much more numerous than it is now; but it is exceedingly tenacious of its breeding-places, and there are some few favoured localities where it still exists in large colonies, in spite of the cruel persecution all birds easily killed are subjected to in a country where laws relating to such matters are little regarded, and where the agricultural population is chiefly Italian. At Mr. Gibson’s residence near Cape San Antonio, on the Atlantic coast, there is still a large colony of these birds inhabiting the Tala woods (Celtis tala), and I take the following facts from one of his papers, contributed many years ago to the Ibis, on the ornithology of the district.
He describes the woods as being full of their nests,
GREEN PARRAKEET. 31
with their bright-coloured talkative denizens, and their noisy chatter all day long drowning every other sound. They are extremely sociable and breed in communities. When a person enters the wood, their subdued chatter suddenly ceases, and during the ominous silence a hundred pairs of black beady eyes survey the intruder from the nests and branches ; and then follow a whirring of wings and an outburst of screams that spread the alarm throughout the woods. The nests are frequented all the year, and it is rare to find a large one unattended by some of the birds any time during the day. In summer and autumn they feed principally on the thistle; first the flower is cut up and pulled to pieces for the sake of the green kernel, and later they eat the fallen seed on the ground. Their flight is rapid, with quick flutters of the wings, which seem never to be raised to the level of the body. They pay no regard to a Polyborus or Milvago (the Carrion Eagle and Carrion Hawk), but mob any other bird of prey appearing in the woods, all the Parrakeets rising in a crowd and hovering about it with angry screams.
The nests are suspended from the extremities of the branches, to which they are firmly woven. New nests consist of only two chambers, the porch and the nest proper, and are inhabited by a single pair of birds, Successive nests are added, until some of them come to weigh a quarter of a ton, and contain material enough to fill a large cart. Thorny twigs, firmly interwoven, form the only material, and there is no lining in the breeding-chamber, even in the
32 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
breeding-season. Some old forest trees have seven or eight of these huge structures suspended from the branches, while the ground underneath is covered with twigs and remains of fallen nests. The entrance to the chamber is generally underneath, or if at the side is protected by an overhanging eave to prevent the intrusion of opossums. These entrances lead into the porch or outer chamber, and the latter ‘communicates with the breeding-chamber. The breeding-chambers are not connected with each other, and each set is used by one pair of birds.
The number of pairs does not exceed a dozen, even with the lafgest nests. Repairs are carried on all the year round, but new nests are only added at the approach of spring. Opossums are frequently found in one of the higher chambers, when the entrance has been made too high, but though they take up their abode there they cannot reach the other chambers, and the Parrakeets refuse to go away. A species of Teal (probably Querquedula brasiliensis) also sometimes occupies and breeds in their cham- bers, and in one case Mr. Gibson found an opossum domiciled in an upper chamber, Parrakeets occupying all the others except one, in which a Teal was sitting on eggs.
The breeding-season begins about 1st November, and as many as seven or eight eggs are laid; these are dull white, very thin-shelled, elongated, and have the greatest diameter exactly equidistant from the two ends. |
Mr. Barrows speaks as follows of this species in
SHORT-EARED OWL 33
Entrerios: “‘ An abundant and familiar bird in the neighbourhood of Concepcion through the entire year, It is commonly seen in flocks of twenty and upwards, visiting grain-fields, gardens, etc., and sometimes, if I was correctly informed, completely stripping the grain-fields. They nest in communities, many pairs uniting in the building of a large common nest or mass of nests. I only saw these nests on two occasions, and had no opportunity of examining their structure. They were placed on high trees, and appeared from below to be simply irregular masses, six or eight feet in diameter, formed of small sticks and twigs. Where the nests are abun- dant the natives destroy the young by hundreds, and the ‘squabs’ when nearly grown are said to be very fine eating. The young are easily tamed, and may be taught to articulate a few simple words.”
SHORT-EARED OWL
Asio brachyotus
Above variegated with fulvous and blackish brown; face whitish, with black centre; wings pale tawny, with irregular broad blackish cross-bars ; tail whitish, with four or five broad black cross bands ; beneath as above, but paler; bill black, eyes orange; length 15, wing 13, tail 6 inches. Female similar but larger.
THERE are but six Owls known in Argentina, a very small number in so vast a country when we remem-
ber that England alone has five species without Cc II
24. BIRDS OF LA PLATA
counting the occasional visitants. It is also sur- prising to find that two of the Argentine owls are well-known British species—the Barn Owl and the wide-ranging Short-eared Owl. Of the six species I was acquainted with five, and will describe the two I knew most intimately, the Short-eared and the Burrowing Owls. The White or Barn Owl I occasionally saw in Buenos Ayres city, but always at night: the noble Magellanic Eagle Owl and the small Pigmy Owl I met with on the Rio Negro in Patagonia.
The Short-eared Owl is found throughout the Argentine country, where it is commonly called Lechuzon (Big Owl) in the vernacular. Like the Barn-Owl it has an exceedingly wide range. It is found throughout the continent of Europe; it also inhabits Asia and Africa, many of the Pacific Islands, and both Americas, from Canada down to the Straits of Magellan. Such a very wide distribution would seem to indicate that it possesses some advantage over its congeners, and is (as an Owl) more perfect than others. It is rather more diurnal in its habits than most Owls, and differs structurally from other members of its order in having a much smaller head. It is also usually said to be a weak flier; but this I am sure is a great mistake, for it seems to me to be the strongest fller amongst Owls, and very migratory in its habits, or, at any rate, very much given to wandering. Probably its very extensive distribution is due in some measure to a greater adaptability than
SHORT-EARED OWL 35
is possessed by most species; also to its better sight in the daytime, and to its wandering dis- position, which enables it to escape a threatened famine, and to seize on unoccupied or favourable sround.,
The bird loves an open country, and sits by day on the ground concealed amongst the herbage or tall grass. An hour before sunset it quits its hiding- place and is seen perched on a bush or tall stalk, or sailing about a few feet above the ground with a singularly slow, heron-like flight; and at intervals while flying it smites its wings together under its breast in a quick, sudden manner. It is not at all shy, the intrusion of a man or dog in the field it frequents only having the effect of exciting its indignation. An imitation of its cry will attract all the individuals within hearing about a person, and any loud unusual sound, like the report of a gun, produces the same effect. When alarmed or angry it utters a loud hiss, and at times a shrill laugh-like cry. It also has a dismal scream, not often heard; and at twilight hoots, this part of its vocal performance sounding not unlike the distant baying of a mastiff or a blood- hound. It breeds on the ground, clearing a circular spot, and sometimes, but not often, lining it with a scanty bed of dry grass. The eggs are three to five, white, and nearly spherical.
The Short-eared Owl was formerly common everywhere on the pampas, where the coarse indi- genous grasses afforded the shelter and conditions best suited to it. When in time this old rough
36 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
vegetation gave place to the soft perishable grasses and clovers, accidentally introduced by European settlers, the Owl disappeared from the country, like the large Tinamu (Rhynchotis rufescens), the Red- billed Finch (Embernagra platensis), and various other species; for the smooth level plains afforded it no shelter. Now, however, with the spread of cultivation, it has reappeared, and is once more becoming a common bird in the more settled districts.
BURROWING-OWL
Speotyto cunicularia
Above dark sandy brown, with large white oval spots and small spots and freckles of pale brown; wings with broad whitish cross- bars ; facial disk greyish brown; beneath white; length 10, wing 7.5, tail 3.5 inches. Female similar, but larger.
THE Burrowing-Owl is abundant everywhere on the pampas of Buenos Ayres and avoids woods, but not districts abounding in scattered trees and bushes. It sees much better than most Owls by day, and never affects concealment nor appears confused by diurnal sounds and the glare of noon. It stares fixedly — with insolence,’’ Azara says—at a passer- by, following him with the eyes, the round head turning about as on a pivot. If closely approached it drops its body or bobs in a curious fashion, emit- ting a brief scream, followed by three abrupt ejacula-
BURROWING-OWL, Speotyto cunicularia (Mol.)
vA
BURROWING-OWL 37
tions ; and if made to fly goes only fifteen or twenty yards away, and alights again with face towards the intruder; and no sooner does it alight than it repeats the odd gesture and scream, standing stiff and erect, and appearing beyond measure astonished at the intrusion. By day it flies near the surface with wings continuously flapping, and invariably before alighting glides upwards for some distance and comes down very abruptly. It frequently runs rapidly on the ground, and is incapable of sustaining flight long. Gaucho boys pursue these birds for sport on horse- back, taking them after a chase of fifteen or twenty minutes. Asa boy I have myself taken many. They live in pairs all the year, and sit by day at the mouth of their burrow or on the Vizcacha’s mound, the two birds so close together as to be almost touching ; when alarmed they both fly away, but sometimes the male only, the female diving into the burrow. On the pampas it may be more from necessity than choice that they always sit on the ground, as they are usually seen perched on the summits of bushes where such abound, as in Patagonia.
These are the commonest traits of the Burrowing- Owl in the settled districts, where it is excessively numerous and has become familiar with man; but in the regions hunted over by the Indians it is a scarce bird and has different habits. Shy of approach as a persecuted game-fowl, it rises to a considerable height in the air when the approaching traveller is yet far off, and flies often beyond sight before descend- ing again to the earth. This wildness of disposition
38 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
is, without doubt, due to the active animosity of the pampas tribes, who have all the ancient wide- spread superstitions regarding the Owl. “ Sister of the Evil Spirit’ is one of their names for it; they hunt it to death whenever they can, and when travel- ling will not stop to rest or encamp on a spot where an Owl has been spied. Where the country is settled by Europeans the bird has dropped its wary habits and become extremely tame. They are tenacious of the spot they live in, and are not easily driven out by cultivation. When the fields are ploughed up they make their kennels on their borders, or at the roadsides, and sit all day perched on the posts of the fences.
Occasionally they are seen preying by day, especi- ally when anything passes near them, offering the chance of an easy capture. I have often amused myself by throwing bits of hard clay near one as it sat beside its kennel; for the bird will immediately give chase, only discovering its mistake when the object is firmly clutched in its talons. When there are young to be fed, they are almost as active by day as by night. On hot November days multitudes of a large species of Scarabeus appear, and the bulky bodies and noisy bungling flight of these beetles invite the Owls to pursuit, and on every side they are seen pursuing and striking down the beetles, and tumbling upon them in the grass. Owls have a peculiar manner of taking their prey; they grapple it so tightly in their talons that they totter and strive to steady themselves by throwing out their
BURROWING-OWL 39
wings, and sometimes, losing their balance, fall prostrate and flutter on the ground. If the animal captured be small they proceed after a while to despatch it with the beak; if large they usually rise laboriously from the ground and fly to some distance with it, thus giving time for the wounds inflicted by the claws to do their work.
At sunset the Owls begin to hoot ; a short followed by a long note is repeated many times with an interval of a second of silence. There is nothing dreary or solemn in this performance; the voice is rather soft and sorrowful, somewhat resembling the lowest notes of the flute in sound. In spring they hoot a great deal, many individuals responding to each other,
In the evening they are often seen hovering like a Kestrel at a height of forty feet above the surface, and continuing to do so fully a minute or longer without altering their position. They do not drop the whole distance at once on their prey, but descend vertically, tumbling and fluttering as if wounded, to within ten yards of the earth, and then, after hovering a few seconds more, glide obliquely on to it. They prey on every living creature not too large to be overcome by them. Sometimes when a mouse is caught they tear off the head, tail, and feet, devouring only the body. The hind quarters of toads and frogs are almost in- variably rejected; and inasmuch as these are the most fleshy and succulent parts, this is a strange and unaccountable habit. They make an easy con- quest of a snake eighteen inches long, and kill it by
40 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
dealing it blows with the beak, hopping briskly about it all the time, apparently to guard themselves with their wings. They prey largely on the common Coronella anomala, but I have never seen one at- tacking a venomous species. When they have young many individuals become destructive to poultry, coming about the houses and carrying off the chickens and ducklings by day. In seasons of plenty they destroy far more prey than they can devour; but in severe winters they come, apparently starving, about the houses, and will then stoop to carry off any dead animal food, though old and dried up as a piece of parchment. This I have often seen them do.
Though the Owls are always on familiar terms with the Vizcachas (Lagostomus trichodactylus) and occasionally breed in one of their disused burrows, as a rule they excavate a breeding-place for them- selves. The kennel they make is crooked, and varies in length from four to twelve feet. The nest is placed at the extremity, and is composed of wool or dry grass, often exclusively of dry horse-dung. The eges are usually five in number, white, and nearly spherical ; the number, however, varies, and I have frequently found six or seven eggs in a nest. After the female has begun laying the birds continue carrying in dry horse-dung, until the floor of the burrow and a space before it is thickly carpeted with this material. The following spring the loose earth and rubbish is cleared out, for the same hole may serve them two or three years. It is always untidy,
BURROWING-OWL AI
but mostly so during the breeding-season, when prey is very abundant, the floor and ground about the entrance being often littered with castings, green beetle-shells, pellets of hair and bones, feathers of birds, hind quarters of frogs in all stages of decay, ereat hairy spiders (Mygale), remains of half-eaten snakes, and other unpleasant creatures that they subsist on. But all this carrion about the little Owl’s disordered house reminds one forcibly of the im- portant part the bird plays in the economy of nature. The young birds ascend to the entrance of the burrow to bask in the sun and receive the food their parents bring; when approached they become irritated, snapping with their beaks, and retreat reluctantly into the hole; and for some weeks after leaving it they make it a refuge from danger. Old and young birds sometimes live together for four or five months. I believe that nine-tenths of the Owls on the pampas make their own burrows, but as they occasionally take possession of the forsaken holes of mammals to breed in, it is probable that they would always observe this last habit if suitable holes abounded, as on the North American prairies inhabited by the marmot. Probably our Burrowing-Owl originally acquired the habit of breeding in the ground in the open level regions it frequented; and when this habit (favourable as it must have been in such un- sheltered situations) had become ineradicable, a want of suitable burrows would lead it to clean out such old ones as had become choked up with rubbish, to deepen such as were too shallow, and ultimately
42 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
to excavate for itself. The mining instinct varies sreatly in strength, even on the pampas. Some pairs, long mated, only begin to dig when the breeding season is already on them; others make their bur- rows as early as April—that is, six months before the breeding-season. Generally both birds work, one standing by and regarding operations with an aspect of grave interest, and taking its place in the pit when the other retires; but sometimes the female has no assistance from her partner, and the burrow then is very short. Some pairs work expedi- tiously and their kennel is deep and neatly made; others go about their task in a perfunctory manner, and begin, only to abandon, perhaps half a dozen burrows, and then rest two or three weeks from their unprofitable labours. But whether industrious or indolent, by September they all have their burrows made. I can only account for Azara’s unfortunate statement, repeated by scores of compilers, that the Owl never constructs its own habitations, by assum- ing that a century ago, when he lived and when the country was still very sparsely settled, this Owl had not yet become so abundant or laid aside the wary habit the aborigines had taught it, so that he did not become very familiar with its habits.
ARGENTINE HEN-HARRIER 43
ARGENTINE HEN-HARRIER
Circus cinereus
Above light bluish grey with darker mottlings ; primaries blackish ; tail grey with four black cross bands and tipped with white; beneath thickly banded with white and rufous bars; bill black, eyes and feet yellow; length 18, wing 12 inches. Female larger; above dark brown, with light brown spots.
THERE are two species of Harriers in Argentina, the Broad-winged Harrier, C. macropterus, with a black upper and white lower plumage, and the present species, named Cinereous Harrier in Argentine Orni- thology, but I prefer now to call it the Argentine Hen-Harrier, as at a distance it closely resembles the European Hen-Harrier, although a handsomer bird.
This hawk is found throughout the Argentine Republic, and is also common in Patagonia and the Falkland Islands. On the pampas it is, I think, the most common bird of prey, after the excessively abundant Milvago chimango. Like the Chimango it also prefers an open unwooded country, and resembles that bird not a little in its general appear- ance, and when in the brown stage of plumage may be easily mistaken for it. In the Falklands it has even acquired the Carrion Hawk’s habits, for Darwin distinctly saw one feeding on a carcase there, very much to his surprise. On the pampas I have always found it a diligent bird-hunter, and its usual mode of proceeding is to drive up the bird from the grass
44 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
and to pursue and strike it down with its claws. Mr. Gibson’s account of its habits agrees with mine, and he says that “it will raise any small bird time after time, should the latter endeavour to conceal itself in the grass, preferring, as it would seem, to strike it on the wing.’’ He further says: “ Its flight is low and rather rapid, while if its quarry should double it loses no ground, for it turns some- thing in the manner of a Tumbler Pigeon, going rapidly head over heels in the most eccentric and amusing fashion,”
Probably this Harrier has a partial migration, as a great many are always seen travelling across the pampas in the autumn and spring ; many individuals, however, remain all the winter.
The nest is made on the ground among long grass, or in reed-beds in marshy places, and the eggs are white, blotched with dark red.
VOCIFEROUS HAWK
Asturina pucherani
Above dark brown; upper tail-coverts fulvous, barred with brown}; wings chestnut barred and broadly tipped with black; tail fulvous, crossed with four black bars; beneath pale ochraceous, barred with rufous; bill black, feet yellow; length 18 inches. Female larger.
Tuts brown-plumaged, short-winged, and exceed- ingly vociferous Hawk is common in the woods along the shores of the Plata and its tributaries, and is never found far removed from water. It perches
WHITE-TAILED BUZZARD 45
on the summit of a tree, and sits there motionless for hours at a time, and at intervals utters singularly long, loud cries, which become more frequent and piercing when the bird is disturbed, as by the ap- proach of a person. Its flight is rapid and irregular, the short blunt wings beating unceasingly, while the bird pours out a succession of loud, vehement, broken screams.
Mr. Barrows observed it on the Lower Uruguay, and writes: “ It feeds largely if not exclusively on fish, nearly every specimen having their remains (and nothing else) in their stomachs.” It would be very interesting to learn how it captures its prey.
WHITE-TAILED BUZZARD
Buteo albicaudatus
_ Above greyish black, scapulars and upper wing coverts ferruginous ; rump and tail white, the latter with a broad black band; throat black, beneath white; bill black, feet yellow; length 21, wing 18 inches, Female similar but larger,
THis Buzzard does not breed on the pampas, where I have observed it, but appears there in the spring and autumn, irregularly, when migrating, and in flocks which travel in a loitering, desultory manner. The flocks usually number from thirty or forty to a hundred birds, but sometimes many more. I have seen flocks which must have numbered from one to
46 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
two thousand birds. When flying the flock is very much scattered, and does not advance in a straight line, but the birds move in wide circles at a great height in the air, so that a person on horseback travelling at a canter can keep directly under them for two or three hours. On the ground one of these large flocks will sometimes occupy an area of half a square league, so widely apart do the birds keep. I have dissected a great many and found nothing but coleopterous insects in their stomachs; and indeed they would not be able to keep in such large com- panies when travelling if they required a nobler prey.
At the end of one summer a flock numbering about two hundred birds appeared at an estancia near my home, and though very much disturbed they remained for about three months, roosting at night on the plantation trees, and passing the day scattered about the adjacent plain, feeding on grass- hoppers and beetles. This flock left when the weather turned cold; but at another estancia a flock appeared later in the season and remained all the winter. The birds became so reduced in flesh that after every cold rain or severe frost numbers were found dead under the trees where they roosted; and in that way most of them perished before the return of spring.
RED-BACKED BUZZARD Beteo erythronotus (King)
RED-BACKED BUZZARD 47
RED-BACKED BUZZARD
Buteo erythronotus
Above slatey blue; wing feathers slatey with narrow black bars ; upper tail-coverts and tail white, the latter crossed with narrow erey bars and broad black band; beneath white; bill dark horn- colour; feet yellow; length 25, wing 18.5 inches. Female similar, but back deep chestnut.
THIS is a fine bird—the king of South-American Buzzards. In the adult female the three colours of the plumage are strongly contrasted ; the back being rusty rufous, the rest of the upper parts grey, the whole under surface pure white. It is occasionally met with in the northern provinces of the Argentine Republic, but is most common in Patagonia; and it has been said that in that region it takes the place of the nearly allied Buteo albicaudatus of Brazil. In habits, however, the two species are as different as it is possible for two Raptores to be; for while the northern bird has a cowardly spirit, 1s, to some extent, gregarious, and feeds largely on insects, the Patagonian species has the preying habits of the Eagle and lives exclusively, I believe, or nearly so, on cavies and other small mammals. When Captain King first discovered it in 1827, he described it as “a small beautiful Eagle.’’ In Patagonia it is very abundant, and usually seen perched on the summit of a bush, its broad snowy-white bosom conspicuous to the eye at a great distance—one of the most familiar features in the monotonous landscape of
48 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
that grey country. The English colonists on the Chupat, Durnford says, call it the “‘ White Horse,” owing to its conspicuous white colour often deceiving them when they are out searching for strayed horses in the hills, It is a wary bird, and when approached has the habit of rising up in widening circles to a vast height in the air. When sailing about in quest of prey it usually maintains a height of fifty or sixty yards above the surface. The stomachs of all the individuals I have examined contained nothing but the remains of cavies (Cavia australis).
The nest is built on the top of a thorn bush, and is a large structure of sticks, lined with grass, fur, dry dung, and other materials. The eggs are greyish white in colour, blotched and marked, principally towards the large end, with two shades of umber- brown.
GREY EAGLE
Geranoaétus melanoleucus
Above black, wings grey with narrow transverse black bars; tail black ; throat grey ; breast black with round whitish spots ; abdomen white ; bill horn-colour, feet yellow ; length 26, wing 19 inches.
THE Grey or Chilian Eagle, like most diurnal birds of prey, undergoes many changes of colour, the plumage at different periods having its brown, black, and grey stages: in the old birds it is a uniform clear grey, and the under surface white. Throughout the
GREY EAGLE 49
Argentine country this is the commonest Eagle, and I found it very abundant in Patagonia. D’Orbigny describes it with his usual prolixity—pardonably so in this case, however, the bird being one of the very few species with which he appears to have become familiar from personal observation. He says that it is a wary bird; pairs for life, the male and female never being found far apart; and that it soars in circles with a flight resembling that of a Vulture; and that the form of its broad blunt wings increases its resemblance to that bird. Cavies and small mammals are its usual prey; and in the autumn and winter, when the Pigeons congregate in large numbers, it follows their movements. During the Pigeon-season he has counted as many as thirty Eagles in the course of a three leagues’ ride; and he has frequently seen an Eagle swoop down into a cloud of Pigeons, and invariably reappear with one strug- sling in its talons. It is seldom found far from the shores of the sea or of some large river ; and on the Atlantic coast, in Patagonia, it soars above the sands at ebb-tide, looking out for stranded fish, carcases of seals, and other animal food left by the retiring waters, and quarrels with Condors and Vultures over the refuse, even when it is quite putrid. It acts as a weather prognostic, and before a storm is seen to rise in circles to a vast height in the air, uttering piercing screams, which may be heard after it has quite disappeared from sight,
The nest of this species is usually built on the
ledge of an inaccessible rock or precipice, but not D II
50 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
infrequently on a tree. Mr. Gibson describes one, which he found on the top of a thorn-tree, as a structure of large sticks, three feet in diameter, the hollow cushioned with dry grass. It contained two eges, dull white, marked with pale reddish blotches.
Mr. Gibson compared its cry to a “ wild human laugh,” and also writes: “‘ Its whereabouts may often be detected by an attendant flock of Caranchos (Polyborus tharus), particularly in the case of a young bird. As soon as it rises from the ground or from a tree, these begin to persecute it, ascending spirally also, and making dashes at it, while the Eagle only turns its head watchfully from side to side, the mere action being sufficient to avert the threatened collision.”
Gay, in his Natural History of Chili, describes the affectionate and amusing habits of an Eagle of this species which he had tamed. It took great delight in playing with his hand, and would seize and pretend to bite one of his fingers, but really with as much tenderness as a playful dog displays when pretending to bite its master. It used also to amuse itself by picking up a pebble in its beak, and with a jerk of its head toss it up in the air, then seize it in its claws when it fell, after which it would repeat the performance.
CROWNED EAGLE 51
CROWNED EAGLE
Harpyhaliaetus coronatus
Above ashy brown, with a long crest of darker feathers; wings grey with blackish tips; tail black with a broad white median band and white tip; beneath pale ashy brown; length 33, wing 22 inches. Female similar but larger.
I MET with this fine Eagle on the Rio Negro, in Patagonia, where d’Orbigny also found it; the entire Argentine territory comes, however, within its range. Having merely seen it perched on the tall willows fringing the Rio Negro, or soaring in wide circles far up in the sky, I cannot venture to speak of its habits, while the account of them which d’Orbigny built up is not worth quoting, for he does not say how he got his information. One of his statements would, if true, be very important indeed. He says that his attention was drawn to a very curious fact concerning the Crowned Harpy, which was, that this bird preys chiefly on the skunk—an animal, he very truly adds, with so pestilential an odour that even the most carnivorous of mammals are put to flight by it; that it is the only bird of prey that kills the skunk, and that it does so by precipitating itself from a vast height upon its quarry, which it then quickly despatches. It would not matter at all whether the Eagle dropped from a great or a moderate height, for in either case the skunk would receive its enemy with the usual pestilent discharge. D’Orbigny’s account is, however, pure conjecture,
52 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
and though he does not tell us what led him to form such a conclusion, I have no doubt that it was because the Eagle or Eagles he obtained had the skunk-smell on their plumage. Most of the Eagles I shot in Pata- gonia, including about a dozen Chilian Eagles, smelt of skunk, the smell being in most cases old and faint. Of two Crowned Harpies obtained, only one smelt of skunk. This only shows that in Patagonia Eagles attack the skunk, which is not strange considering that it is of a suitable size and conspicuously marked ; that it goes about fearlessly in the daytime and is the most abundant animal, the small cavy excepted, in that sterile country. But whether the Eagles succeed in their attacks on it is a very different matter. The probability is that when an Eagle, incited by the pangs of hunger, commits so great a mistake as to attack a skunk, the pestilent fluid, which has the same terribly burning and nauseating effects on the lower animals as on man, very quickly makes it abandon the contest. It is certain that pumas make the same mistake as the Eagles do, for in some that are caught the fur smells strongly of skunk. It might be said that the fact that many Eagles smell of skunk serves to show that they do feed on them, for other- wise they would learn by experience to avoid so dan- serous an animal, and the smell of a first encounter would soon wear off. I do not think that hungry birds of prey, in a barren country like Patagonia, would learn from one repulse, or even from several, the fruitlessness and danger of such attacks; while the smell is so marvellously persistent that one or
PEREGRINE FALCON 53
two such attacks a year on the part of each Eagle would be enough to account for the smell on so many birds. If skunks could be easily conquered by Eagles, they would not be so numerous or so neglectful of their safety as we find them.
PEREGRINE FALCON
Falco peregrinus
Above plumbeous, lightest on the rump, more or less distinctly barred with black ; head and cheeks black ; beneath white tinged with cinnamon; abdomen and thighs traversed by narrow black bands ; cere and feet yellow; length 20, wing 14 inches, Female similar; a third larger.
THE Peregrine Falcon is found throughout the Argentine Republic, but is nowhere numerous, and is not migratory; nor is it “ essentially a duck- hawk,” as in India according to Dr. Anderson, for it preys chiefly on land birds. It is solitary, and each bird possesses a favourite resting-place or home, where it spends several hours every day, and also roosts at night. Where there are trees it has its chosen site where it may always be found at noon; but on the open treeless pampas a mound of earth or the bleached skull of a horse or cow serves it for a perch, and here for months the bird may be found every day on its stand. It sits upright and motionless, springs suddenly into the air when taking flight, and flies in a straight line, and with a velocity which few birds can equal. Its appearance always causes great
54 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
consternation amongst other birds, for even the Spur- winged Lapwing, the spirited persecutor of all other Hawks, flies screaming with terror from it. It prefers attacking moderately large birds, striking them on the wing, after which it stoops to pick them up. While out riding one day I saw a Peregrine sweep down from a great height and strike a Burrowing- Owl to the earth, the Owl having risen up before me. It then picked it up and flew away with it in its talons.
The Peregrine possesses one very curious habit. When a Plover, Pigeon, or Duck is killed, it eats the skin and flesh of the head and neck, picking the vertebre clean of the flesh down to the breast-bone, and also eating the eyes, but leaving the body untouched. I have found scores of dead birds with head and neck picked clean in this way; and once I watched for some months a Peregrine which had established itself near my home, where it made havoc among the Pigeons; and I frequently marked the spot to which it carried its prey, and on going to the place always found that the Pigeon’s head and neck only had been stripped of flesh. The Burrow- ing Owl has an analogous habit, for it invariably rejects the hind quarters of the toads and frogs which it captures.
At the approach of the warm season the Peregrines are often seen in twos and threes violently pursuing each other at a great height in the air, and uttering shrill, piercing screams, which can be heard distinctly after the birds have disappeared from sight.
ARGENTINE HOBBY 55
ARGENTINE HOBBY
Falco fusco-cerulescens
Above dull slatey black, rump variegated with white ; superciliaries
prolonged and meeting behind, rufous; beneath throat and breast pale cinnamon with black shaft-stripes on the breast; belly black with white transverse lines; wings and tail blackish with transverse white bars; bill yellow tipped with black, feet orange; length 13.5, wing 10 inches. Female similar but larger. THE Orange-chested Hobby is found throughout South and Central America, but the form met with here differs, to some extent, in habits from its repre- sentatives of the hotter region. It is a Patagonian bird, the most common Falcon in that country, and is migratory, wintering in the southern and central Argentine provinces. In its winter home it is solitary, and fond of hovering about farmhouses, where it sits on a tree or post and looks out for its prey. Com- pared with the Peregrine it has a poor spirit, and I have often watched it give chase to a bird, and just when it seemed about to grasp its prey, give up the pursuit and slink ingloriously away. It never ‘boldly and openly attacks any bird, except of the smallest species, and prefers to perch on an elevation from which it can dart down suddenly and take its prey by surprise.
The nest is a slovenly structure of sticks on a thorny bush or tree. The eggs, which I have not seen, Darwin describes as follows: “‘ Surface rough with white projecting points; colour nearly uni- form dirty wood-brown; general appearance as if it had been rubbed in brown mud,”
56 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
ARGENTINE KESTREL
Tinnunculus cinnamominus
Above reddish cinnamon with irregular black cross bands on the back; head bluish grey; front and sides of head white; nape and stripes on the sides of the neck black; wings bluish grey with black central spots; tail cinnamon red with broad black band and white tip; beneath white with buff tinge, and irregular oval black spots ; length 10.5, wing 7.7 inches. Female similar but larger.
THE habits of this little Falcon closely resemble those of Falco fusco-cezrulescens, and like that bird it is common in Patagonia and migrates north in winter. Many individuals, however, do not migrate, as I found when residing at the Rio Negro, where some pairs remained at the breeding-place all the year. Many pairs are also found resident and breeding in other parts of the Argentine country, but it is common only in Patagonia.
It nests in holes in cliffs and also on trees, and sometimes builds its own nest on the large nest of a Dendrocolaptine bird or of a Parrakeet. It lays four eggs, large for the size of the bird, oval in shape, and white, thickly blotched with dull red.
The preying habits of the Little Kestrel are similar to those of the Orange-chested Hobby; it haunts farmhouses and plantations, and spends a great deal of time perched on some elevation watching for its prey, and making sudden dashes to capture it by surprise. But though not bold when seeking its food, it frequently makes violent unprovoked attacks on species very much larger than itself, either
WHITE KITE 57
from ill-temper or in a frolicsome spirit, which 1s more probable.
Thus I have seen one drive up a flock of Glossy Ibises and pursue them some distance, striking and buffeting them with the greatest energy. I saw another pounce down from its perch, where it had been sitting for some time, on a female skunk quietly seated at the entrance of her burrow, with her three half-grown young frolicking around her. I was watching them with extreme interest, for they were leaping over their parent’s tail, and playing like kittens with it, when the Hawk dashed down, and after striking at them quickly three or four times, as they tumbled pell-mell into their kennel, flew quietly away, apparently well satisfied with its achievement.
WHITE KITE
Elanus leucurus
Above pale grey; lesser wing-coverts and scapulars black; tail white, the two middle feathers grey ; beneath white; bill black, eyes crimson; feet yellow; length 14.5, wing 11, tail 7 inches. Female similar but larger.
THIS interesting Hawk is found throughout the Argentine Republic, but is nowhere numerous. It also inhabits Chili, where, Gay says, it is called Bailarin (Dancer) on account of its aerial perform- ances. It is a handsome bird, with large ruby-red irides, and when seen at a distance its snow-white
58 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
plumage and buoyant flight give it a striking re- semblance to a gull. Its wing-power is indeed marvellous. It delights to soar, like the Martins, during a high wind, and will spend hours in this sport, rising and falling alternately, and at times, seeming to abandon itself to the fury of the gale, is blown away like thistle-down, until, suddenly recovering itself, it shoots back to its original position. Where there are tall Lombardy poplar-trees these birds amuse themselves by perching on the topmost slender twigs, balancing themselves with outspread wings, each bird on a separate tree, until the tree-tops are swept by the wind from under them, when they often remain poised almost motionless in the air until the twigs return to their feet.
When looking out for prey, this Kite usually main- tains a height of sixty or seventy feet above the sround, and in its actions strikingly resembles a fishing Tern, frequently remaining poised in the air with body motionless and wings rapidly vibrating for fully half a minute at a stretch, after which it flies on or dashes down upon its prey.
The nest is placed upon the topmost twigs of a tall tree, and is round and neatly built of sticks, rather deep, and lined with dry grass. The eggs are eight in number, nearly spherical, the ground-colour creamy-white, densely marked with longitudinal blotches or stripes of a fine rich red, almost like coagulated blood in hue. There is, however, great variety in the shades of red, also in the disposition of the markings, these in some eggs being confluent,
SOCIABLE MARSH-HAWK 59
so that the whole shell is red. The shell is polished and exceedingly fragile, a rare thing in the eggs of a Raptor.
An approach to the nest is always greeted by the birds with long distressful cries, and this cry is also uttered in the love-season, when the males often fight and pursue each other in the air. The old and young birds usually live together until the follow- ing spring. ;
SOCIABLE MARSH-HAWK
Rostrohamus sociabilis
Deep slatey grey; wing feathers black; rump white; tail white with a broad grey band ; eyes crimson, bill and feet orange; length 17, wing 13 inches. Female similar but larger.
Tuis Hawk in size and manner of flight resembles a Buzzard, but in its habits and the form of its slender and very sharply hooked beak it differs widely from that bird. The name of Sociable Marsh-Hawk, which Azara gave to this species, is very appropriate, for they invariably live in flocks of from twenty to a hundred individuals, and migrate and even breed in company. In Buenos Ayres they appear in Sep- tember and resort to marshes and streams abounding in large water-snails (Ampullaria), on which they feed exclusively. Each bird has a favourite perch or spot of ground to which it carries every snail it captures, and after skilfully extracting the animal with its curiously modified beak, it drops the shell
60 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
on the mound. When disturbed or persecuted by other birds, they utter a peculiar cry, resembling the shrill neighing of a horse. In disposition they are most peaceable, and where they are abundant all other birds soon discover that they are not as other Hawks are and pay no attention to them. When soaring, which is their favourite pastime, the flight is singularly slow, the bird frequently remain- ing motionless for long intervals in one place; but the expanded tail is all the time twisted about in the most singular manner, moved from side to side, and turned up until its edge is nearly at a right angle with the plane of the body. These tail-movements appear to enable it to remain stationary in the air without the rapid vibratory wing-motions practised by Elanus leucurus and other hovering birds; and I should think that the vertebre of the tail must have been somewhat modified by such a habit. Concerning its breeding habits Mr. Gibson writes : “In the year 1873 I was so fortunate as to find a breeding colony in one of our largest and deepest swamps. There were probably twenty or thirty nests, placed a few yards apart, in the deepest and most lonely part of the whole ‘ cafiadon.” They were slightly built platforms, supported on the rushes and two or three feet above the water, with the cup- shaped hollow lined with pieces of grass and water- rush. The eggs never exceeded three in a nest ; the sround-colour generally bluish-white, blotched and clouded very irregularly with dull red-brown, the rufous tint sometimes being replaced with ash-grey.”’
PIGMY FALCON 61
PIGMY FALCON
Spiziapteryx circumcinctus
Above brown with black shaft-stripes; head black with brown stripes and white superciliaries which join round the nape; rump white ; wings black with white oval spots on the outer and white bars on the inner webs; tail black, all but the central feathers crossed by five or six broad white bars; beneath white, the breast marked with narrow black shaft-stripes; beak plumbeous, lower mandible yellow; feet greenish ; length 11, wing 6.5 inches. Female similar, rather larger,
Tuis small Hawk is sometimes met with in the woods of La Plata, near the river; it is rare, but Owing to its curious violent flight, with the short blunt wings rapidly beating all the time, it is very conspicuous in the air and well known to the natives, who call it Rey de los Pajaros (King of the Birds) and entertain a very high opinion of its energy and strength. I have never seen it taking its prey, and do not believe that it ever attempts to capture any- thing in the air, its short, blunt wings and peculiar manner of flight being unsuited for such a purpose. Probably it captures birds by a sudden dash when they mob it on its perch; and I do not know any Raptor more persistently run after and mobbed by small birds. I once watched one for upwards of an hour as it sat on a tree attended by a large flock of . Guira Cuckoos, all excitedly screaming and bent on dislodging it from its position. So long as they kept away five or six feet from it the Hawk remained motionless, only hissing and snapping occasionally as a warning; but whenever a Cuckoo ventured a
62 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
little nearer and into the charmed circle, it would make a sudden rapid dash and buffet the intruder violently back to a proper distance, reeuenine after- wards to its own stand.
CHIMANGO, OR COMMON CARRION HAWK
Milvago chimango
Upper plumage reddish brown; greater wing-coverts white with slight brown cross-bars ; tail greyish white, banded and freckled with greyish brown. Under plumage grey, tinged with rufous on throat and breast; length 15, wing 11, tail 6.5 inches. Sexes alike.
AZARA says of the Carancho (Polyborus tharus) : “ All methods of subsistence are known to this bird : it pries into, understands, and takes advantage of everything.” These words apply better to the Chimango, which has probably the largest bill of fare of any bird, and has grafted on to its own peculiar manner of life the habits of twenty diverse species. By turns it is a Falcon, a Vulture, an insect- eater, and a vegetable-eater. On the same day you will see one bird in violent Hawk-like pursuit of its living prey, with all the instincts of rapine hot within it, and another less ambitious individual engaged in laboriously tearing at an old cast-off shoe, uttering mournful notes the while, but probably more con- cerned at the tenacity of the material than at its indigestibility.
A species so cosmopolitan in its tastes might have
COMMON CARRION HAWK 63
had a whole volume to itself in England; being only a poor foreigner it has had no more than a few unfriendly paragraphs bestowed upon it. For it happens to be a member of that South-American sub-family of which even grave naturalists have spoken slightingly, calling them vile, cowardly, con- temptible birds; and the Chimango is nearly least of them all—a sort of poor relation and hanger-on of a family already looked upon as bankrupt and disreputable. Despite this evil reputation, few species are more deserving of careful study; for throughout an extensive portion of South America it is the commonest bird we know; and when we consider how closely connected are the lives of all living creatures by means of their interlacing rela- tions, so that the predominance of any one kind, however innocuous, necessarily causes the modifi- cation, or extinction even, of surrounding species, we are better able to appreciate the importance of this despised fowl in the natural polity. Add to this its protean habits, and then, however poor a creature our bird may seem, and deserving of strange-sounding epithets from an ethical point of view, I do not know where the naturalist will find a more interesting one.
The Chimango has not an engaging appearance. In size and figure it much resembles the Hen-Harrier, and the plumage is uniformly of a light sandy brown colour; the shanks are slender, claws weak, and beak so slightly hooked that it seems like the merest apology of the Falcon’s tearing weapon. It has an
64 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
easy, loitering flight, and when on the wing does not appear to have an object in view, like the Hawk, but wanders and prowls about here and there, and when it spies another bird it flies after him to see if he has food in his eye. When one finds something to eat the others try to deprive him of it, pursuing him with great determination all over the place; if the foremost pursuer flags, a fresh bird takes its place, until the object of so much contention— perhaps after all only a bit of bone or skin—is dropped to the ground, to be instantly snatched up by some bird in the tail of the chase; and he in turn becomes the pursued of all the others, This continues until one grows tired and leaves off watch- ing them without seeing the result. They are loquacious and sociable, frequently congregating in loose companies of thirty or forty individuals, when they spend several hours every day in spirited exercises, soaring about like Martins, performing endless evolutions, and joining in aerial mock battles. When tired of these pastimes they all settle down again, to remain for an hour or so perched on the topmost boughs of trees or on other elevations ; and at intervals one bird utters a very long, leisurely chant, with a falling inflection, followed by a series of short notes, all the other birds joining in chorus and uttering short notes in time with those of their soloist or precentor. The nest is built on trees or rushes in swamps, or on the ground amongst grass and thistles. The eggs are three or four in number, nearly spherical, blotched with deep red on a white
COMMON CARRION HAWK 65
or creamy ground; sometimes the whole egg is marbled with red; but there are endless varieties. It is easy to find the nest, and becomes easier when there are young birds, for the parent when out foraging invariably returns to her young uttering long mournful notes, so that one has only to listen and mark the spot where it alights. After visiting a nest I have always found the young birds soon disappear, and as the old birds vanish also I believe that the Chimango removes its young when the nest has been discovered—a rare habit with birds.
Chimangos abound most in settled districts, but a prospect of food will quickly bring numbers together even in the most solitary places. On the desert pampas, where hunters, Indian and Euro- pean, have a great fancy for burning the dead grass, the moment the smoke of a distant fire is seen there the Chimangos fly to follow the conflagration. They are at such times strangely animated, dashing through clouds of smoke, feasting among the hot ashes on roasted cavies and other small mammals, and boldly pursuing the scorched fugitives from the flames.
At all times and in all places the Chimango is ever ready to pounce on the weak, the sickly, and the wounded, In other regions of the globe these doomed ones fall into the clutches of the true bird of prey; but the salutary office of executioner is so effectually performed by the Chimango and his congeners where these false Hawks abound, that the
true Hawks have a much keener struggle to exist E : II
66 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
here. This circumstance has possibly served to make them swifter of wing, keener of sight, and bolder in attack than elsewhere. I have seen a Buzzard, which is not considered the bravest of the Hawks, turn quick as lightning on a Spur-wing Lapwing, which was pursuing it, and, grappling it, bear it down to the ground and despatch it in a moment, though a hundred other Lapwings were uttering piercing screams above it. Yet this Plover is a large, powerful, fierce-tempered bird, and armed with sharp spurs on its wings. This is but one of numberless instances I have witnessed of the extreme strength and daring of our Hawks.
When shooting birds to preserve I used to keep an anxious eye on the movements of the Chimangos flying about, for I have had some fine specimens carried off or mutilated by these omnipresent robbers. One winter day I came across a fine Myiotheretes rufiventris, a pretty and graceful Tyrant-bird, rather larger than the Common Thrush, with a chocolate and silver-grey plumage. It was rare in that place, and, anxious to secure it, I fired a very long shot, for it was extremely shy. It rose up high in the air and flew off apparently unconcerned. What then was my surprise to see a Chimango start off in pursuit of it! Springing on to my horse I followed, and before going half a mile noticed the Tyrant-bird beginning to show signs of distress. After avoiding several blows aimed by the Chimango, it flew down and plunged into a cardoon bush. There I captured it, and when skinning it to preserve found that one
Ps
COMMON CARRION HAWK 67
small shot had lodged in the fleshy portion of the breast. It was a very slight wound, yet the Chimango with its trained sight had noticed something wrong with the bird from the moment it flew off, apparently in its usual free, buoyant manner.
On another occasion I was defrauded of a more valuable specimen than the Tyrant-bird. It was on the east coast of Patagonia, when one morning, while seated on an elevation, watching the waves dashing themselves on the shore, I perceived a shining white object tossing about at some distance from land. Successive waves brought it nearer, till at last it was caught up and flung far out on to the shingle fifty yards from where I sat; and instantly, before the cloud of spray had vanished, a Chimango dashed down upon it. I jumped up and ran down as fast as I could, and found my white object to be a Penguin, apparently just killed by some accident out at sea, and in splendid plumage ; but alas ! in that moment the vile Chimango had stripped off and devoured the skin from its head, so that as a specimen it was hopelessly ruined.
As a rule, strong healthy birds despise the Chi- mango; they feed in his company; his sudden appearance causes no alarm, and they do not take the trouble to persecute him; but when they have eges or young he is not to be trusted. He is not easily turned from a nest he has once discovered. I have seen him carry off a young Tyrant-bird (Milvulus tyrannus) in the face of such an attack from the parent birds that one would have imagined not even a true Hawk could have withstood.
68 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
Curiously enough, like one of the boldest of our small Hawks (Tinnunculus cinnamominus), they some- times attack birds so much too strong and big for them that they must know the assault will produce more annoyance than harm. I was once watching a flock of Coots feeding on a grassy bank, when a passing Chimango paused in its flight, and, after hovering over them a few moments, dashed down upon them with such impetuosity that several birds were thrown to the ground by the quick successive blows of its wings. There they lay on their backs, kicking, apparently too much terrified to get up, while the Chimango deliberately eyed them for some moments, then quietly flew away, leaving them to dash into the water and cool their fright. Attacks like these are possibly made in a sportive spirit, for the Milvago is a playful bird, and, as with many other species, bird and mammal, its play always takes the form of attack.
Its inefficient weapons compel it to be more timid than the Hawk, but there are many exceptions, and in every locality individual birds are found dis- tinguished by their temerity. Almost any shepherd can say that his flock is subject to the persecutions of at least one pair of lamb-killing birds of this species. They prowl about the flock, and watch till a small lamb is found sleeping at some distance from its dam, rush upon it, and, clinging to its head, eat away its nose and tongue. The shepherd is then obliged to kill the lamb; but I have seen many lambs that have been permitted to survive the
COMMON CARRION HAWK 69
mutilation, and which have grown to strong healthy sheep, though with greatly disfigured faces. One more instance I will give of the boldness of a bird of which Azara, greatly mistaken, says that it might possibly have courage enough to attack a mouse, though he doubts it. Close to my house, when I was a boy, a pair of these birds had their nest near a narrow path leading through a thicket of giant thistles, and every time I traversed this path the male bird, which, contrary to the rule with birds of prey, is larger and bolder than the female, would rise high above me, then dashing down strike my horse a violent blow on the forehead with its wings. This action it would repeat till I was out of the path. I thought it very strange the bird never struck my head; but I presently discovered that it had an excellent reason for what it did. The gauchos ride by preference on horses never properly tamed, and one neighbour informed me that he was obliged every day to make a circuit of half a mile round the thistles, as the horses he rode became quite un- manageable in the path, they had been so terrified with the attacks of this Chimango.
Where the intelligence of the bird appears to be really at fault is in its habit of attacking a sore- backed horse, tempted thereto by the sight of a raw ‘spot, and apparently not understanding that the flesh it wishes to devour is an inseparable part of the whole animal. Darwin has noticed this curi- ous blunder of the bird; and I have often seen a chafed saddle-horse wildly scouring the plain closely
70 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
pursued by a hungry Chimango, determined to dine on a portion of him.
In the hot season, when marshes and lagoons are drying up, the Chimango is seen associating with Ibises and other waders, standing knee-deep in the water and watching for tadpoles, frogs, and other aquatic prey. He also wades after a very different kind of food. At the bottom of pools, collected on clayey soil after a summer shower, an edible fungus srows, of a dull greenish colour and resembling gelatine. He has found out that this fungus is good for food, though I never saw any other creature eating it. In cultivated districts he follows the plough in company with the Black-headed Gulls, Molothri, Guira Cuckoos, and Tyrant-birds, and clumsily gleans amongst the fresh-turned mould for worms and larve. He also attends the pigs when they are rooting on the plain to share any succulent treasure turned up by their snouts; for he is not a bird that allows dignity to stand between him and his dinner. In the autumn, on damp, sultry days, the red ants, that make small conical mounds on the pampas, are everywhere seen swarming. Rising high in the air they form a little cloud or column, and hang suspended for hours over the same spot. On such days the Milvagos fare sumptuously on little insects, and under each cloud of winged ants several of them are to be seen in company with a few Flycatchers, or other diminutive species, briskly running about to pick up the falling manna, their enjoyment un- disturbed by any sense of incongruity.
COMMON CARRION HAWKE 71
Before everything, however, the Chimango is a vulture, and is to be found at every solitary rancho sharing with dogs and poultry the offal and waste meat thrown out on the dust-heap; or, after the flock has gone to pasture, tearing at the eyes and tongue of a dead lamb in the sheepfold. When the hide has been stripped from a dead horse or cow on the plains, the Chimango is always first on the scene. While feeding on a carcase it incessantly utters a soliloquy of the most lamentable notes, as if pro- testing against the hard necessity of having to put up with such carrion fare—long querulous cries resembling the piteous whines of a shivering puppy chained up in a bleak backyard and all its wants neglected, but infinitely more doleful in character. The gauchos have a saying comparing a man who esrumbles at good fortune to the Chimango crying on a carcase—an extremely expressive saying to those who have listened to the distressful wailings of the bird over its meat. In winter a carcase attracts a great concourse of the Black-backed Gulls; for with the cold weather these Vultures of the sea abandon their breeding-places on the Atlantic shores to wander in search of food over the vast inland pampas. The dead beast is quickly surrounded by a host of them, and the poor Chimango crowded out. One at least, however, is usually to be seen perched on the carcase tearing at the flesh, and at intervals with outstretched neck and ruffled-up plumage uttering a succession of its strange wailing cries, reminding one of a public orator mounted on a
72 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
rostrum and addressing harrowing appeals to a crowd of attentive listeners. When the carcase has been finally abandoned by foxes, armadillos, Gulls, and Caranchos, the Chimango still clings sorrow- fully to it, eking out a miserable existence by tear- ing at a fringe of gristle and whetting his hungry beak on the bones.
Though an inordinate lover of carrion, a wise instinct has taught it that this aliment is unsuited to the tender stomachs of its fledglings; these it feeds almost exclusively on the young of small birds. In November the Chimangos are seen incessantly beat- ing over the cardoon bushes, after the manner of Hen-Harriers; for at this season in the cardoons breeds the Synallaxis hudsoni. This bird, sometimes called Téru-réru del campo by the natives, is exces- sively shy and mouse-like in habits, seldom showing itself, and by means of strong legs and a long, slender, wedge-like body is able to glide swiftly as a snake through and under the grass. In summer one hears its long, melancholy, trilling call-note from a cardoon bush, but if approached it drops to the ground and vanishes. Under the densest part of the cardoon bush it scoops out a little circular hollow in the soil, and constructs over it a dome of woven grass and thorns, leaving only a very small aperture; it lines the floor with dry horse-dung, and lays five buff- coloured eggs. So admirably is the nest concealed that I have searched every day for it through a whole breeding-season without being rewarded with a single find. Yet they are easily found by the Chi-
COMMON CARRION HAWK 73
mango. In the course of a single day I have examined five or six broods of young Chimangos, and by pressing a finger on their distended crops made them disgorge their food, and found in every instance that they had been fed on nothing but the young of the Téru-réru. I was simply amazed at this whole- sale destruction of the young of a species so secret in its nesting-habits; for no eye, even of a Hawk, can pierce through the leafage of a cardoon bush, ending near the surface in an accumulated mass of the dead and decaying portions of the plant. The explanation of the Chimango’s success is to be found in the loquacious habit of the fledglings it preys on, a habit common in the young of Dendrocolaptine species. The intervals between the visits of the parent birds with food they spend in conversing together in their high-pitched tones. If a person approaches the solid fabric of the Oven-bird (Furnarius rufus) when there are young in it, he will hear shrill laughter- like notes and little choruses, like those uttered by the old birds, only feebler; but in the case of that species no harm can result from the loquacity of the young, since the castle they inhabit is impreg- nable. Hovering over the cardoons, the Chimango listens for the stridulous laughter of the fledglings, and when he hears it the thorny covering is quickly pierced and the dome broken into.
Facts like these bring before us with startling vividness the struggle for existence, showing what great issues in the life of a species may depend on matters so trivial, seemingly, that to the uninformed
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mind they appear like the merest dust in the balance, which is not regarded. And how tremendous and pitiless is that searching law of the survival of the fittest in its operations, when we see a species like this Synallaxis, in the fashioning and perfecting of which Nature seems to have exhausted all her art, so exquisitely is it adapted in its structure, coloration, and habits to the one great object of concealment, yet apparently doomed to destruction through this one petty oversight—the irrepressible garrulity of the fledglings in their nest! It is, however, no over- sight at all; since the law of natural selection is not prophetic in its action, and only preserves such variations as are beneficial in existing circumstances, without anticipating changes in the conditions. The settlement of the country has, no doubt, caused a great increase of Chimangos, and in some indirect way probably has served to quicken their intelligence ; thus a change in the conditions which have moulded this Synallaxis brings a danger to it from an un- expected quarter. The situation of the nest exposes it, one would imagine, to attacks from snakes and small mammals, from bird-killing spiders, beetles and crickets, yet these subtle ground foes have missed it, while the baby-laughter of the little ones in their cradle has called down an unlooked-for destroyer from above. It might be answered that this must be a very numerous species, otherwise the Chimango could not have acquired the habit of finding the nests; that when they become rarer the pursuit will be given over, after which the balance
ARANCHO CARRION-HAWK
S
)
Polyborus tharus (Mol
CARANCHO 75
will readjust itself. But in numbers there is safety, especially for a feeble, hunted species, unable from its peculiar structure to vary its manner of life. To such the remark made by Darwin, that “ rarity is the precursor to extinction,’ applies with peculiar force.
CARANCHO OR CARACARA
Polyborus tharus
Dark brown with whitish mottlings; head black; wings and tail greyish white with greyish brown cross-bars and black tips; beneath dark brown ; throat and sides of head yellowish white ; beak yellow ; cere orange. Sexes alike.
Tuis bird, which combines the raptorial instincts of the Eagle with the base carrion-feeding habits of the Vulture, has already had so many biographers that it might seem superfluous to speak of it again at any great length ; only it happens to be one of those very versatile species about which there is always something fresh to be said; and, besides, I do not altogether agree with the very ignoble character usually ascribed to it by travellers. It is, however, probable that it varies greatly in disposition and habits in different districts. In Patagonia I was surprised at its dejected appearance and skulking cowardly manner, so unlike the bird I had been accustomed to see on the pampas. I shot several, and they were all in a miserably poor condition and apparently half-starved. It struck me that in that
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cold, sterile country, where prey is scarce, the Ca- rancho is altogether out of place; for it there has to compete with Eagles and Vultures in large numbers ; and these, it is almost needless to say, are, in their separate lines, stronger than the composite and less specialised Carancho. In Patagonia he is truly a * miserable bird,’”’ with a very frail hold on existence. How different on that illimitable grassy ocean farther north, where he is the lord of the feathered race, for Eagles and Vultures, that require mountains and trees to breed and roost on, do not come there to set him aside; there the conditions are suited to him and have served to develop in him a wonderfully bold and savage spirit. When seen perched on a conical ant-hill, standing erect above the tall plumy grass, he has a fine, even a noble appearance; but when flying he is not handsome, the wings being very bluntly rounded at the extremities and the flight low and ungraceful. The plumage is blackish in the adult, brown in the young. The sides of the head and breast are creamy white, the latter trans- versely marked with black spots. The crown is adorned with a crest or top-knot. The beak is much larger than in Eagles and Vultures, and of a dull blue colour; the cere and legs are bright yellow. The species ranges throughout South America, and from Paraguay northwards is called every- where, I believe, Caracara. South of Paraguay the Spanish name is Carancho, possibly a corruption of Keanché, the Puelche name for the allied Milvago chimango, in imitation of its peevish cry. The
CARANCHO 77
Indian name for the Carancho in these regions is Traru (from its harsh cry), misspelt Tharu by Molina, a Spanish priest who wrote a book on the birds of Chili in the eighteenth century ; hence the specific name tharus.
The Caranchos pair for life, and may therefore be called social birds; they also often live and hunt in families of the parent and young birds until the following spring ; and at all times several individuals will readily combine to attack their prey, but they never live or move about in flocks. Each couple has its own home or resting-place, which they will continue to use for an indefinite time, roosting on the same branch and occupying the same nest year after year ; while at all times the two birds are seen constantly together and seem very much attached. Azara relates that he once saw a male pounce down on a frog, and carrying it to a tree call his mate to him and make her a present of it. It was not a very magnificent present, but the action seems to show that the bird possesses some commendable qualities which are seldom seen in the raptorial family.
In uninhabited places I have always found the Caranchos just as abundant as in the settled districts ; and after a deer has been pulled down by the dogs I have seen as many as seventy or eighty birds congregate to feed on its flesh within half an hour, although not one had been previously visible. D’Orbigny describes the bird as a parasite on man, savage and civilised, following him everywhere to feed on the leavings when he slays wild or domestic
78 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
animals, and as being scarcely able to exist without him. No doubt the bird does follow man greatly to its advantage, but this is only in very thinly settled and purely pastoral and hunting districts, where a large proportion of the flesh of every animal slain is given to the fowls of the air. Where the population increases the Carancho quickly meets with the fate of all large species which are regarded as prejudicial.
Without doubt it is a carrion-eater, but only, I believe, when it cannot get fresh provisions; for when famished it will eat anything rather than study its dignity and suffer hunger like the nobler Eagle. I have frequently seen one or two or three of them together on the ground under a column of winged ants, eagerly feasting on the falling insects. To eat putrid meat it must be very hungry indeed; it is, however, amazingly fond of freshly-killed flesh, and when a cow is slaughtered at an estancia-house the Carancho quickly appears on the scene to claim his share, and catching up the first thing he can lift he carries it off before the dogs can deprive him of it. When he has risen to a height of five or six yards in the air he drops the meat from his beak and dexterously catches it in his claws without pausing or swerving in his flight. It is singular that the bird seems quite incapable of lifting anything from the ground with the claws, the beak being invariably used, even when the prey is an animal — which it might seem dangerous to lift in this way. I once saw one of these birds swoop down on a rat
CARANCHO 79
from a distance of about forty feet, and rise with its struggling and squealing prey to a height of twenty feet, then drop it from his beak and gracefully catch it in his talons. Yet when it pursues and overtakes a bird in the air it invariably uses the claws in the same way as other Hawks. This I have frequently observed, and I give the two following anecdotes to show that even birds which one would imagine to be quite safe from the Carancho are on some occa- sions attacked by it.
While walking in a fallow field near my home one day I came on a Pigeon feeding, and at once recog- nised it as one which had only begun to fly about a week before ; for although a large number of Pigeons were kept, this bird happened to be of the purest unspotted white, and for a long time I had been endeavouring to preserve and increase the pure white individuals, but with very little success, for the Peregrines invariably singled them out for attack. A Carancho was circling about at some distance overhead, and while I stood still to watch and admire my Pigeon it stooped to within twenty yards of the surface and remained hovering over my head. Presently the Pigeon became alarmed and flew away, whereupon the Hawk gave chase—a very vain chase I imagined it would prove. It lasted for about half a minute, the Pigeon rushing wildly round in wide circles, now mounting aloft and now plunging downwards close to the surface, the Carancho hotly following all the time. At length, evidently in great terror, the hunted bird flew down,
80 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
alighting within a yard of my feet. I stooped to take hold of it, when, becoming frightened at my action, it flew straight up and was seized in the talons of its pursuer close to my face and carried away.
In the next case the bird attacked was the Spur- winged Lapwing, the irreconcilable enemy of the Carancho and its bold and persistent persecutor. The very sight of this Hawk rouses the Lapwings to a frenzy of excitement, and springing aloft they hasten to meet it in mid-air, screaming loudly, and continue to harry it until it leaves their ground, after which they return, and, ranged in triplets, perform their triumphal dances, accompanied with loud drumming notes. But if their hated foe alights on the ground, or on some elevation near them, they hover about him, and first one, then another, rushes down with the greatest violence, and gliding near him turns the bend of its wings so that the spur appears almost to graze his head. While one bird is descending others are rising upwards to renew their charges; and this persecution continues until they drive him away or become exhausted with their fruitless efforts. The Carancho, however, takes little notice of his tormentors ; only when the Plover comes very close, evidently bent on piercing his skull with its sharp weapon, he quickly dodges his head, after which he resumes his indifferent de- meanour until the rush of the succeeding bird takes place.
While out riding one day a Carancho flew past me attended by about thirty Lapwings, combined to
CARANCHO Or
hunt him from their ground, for it was near the breeding-season, when their jealous irascible temper is most excited. All at once, just as a Lapwing swept close by and then passed on before it, the Hawk quickened its flight in the most wonderful manner and was seen in hot pursuit of its tormentor. The angry hectoring cries of the Lapwings instantly changed to piercing screams of terror, which in a very short time brought a crowd numbering between two and three hundred birds to the rescue. Now, I thought, the hunted bird will escape, for it twisted and turned rapidly about, trying to lose itself amongst its fellows, all hovering in a compact crowd about it and screaming their loudest. But the Carancho was not to be shaken off; he was never more than a yard behind his quarry, and I was near enough to distinguish the piteous screams of the chased Lap- — wing amidst all the tumult, as of a bird already
captive. At the end of about a minute it was seized in the Carancho’s talons, and, still violently scream- ing, borne away. The cloud of Lapwings followed for some distance, but presently they all returned to the fatal spot where the contest had taken place; and for an hour afterwards they continued soaring about in separate bodies, screaming all the time with an unusual note in their voices as of fear or grief, and holding excited conclaves on the ground, to all appearance as greatly disturbed in their minds as an equal number of highly emotional human beings would be in the event
of a similar disaster overtaking them. F II
82 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
It is not often, however, that the Carancho ventures singly to attack adult and vigorous birds, except the Tinamu, the “ Partridge” of South America ; they prey by preference on the young and ailing, on small lambs and pigs left at a distance by their dams; and they also frequently attack and kill old and weakly sheep. Where anything is wrong with bird or beast they are very quick to detect it, and will follow a sportsman to pick up the wounded birds, intelligently keeping at a safe distance them- selves. I once shot a Flamingo in the grey stage of plumage and had some trouble to cross the stream, on the opposite side of which the bird, wounded very slightly, was rapidly stalking away. In three or four minutes I was over and found my Flamingo endeavouring to defend itself against the assaults of a Carancho which had marked it for its own, and was striking it on the neck and breast in the most vigorous and determined way, sometimes from above, at other times alighting on the ground before it and springing up to strike like a game-cock. A spot of blood on the plumage of the wounded bird, which had only one wing slightly damaged, had been sufficient to call down the attack ; for to the Carancho a spot of blood, a drooping wing, or any irregularity in the gait, quickly tells its tale.
When several of these birds combine they are very bold. A friend told me that while voyaging on the Parana river a Black-necked Swan flew past him hotly pursued by three Caranchos; and I also wit- nessed an attack by four birds on a widely different
CARANCHO 83
species. I was standing on the bank of a stream on the pampas watching a great concourse of birds of several kinds on the opposite shore, where the carcase of a horse, from which the hide had been stripped, lay at the edge of the water. One or two hundred Hooded Gulls and about a dozen Chimangos were gathered about the carcase, and close to them a very large flock of Glossy Ibises were wading about in the water, while amongst these, standing motionless in the water, was one solitary White Egret. Presently four Caranchos appeared, two adults and two young birds in brown plumage, and alighted on the ground near the carcase. The young birds advanced at once and began tearing at the flesh; while the two old birds stayed where they had alighted, as if disinclined to feed on half-putrid meat. Presently one of them sprang into the air and made a dash at the birds in the water, and instantly all the birds in the place rose into the air screaming loudly, the two young brown Caranchos only remaining on the ground. For a few moments I was in ignorance of the mean- ing of all this turmoil, when, suddenly, out of the confused black and white cloud of birds the Egret appeared, mounting vertically upwards with vigorous measured strokes. A moment later, first one then the other Carancho also emerged from the cloud, evidently pursuing the Egret, and only then the two brown birds sprang into the air and joined in the chase. For some minutes I watched the four birds toiling upwards with a wild zig-zag flight, while the Egret, still rising vertically, seemed to leave them
84 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
hopelessly far behind. But before long they reached and passed it, and each bird as he did so would turn and rush downwards, striking at the Egret with his claws, and while one descended the others were rising, bird following bird with the greatest regularity. In this way they continued toiling upwards until the Egret appeared a mere white speck in the sky, about which the four hateful black spots were still revolv- ing. I had watched them from the first with the greatest excitement, and now began to fear that they would pass from sight and leave me in ignorance of the result; but at length they began to descend, and then it looked as if the Egret had lost all hope, for it was dropping very rapidly, while the four birds were all close to it, striking at it every three or four seconds. The descent for the last half of the distance was exceedingly rapid, and the birds would have come down almost at the very spot they started from, which was about forty yards from where I stood, but the Egret was driven aside, and sloping rapidly down struck the earth at a distance of two hundred yards from the starting-point. Scarcely had it touched the ground before the hungry quartet were tearing it with their beaks. They were all equally hungry no doubt, and perhaps the old birds were even hungrier than their young; and I am quite sure that if the flesh of the dead horse had not been so far advanced towards putrefaction they would not have attempted the conquest of the Egret.
I have so frequently seen a pure white bird singled out for attack in this way, that it has always been a
CARANCHO 85
great subject of wonder to me how the two common species of snow-white Herons in South America are able to maintain their existence ; for their whiteness exceeds that of other white waterfowl, while, com- pared with Swans, Storks, and the Wood-Ibis, they are small and feeble. I am sure that if these four Caranchos had attacked a Glossy Ibis they would have found it an easier conquest; yet they singled out the Egret, purely, I believe, on account of its shining white conspicuous plumage.
_ This wing-contest was a very splendid spectacle, and I was very glad that I had witnessed it, although it ended badly for the poor Egret; but in another case of a combined attack by Caranchos there was nothing to admire except the intelligence displayed by the birds in combining, and much to cause the mind to revolt against the blindly destructive ferocity exhibited by Nature in the instincts of her creatures. The scene was witnessed by a beloved old gaucho friend of mine, a good observer, who related it to me. It was in summer, and he was riding in a narrow bridle-path on a plain covered with a dense growth of giant thistles, nine or ten feet high, when he noticed some distance ahead several Caranchos hovering over the spot; and at once conjectured that some large animal had fallen there, or that a traveller had been thrown from his horse and was lying injured among the thistles. On reaching the spot he found an open space of ground about forty yards in diameter, surrounded by the dense wall of close-growing thistles, and over this place the birds
86 _ BIRDS OF LA PLATA
were flying, while several others were stationed near, apparently waiting for something to happen. The attraction was a large male Rhea squatting on the sround, and sheltering with its extended wings a brood of young birds. My friend was not able to count them, but there were not fewer than twenty- five or thirty young birds, small tender things, only a day or so out of the shell. As soon as he rode into the open space of ground, the old Ostrich sprang up, and with lowered head, clattering beak, and broad wings spread out like sails, rushed at him; his horse was greatly terrified, and tried to plunge into the dense mass of thistles, so that he had the ereatest difficulty in keeping his seat. Presently the Ostrich left him, and casting his eyes round he was astonished to see that all the young Ostriches were running about, scattered over the ground, while the Caranchos were pursuing, knocking down, and killing them. Meanwhile the old Ostrich was frantically rushing about trying to save them; but the Ca- ranchos, when driven from one bird they were attacking, would merely rise and drop on the next one a dozen yards off; and as there were about fifteen Caranchos all engaged in the same way, the slaughter was proceeding at a great rate. My friend, who had been vainly struggling to get the better of his horse, was then forced to leave the place, and did not therefore see the end of the tragedy in which he had acted an involuntary part; but before going he saw that at least half the young birds were dead, and that these were all torn and bleed-
CARANCHO 87
ing on the small of the neck just behind the head, while in some cases the head had been completely wrenched off.
The Gauchos when snaring Partridges (Tinamus) frequently bribe the Caranchos to assist them. The snarer has a long slender cane with a small noose at the extremity, and when he sights a Partridge he gallops round it in circles until the bird crouches close in the grass; then the circles are narrowed and the pace slackened, while he extends the cane and lowers it gradually over the bewildered bird until the small noose is dropped over its head and it is caught. Many Partridges are not dis- posed to sit still to be taken in this open, bare- faced way; but if the snarer keeps a Carancho hovering about by throwing him an occasional gizzard, the wariest Partridge is so stricken with fear that it will sit still and allow itself to be caught.
In the love season the male Caranchos are fre- quently seen fighting; and sometimes, when the battle is carried on at a great height in the air, the combatants are seen clasped together and falling swiftly towards the earth; but, in all contests I have witnessed, the birds have not been so blinded with passion as to fall the whole distance before separating. Besides these single combats, in which unpaired or jealous males engage in the love-season, there are at all times occasional dissensions amongst them, the cause of which it would be difficult to determine. Here again, as often in hunting, the birds combine
88 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
to punish an offender, and in some cases the punish- ment is death. ?
Their cry is exceedingly loud and harsh, a short abrupt note, like cruk, repeated twice; after which, if the bird is violently agitated, as when wounded or fighting, it throws its head backwards until the crown rests on the back, and rocks it from side to side, accompanying the action with a prolonged piercing cry of great power. This singular gesture of the Carancho, unique among birds, seems to express very forcibly a raging spirit.
The nest is built in a variety of situations: on trees, where there are any, but on the treeless pampas, where the Carancho is most at home, it is made on the ground, sometimes among the tall grass, while a very favourite site is a small islet or mound of earth rising well out of the water. When a suitable place has been found, the birds will continue to use the same nest for many consecutive years. It is a very large, slovenly structure of sticks, mixed with bones, pieces of skin, dry dung, and any portable object the bird may find to increase the bulk of his dwelling. The eggs are three or four, usually the last number, slightly oval, and varying greatly in colour and markings, some having irregular dark red blotches on a cream-coloured ground, while others are entirely of a deep brownish red, with a few black marks and blotches.
BLACK VULTURE 89
BLACK VULTURE
Cathartes atratus
Whole plumage black; head bare and black; length 25 inches, wing 17.5 inches. THREE species of Vulture inhabit Argentina, all of the American family Cathartide; the first being the Great Condor, Sarcorhamphus gryphus, found in the Andean region and in Patagonia. Of this great and often-described bird I can say next to nothing from personal observation, as I met with it but once, and that was on the sea-shore south of the Rio Negro. The second is the well-known Turkey Buzzard of southern North America, Cathartes aura. His range extends south to Patagonia, where I met with it and could always distinguish it from the common Black Vulture at a great distance by its bright red, bare head and neck. It is, however, far from common.
The Black Vulture, according to Dr. Burmeister, is found throughout the Argentine pampas, but is commoner in the east and north. It is known as the Gallinazo at Mendoza, and Cuervo (Crow) in Tucu- man. Mr. Barrows tells us that he did not see it during his residence at Concepcion, but was told of its former abundance in times of drought, when dead sheep were numerous. It was, however, met with by him in small numbers during his excursion through the sierras of the pampas south of Buenos Ayres.
On the Rio Negro in Patagonia I found these
efe) BIRDS OF LA PLATA
Vultures abundant, especially near the settlement of El Carmen, where, attracted by the refuse of the cattle-slaughtering establishments, they congregated in immense numbers, and were sometimes seen crowded together in thousands on the trees, where they roosted. Darwin observed them at the same place, and has described their soaring habits at considerable length.
The following account of the nesting habits of this species is given by Mr. John J. Dalgleish (Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edin., vi. 237): ““ The eggs seldom, if ever, exceed two in number, and are usually laid in a hollow tree or on the ground. Their average weight is about a pound. They are slightly larger than those of the Turkey Buzzard, although the latter is a bigger bird. The ground colour is of a yellowish white, with blotches of dark reddish brown, and smaller markings of a lilac shade. These markings are generally more numerous at the larger end,”’
BRAZILIAN CORMORANT
Phalacrocorax brasilianus
Black, glossed with metallic green; bill and naked skin of the face yellow; length 30 inches, wing 12 inches. Female similar; young brown, cheeks whitish and breast white.
THIS appears to be the only Cormorant met with on the coasts and inland waters of South America,
north of Buenos Ayres; but two other species are found in southern Chili and Patagonia, which may
BRAZILIAN CORMORANT 9
probably likewise occur in the southern provinces of the Republic.
Azara tells us that this Cormorant is not un- common in Paraguay, and Mr. Barrows found it an “abundant resident "’ at Concepcion in Entrerios.
In the vicinity of Buenos Ayres several well-known authorities have met with it, and Durnford found it common and resident in Chupat.
The name of Brazilian Cormorant, which natur- alists have bestowed on this species, is certainly inappropriate and misleading, since the bird is very abundant in La Plata, where the native name for it is Vigua; and it is also very common in the Pata- gonian rivers. It is always seen swimming, sinking its heavy body lower and lower down in the water when approached, until only the slanting snake-like head and neck are visible ; or else sitting on the bank, or on a dead projecting branch, erect and with raised beak, and never moving from its statuesque attitude until forced to fly. It rises reluctantly and with great labour, and has a straight rapid flight, the wings beating incessantly. By day it is a silent bird, but when many individuals congregate to roost on the branches of a dead tree overhanging the river, they keep up a concert of deep, harsh, powerful notes all night long, which would cause any person not acquainted with their language to imagine that numerous pigs or peccaries were moving about with incessant gruntings in his neighbourhood.
1 Namely, P. imperialis and P. albiventris. See Zool. Chall. (Birds), p- 121. It was probably one of these two species that Durnford found nesting on Tombo Point, south of Chupat (cf. Ibis, 1878, p. 399).
92 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
~COCOI HERON
Ardea cocoi
Above grey; head, wings, and tail slatey black; beneath white; neck and sides striped with black ; length 36 inches, wing 18 inches, tail 7 inches. Sexes alike.
Tuts fine Heron is found throughout South and some parts of North America, In size, form, and colour it closely resembles the Common Heron of Europe; in flight, language, and feeding-habits the two species are identical, albeit inhabiting regions so widely separated. In the southern part of South America it is not seen associating with its fellows, nor does it breed in heronries; but this may be owing to the circumstance that in the temperate countries it is very thinly distributed; and it 1s highly probable, I think, that in the hotter regions, where it is more abundant, its habits may not appear so unsocial. Though they are always seen fishing singly, they pair for life, and male and female are never found far apart, but haunt the same stream or marsh all the year round. Azara says that in Paraguay, where they are rare, they go in pairs and breed in trees. On the pampas it makes its solitary nest amongst the rushes, and lays three blue eggs.
The following general remarks on the Heron apply chiefly to the Ardea cocoi, and to some extent also to other species of the Heron family.
I have observed Herons of several species a good
COCOI HERON 93
deal, but chiefly the Cocoi, and think there is some- thing to be said in support of Buffon’s opinion that they are wretched, indigent birds, condemned by the imperfection of their organs to a perpetual struggle with want and misery. In reality the organs, and the correlated instincts, are just as perfect as in any other creature, but the Heron is certainly more highly specialised and lives more in a groove than most species. Consequently when food fails him in the accustomed channels he suffers more than most other species.
Much as the different species vary in size, from the Ardea cocoi to the diminutive Variegated Heron of Azara (Ardetta involucris), no bigger than a Snipe, there is yet much sameness in their conformation, language, flight, nesting and other habits. They possess a snake-like head and neck, and a sharp taper beak, with which they transfix their prey as with a dart—also the serrate claw, about which so much has been said, and which has been regarded as an instance of pure adaptation.
A curious circumstance has come under my obser- vation regarding Herons. Birds in poor condition are very much infested with vermin; whether the ver- min are the cause or effect of the poor condition, I do not know; but such is the fact. Now in this region (the Argentine Republic) Herons are generally very poor, a good-conditioned bird being a very rare exception; a majority of individuals are much emaciated and infested with intestinal worms; yet I have never found a bird infested with lice, though the
94 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
Heron would seem a fit subject for them, and in the course of my rambles I have picked up many in- dividuals apparently perishing from inanition. I do not wish to insinuate a belief that this immunity from vermin is due to the pectinated claw; for though the _ bird does scratch and clean itself with the claw it could never rid the entire plumage from vermin by this organ, which 1s as ill adapted for such a purpose as for “‘ giving a firmer hold on its slippery prey.”
The Spoonbill has also the serration, and is, unlike the Heron, an active vigorous bird and usually fat ; yet it is much troubled with parasites, and I have found birds too weak to fly and literally swarming with them.
I merely wish to call the attention of ornitholo- gists to the fact that in the region where I have observed Herons they are exempt in a remarkable degree from external parasites.
Much has also been said about certain patches of dense, clammy, yellowish down under the loose plumage of Herons. These curious appendages may be just as useless to the bird as the tuft of hair on its breast is to the Turkey-cock ; but there are more probabilities the other way, and it may yet be dis- -covered that they are very necessary to its well-being. Perhaps these clammy feathers contain a secretion fatal to the vermin by which birds of sedentary habits are so much afflicted, and from which Herons appear to be so strangely free. They may even be the seat of that mysterious phosphorescent light which some one has affirmed emanates from the
COCOI HERON 95
Heron’s breast when it fishes in the dark, and which serves to attract the fish, or to render them visible to the bird. Naturalists have, I believe, dismissed the subject of this light as a mere fable without any foundation of fact; but real facts regarding habits of animals have not infrequently been so treated. Mr. Bartlett’s interesting observations on the Flam- ingoes in the Society’s Gardens show that the ancient story of the Pelican feeding its young on its own blood is perhaps only a slightly embellished account of a common habit of the Flamingo.
I have not observed Herons fishing by night very closely, but there is one fact which inclines me to believe it probable that some species might possess the light-emitting power in question. I am convinced that the Ardea cocoi sees as well by day as other diurnal species; the streams on the level pampas are so muddy that a fish two inches below the sur- face is invisible to the human eye, yet in these thick waters the Herons fish by night and by day. If the eye is adapted to see well with the bright sun shining, how can it see at night and in such unfavourable circumstances without some such extraneous aid to vision as the attributed luminosity ¢
Herons of all birds have the slowest flight; but though incapable of progressing rapidly when flying horizontally, when pursued by a Hawk the Heron performs with marvellous ease and grace an aerial feat unequalled by any other bird, namely that of rising vertically to an amazing height in the air. The swift vertical flight with which the pursued
96 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
ascends until it becomes a mere speck in the blue zenith, the hurried zigzag flight of the pursuer, rising every minute above its prey, only to be left below again by a single flap of the Heron’s wings, forms a sight of such grace, beauty, and power as to fill the mind of the spectator with delight and astonishment.
When the enemy comes to close quarters, the Heron instinctively throws itself belly up to repel the assault with its long, crooked, cutting claws. Raptorial species possess a similar habit; and the analogous correlation of habit and structure in genera so widely separated is very curious. The Falcon uses its feet to strike, lacerate, and grasp its prey ; the Heron to anchor itself firmly to its perch; but for weapons of defence they are equally well adapted, and are employed in precisely the same manner. The Heron, with its great length of neck and legs, its lean unballasted body, large wings, and super- abundance of plumage, is the least suited of birds to perch high; yet the structure of the feet renders it perfectly safe for the bird to do so. Thus the Heron is enabled to sit on a smooth enamelled rush or on the summit of a tree, and doze securely in a wind that, were its feet formed like those of other Waders, would blow it away like a bundle of dead feathers.
Another characteristic of Herons is that they carry the neck, when flying, folded in the form of the letter S. At other times the bird also carries the neck this way; and it is, indeed, in all long-necked species the figure the neck assumes when the bird reposes
COCOI HERON 97
or is in the act of watching something below it; and the Heron’s life is almost a perpetual watch. Apropos of this manner of carrying the neck, so natural to the bird, is it not the cause of the extreme wariness observable in Herons; Herons are, I think, every- where of a shy disposition; with us they are the wildest of water-fowl, yet there is no reason for their being so, since they are never persecuted.
Birds ever fly reluctantly from danger; and all species possessing the advantage of a long neck, such as the Swan, Flamingo, Stork, Spoonbill, etc., will continue with their necks stretched to their utmost capacity watching an intruder for an hour at a time rather than fly away. But in the Herons it must be only by a great effort that the neck can be wholly unbent ; for even if the neck cut out from a dead bird be forcibly straightened and then released, it flies back like a piece of india-rubber to its original shape. Therefore the effort to straighten the neck, invariably the first expression of alarm and curiosity, must be a painful one; and to keep it for any length of time in that position is probably as insupportable to the bird as to keep the arm straightened vertically would be toa man. Thus the Heron flies at the first sight of an intruder, whilst the persecuted Duck, Swan, or other fowl continues motionless, watching with outstretched neck, participating in the alarm certainly, but not enduring actual physical pain.
Doubtless in many cases habits react upon and modify the structure of parts; and in this instance
the modified structure has in its turn apparently G II
98 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
reacted on and modified the habits. In seeking for and taking food, the body is required to perform certain definite motions and assume repeatedly the same attitudes; this is most frequently the case in birds of aquatic habits. A readiness for assuming at all times, and an involuntary falling into, these peculiar attitudes and gestures appears to become hereditary ; and the species in which they are the most noticeable seem incapable of throwing the habit or manner off, even when placed in situations where — it is useless or even detrimental. Tringe rapidly peck and probe the mud as they advance; Plovers peck and run, peck and run again. Now I have noticed scores of times that these birds cannot possibly - lay aside this habit of pecking as they advance; for even a wounded Plover running from his pursuer over dry barren ground goes through the form of eating by pausing for a moment every yard or so, pecking the ground, then running on again.
The Paraguay Snipe, and probably other true Snipes, possesses the singular habit of striking its beak on the ground when taking flight. In this instance has not the probing motion, performed instinctively as the bird moves, been utilised to assist it in rising ¢
Grebes on land walk erect like Penguins and ae a slow, awkward gait; and whenever they wish to accelerate their progress they throw themselves for- ward on the breast and strike out the feet as in swimming.
The Glossy Ibis feeds in shallow water, thrusting
COCOI HERON 99
its great sickle beak into the weeds at the bottom at every step. When walking on land it observes these motions, and seems incapable of progressing without plunging its beak downwards into imaginary water at every stride.
The Spoonbill wades up to its knees and advances with beak always immersed, and swaying itself from side to side, so that at each lateral movement of the body the beak describes a great semicircle in the water; a flock of these birds feeding reminds one of a line of mowers mowing grass. On dry ground the Spoonbill seems unable to walk directly forward like other birds, but stoops, keeping the body in a horizontal position, and, turning from side to side, sweeps the air with its beak, as if still feeding in the water.
In the foregoing instances (and I could greatly multiply them) in which certain gestures and move- ments accompany progressive motion, it is difficult to see how the structure can be in any way modified by them ; but the preying attitude of the heron, the waiting motionless in perpetual readiness to strike, has doubtless given the neck its peculiar form.
Two interesting traits of the Heron (and they have a necessary connection) are its tireless watchfulness and its insatiable voracity ; for these characteristics have not, I think, been exaggerated even by the most sensational of ornithologists.
In birds of other genera repletion is invariably followed by a period of listless inactivity during which no food is taken or required. But the Heron
100 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
digests his food so rapidly that, however much he devours, he is always ready to gorge again; con- sequently he is not benefited so much by what he eats, and appears in the same state of semi-starvation when food is abundant as in times of scarcity. An old naturalist has suggested, as a reason for this, that the Heron, from its peculiar manner of taking its prey, requires fair weather to fish—that during spells of bad weather, when it is compelled to suffer the pangs of famine inactive, it contracts a meagre consumptive habit of body, which subsequent plenty cannot remove. A pretty theory, but it will not hold water; for in this region spells of bad weather are brief and infrequent; moreover, all other species that feed at the same table with the Heron, from the little flitting Kingfisher to the towering Flamingo, become excessively fat at certain seasons, and are at all times so healthy and vigorous that, compared with them, the Heron is the mere ghost of a bird. In no extraneous circumstances, but in the organisation of the bird itself, must be sought the cause of its anomalous condition ; it does not appear to possess the fat-elaborating power, for at no season is any fat found on its dry, starved flesh; consequently there is no provision for a rainy day, and the misery of the bird (if it is miserable) consists in its perpetual, never-satisfied craving for food.
WHITE AND SNOWY EGRETS ior
WHITE EGRET AND SNOWY EGRET Ardea egretta : A. candidissima
Entire plumage snow-white in both species. Length of White Egret 35 inches; length of Snowy Egret 24 inches,
THESE two species are found in South, Central, and North America; but the larger bird has a greater range, being found from Nova Scotia to Patagonia.
The small Snowy Egret abounds most in the hot and warm regions, and is quite common on the pampas but rare in Patagonia. It is more gregarious and social in its habits than the White Egret and is usually seen in flocks and associates with Ibises, Spoonbills, and other aquatic birds.
On the pampas, owing to the absence of forests, the nesting habits, like those of the Cocoi and other Herons, have been modified, for there it nests among the bulrushes and sedges. I take the following account of a heronry on the pampas from a paper by Mr. Ernest Gibson. He was so fortunate as to find both species breeding together in considerable numbers.
“In November of 1873 I found a large breeding colony of Ardea egretta, A. candidissima, and Nycti- corax obscurus in the heart of a lonely swamp. The rushes were thick, but had been broken down by the birds in a patch some fifty yards in diameter. There were from 300 to 400 nests, as well as I could judge; of these three-fourths were of A. egretta, and the remainder, with the exception of two or three dozen of NV. obscurus, belonged to A..candidissima.
102 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
Those of the first-mentioned species were slight platforms, placed on the tops of broken rushes, at a height of from two to three feet above the water, and barely a yard apart.
“The nests of A. candidissima were built up from the water to the height of a foot or a foot and a half, with a hollow on the top for the eggs; they were very compactly put together, of small dry twigs of a water-plant. A good many were distributed amongst those of A. egretta; but the majority were close together, at one side of the colony, where the reeds were taller and less broken.
“The nests of IV. obscurus much resembled the latter in construction and material; but very few were interspersed amongst those of the other species, being retired to the side opposite A. candidissima, on the borders of some channels of clear water ; there they were placed amongst the high reeds, and a few yards apart from each other.
“The larger Egrets remained standing on their nests till I was within twenty yards of them, and alighted again when I had passed. In this position they looked much larger than when flying. The smaller Egrets first flew up on to the reeds, and then immediately took to flight, not returning ; while N. obscurus rose and sailed away, uttering a deep squawk, squawk, long before one came near the nest.
“At one side of the colony a nest of Ciconia maguart, with two full-grown young, seemed like the reigning house of the place.
“It certainly was one of the finest ornithological
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WHISTLING HERON
Ardea stbilatrix, Temm.
WHISTLING HERON 103
sights I ever saw: all around a wilderness of dark sreen rushes, rising above my head as I sat on horse- back; the cloud of graceful snow-white birds perched everywhere, or reflected in the water as they flew to and fro overhead ; and the hundreds of blue eggs exposed to the bright sunlight.
“ A. egretta and A. candidissima lay four eggs each, though the former rarely hatches out more than three. WN. obscurus lays and hatches out three. The
eges of all three species are of the same shade of light blue.”
WHISTLING HERON Ardea sibilatrix Above grey; cap, crest, and wings greyish black; a rufous patch behind the eye; upper wing-coverts rufous; beneath white,
with yellowish tinge on breast; beak reddish. Length 22 inches. Female similar.
THis is a beautiful bird, with plumage as soft as down to the touch. Its colours are clear blue-grey and pale yellow, the under surface being nearly white. In some specimens that I have obtained the rump and tail-coverts had a pure primrose hue. There is a chestnut mark on the side of the head ; the eye is white, and the legs dark green in life.
Azara named this Heron Flauta del Sol (Flute of the Sun), a translation of the Indian term Curahi- remimbi, derived from the popular belief that its whistling notes, which have a melodious and melan- choly sound, prophesy changes in the weather.
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It comes as far south as Buenos Ayres, but is only a summer visitor there, and very scarce. Having seen but little of it myself, I can only repeat Azara’s words concerning it. He says it is common in Para- guay, going in pairs or families, and perches and roosts on trees, and when flying flaps its wings more rapidly than other Herons. It makes its nest on a tree, and lays two clear blue eggs.
I saw less of the Whistling or “ Fluting’’ Heron than of ahy of the seven species I was acquainted with in La Plata. About its habits I found out nothing, and on that account I should have omitted all mention of it—that being the rule in this book—if its strange beauty had not charmed and made a lasting impres- sion on my mind. The stuffed specimens, from which the description is taken, do not show the colours of the living bird—the soft clear grey and primrose yellow—most delicate colours and rarely seen in a bird of this size. In the museum specimens the primrose yellow fades to white with a dull yellowish tinge.
LITTLE BLUE HERON
Butorides cyanurus
Above blue grey; beneath ash-colour; black crest with greenish gloss ; ferruginous spots on the neck; length 14 inches. THE Little Blue Heron, though widely distributed, is not anywhere a common bird. I have always seen it singly, for it loves a hermit-life, and the
LITTLE RED HERON 105
feeding-ground it prefers is a spot on the borders of a marshy stream shut in and overshadowed on all sides by trees and tall rushes. There the bird sits silent and solitary on a projecting root or dead branch; or stands motionless and knee-deep in the water, intent on the small fry it feeds on. For whole months it will be found every day in the same place. When intruded on in its haunts it erects the feathers of its head and neck, looking strangely alarmed or angry, and flies away uttering a powerful, harsh, erating cry.
LITTLE RED HERON
Ardetta involucris
Above light fulvous, a black stripe on the nape; front, stripe on back of the neck, bend of wing and outer secondaries, chestnut-red ; back striped with black; wing-feathers ash-grey with red tips; be- neath yellowish white striped with brown; beak yellow, feet green ; length 13, wing 5 inches,
THE Little Red, or Variegated, Heron which inhabits Paraguay and Argentina, is the least of the family to which it belongs, its body being no bigger than that of the Common Snipe; but in structure it is like other Herons, except that its legs are a trifle shorter in proportion to its size and its wings very much shorter than in other species. The under plumage is dull yellow in colour, while all the other parts are variegated with marks of fuscous and various shades of brown and yellow. The body is
106 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
extremely slim, and the lower portion of the neck covered with thick plumage, giving that part a de- ceptively massive appearance. The perching faculty, possessed in so eminent a degree by all Herons, probably attains its greatest perfection in this species, and is combined with locomotion in a unique and wonderful manner. It inhabits beds of rushes grow- ing in rather deep water ; very seldom, and probably only accidentally, does it visit the shore, and only when driven up does it rise above the rushes; for its flight, unlike that of its congeners, is extremely feeble. The rushes it lives amongst rise, smooth as polished pipe-stems, vertically from water too deep for the bird to wade in; yet it goes up to the summit and down to the surface, moving freely and briskly about amongst them, or runs in a straight line through them almost as rapidly as a Plover can run over the bare level ground. Unless I myself had been a witness of this feat I-could scarcely have credited it; for how does it manage to grasp the smooth vertical stems quickly and firmly enough to progress so rapidly without ever slipping down through them ¢
The Variegated Heron is a silent, solitary bird, found everywhere in the marshes along the Plata, as also in the rush- and sedge-beds scattered over the pampas. It breeds amongst the rushes, and lays from three to five spherical eggs, of a rich lively green and beautiful beyond comparison. The nest is a slight platform structure about a foot above the water, and so small that there is barely space enough
LITTLE RED HERON -. 107
on it for the eggs, which are large for the bird. When one looks down on them they cover and hide the slight nest, and being green like the surrounding rushes they are not easy to detect.
When driven up the bird flies eighty or a hundred yards away, and drops again amongst the rushes ; it is difficult to flush it a second time, and a third time it is impossible. A curious circumstance is that where it finally settles it can never be found. As I could never succeed in getting specimens when I wanted them, I once employed some gaucho boys, who had dogs trained to hunt flappers, to try for this little Heron. They procured several specimens, and said that without the aid of their dogs they could never succeed in finding a bird, though they always marked the exact spot where it alighted. This I attributed to the slender figure it makes, and to the colour of the plumage so closely assimilating to that of the dead yellow and brown-spotted rushes always found amongst the green ones; but I did not know for many years that the bird possessed a marvellous instinct that made its peculiar conforma- tion and imitative colour far more advantageous than they could be of themselves.
One day in November when out shooting, I noticed a Variegated Heron stealing off quickly through a bed of bulrushes, thirty or forty yards from me; he was a foot or so above the ground, and went so. rapidly that he appeared to glide through the rushes without touching them. I fired, but afterwards ascertained that in my hurry I had missed my aim.
108 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
The bird, however, disappeared at the report ; and thinking I had killed him I went to the spot.
It was a small, isolated bed of rushes I had seen him in; the mud below and for some distance round was quite bare and hard, so that it would have been impossible for the bird to escape without being perceived ; and yet, dead or alive, he was not to be found. After vainly searching and re-searching through the rushes for a quarter of an hour I gave over the quest in great disgust and bewilderment, and, after reloading, was just turning to go, when behold ! there stood my Heron on a rush, no more than eight inches from, and on a level with, my knees. He was perched, the body erect, and the point of the tail touching the rush grasped by its feet; the long slender tapering neck was held stiff, straight and vertically; and the head and beak, instead of being carried obliquely, were also pointing up. There was not, from his feet to the tip of his beak, a perceptible curve or inequality, but the whole was the figure (the exact counterpart) of a straight tapering rush: the loose plumage arranged to fill inequalities, and the wings pressed into the hollow sides, made it impossible to see where the body ended and the neck began, or to distinguish head from neck or beak from head. This was, of course, a front view; and the entire under surface of the bird was thus displayed, all of a uniform dull yellow, like that of a faded rush. I regarded the bird wonder- ingly for some time; but not the least motion did it make. I thought it was wounded or paralysed with
LITTLE RED HERON — 109
fear, and, placing my hand on the point of its beak, forced the head down till it touched the back; when I withdrew my hand up flew the head, like a steel spring, to its first position. I repeated the experiment many times with the same result, the very eyes of the bird appearing all the time rigid and unwinking like those of a creature in a fit. What wonder that it is so difficult, almost impossible, to discover the bird in such an attitude! But how happened it that while repeatedly walking round the bird through the rushes I had not caught sight of the striped back and the broad dark-coloured sides; I asked myself this question, and stepped round to get a side view, when, mirabile dictu, I could still see nothing but the rush-like front of the bird ! His motions on the perch, as he turned slowly or quickly round, still keeping the edge of the blade-like body before me, corresponded so exactly with my own that I almost doubted that I had moved at all. No sooner had I seen the finishing part of this marvellous instinct of self-preservation (this last act making the whole complete) than such a degree of delight and admiration possessed me as I have never before experienced during my researches, much as I have conversed with wild animals in the wilderness, and many and perfect as are the instances of adaptation I have witnessed. I could not finish admiring, and thought that never had anything so beautiful fallen in my way before ; for even the sublime cloud-seeking instinct of the White Egret and the typical Herons seemed less admirable than this; and for some time I continued
IIO BIRDS OF LA PLATA
experimenting, pressing down the bird’s head and trying to bend him by main force into some other position; but the strange rigidity remained unre- laxed, the fixed attitude unchanged. I also found, as I walked round him, that as soon as I got to the opposite side and he could no longer twist himself on his perch, he whirled his body with great rapidity the other way, instantly presenting the same front as before.
Finally I plucked him forcibly from the rush and perched him on my hand, upon which he flew away ; but he flew only fifty or sixty yards off, and dropped into the dry grass. Here he again put in practice the same instinct so ably that I groped about for ten or twelve minutes before refinding him, and was astonished that a creature to all appearance so weak and frail should have strength and endurance suffi- cient to keep its body rigid and in one attitude for so long a time.
Some recent or at all events later observations appear to show that some species of Bittern possess a similar instinct to that of the bird described—the faculty of effacing themselves as it were in the presence of an enemy. Doubtless any Bittern, its colouring being what it is, would make itself invisible among partially decayed and dead vegetation by extending and stiffening its body and keeping its breast towards its intruder. The peculiar thing in the case of the small Heron is that the whole action of the bird appears to be framed and designed expressly to make it look exactly like a dead yellow tapering bulrush.
LITTLE RED HERON III
But what can one say of such an instinct—if we can call it an instinct ¢ It is in its essence a weakness in the creature similar to that of many mammals, birds, fishes, batrachians, reptiles and insects that become paralysed with fear, or rather hypnotised, in the presence of an enemy. A strange flaw in the animal, since it brings to naught all the admirable instincts of self-preservation it has been endowed with, and gives it, without a struggle, a prey to its enemies, even to those of a slow, sluggish disposition.
In this particular instance the weakness or fault of nature has been taken advantage of by that principle which we call natural selection and has resulted in a more perfect protection than if the bird had been incapable of losing its mind, as one may say. In other words, the creature’s liability to the hypnotic or cataleptic state on certain occasions is its best protection.
This, however, is not the only case in which a. seemingly fatal weakness has been turned to good account, as we see in the death-like swoon, or “ pre- tending to be dead,” of many creatures when over- come by or in the presence of an enemy. I have observed it in the pampas fox and opossum, in the Tinamu, the Partridge of South America, in our Corncrake, and other Rails, and I have captured small birds by giving them a sudden fright.
By a strange chance I discovered that my Little Bittern was also subject to this weakness. A gaucho boy of my acquaintance, knowing that I was interested in this bird, one day brought me a dead specimen.
ote BIRDS OF LA PLATA
He said he had flushed it from a rush-bed, and as the bird flew away over dry land, he gave chase, and soon ran it down and captured it; but though perfectly uninjured it quickly died in his hand. As it was too late in the evening for me to deal with it I put it in a cage which had once been used to keep a Cardinal Finch in and hung it up under the veranda where it would be safe from cats. Next morning to my very great astonishment it was gone! A long-dead bird in a closed cage hung high up out of the way for safety, and now it was not there! How explain such a things There was no possible ex- planation, and it made me perfectly miserable for days thinking of it. Then at last it dawned on my weary brain that my dead bird had been alive all the time, that life had at all events come back to it, and that by squeezing its thin body edgeways through the wire it made its escape. Yet the wires were close enough to keep a Cardinal in confinement !
NIGHT-HERON
Wycticorax obscurus
Above ashy; front white; head, neck, and scapulars greenish black ; long crest plumes white ; beneath pale; length 26, wing 12 inches.
In the Argentine Republic the Night-Heron lives in communities, and passes the nours of daylight perched inactive on large trees or in marshes on the rushes, and when disturbed by day they rise up with
MAGUARI STORK 113
heavy flappings and a loud qua-qua cry. At sunset they quit their retreat, to ascend a stream or seek some distant feeding-ground, and travel with a slow flight, bird succeeding bird at long intervals, and uttering their far-sounding, hoarse, barking night-cry.
Where the flock lives amongst the rushes, in places where there are no trees, the birds, by breaking down the rushes across each other, construct false nests or platforms to perch on. These platforms are placed close together, usually where the rushes are thickest, and serve the birds for an entire winter.
The breeding habits of the Night-Heron have. been described in the account of an Egrets’ heronry.
MAGUARI STORK
Euxenura maguart
Plumage white; wings and upper tail-coverts black; naked lores and feet red; bill horn-colour; length 40, wing 20 inches.
THE Maguari Stork is a well-known bird on the pampas, breeding in the marshes, and also wading for its food in the shallow water ; but it is not nearly SO aquatic in its habits as the Jabiru, and after the breeding-season is over it is seen everywhere on the dry plains. Here these birds prey on mice, snakes and toads, but also frequently visit the cultivated fields in quest of food. When mice or frogs are
exceptionally abundant on the pampas, the Storks H II
114 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
often appear in large numbers, and at such times I have seen them congregating by hundreds in the evening beside the water; but in the daytime they scatter over the feeding-ground, where they are seen stalking along, intent on their prey, with majestic crane-like strides. To rise they give three long jumps before committing themselves to the air, and like all heavy fliers make a loud noise with their wings. They are never seen to alight on trees, like the Jabiru, and are absolutely dumb, unless the clattering
they make with the bill when angry can be called a language.
The laying-time is about the middle of August, and the nest is built up amongst the rushes, rising about two feet above the surface of the water. The eggs are rather long, three or four in number, and of a chalky white.
Mr. Gibson, of Buenos Ayres, furnishes the follow- ing lively account of a young Maguari: ‘ One, which I took on 5th October, was about the size of a domestic fowl, in down, and, with the exception of the white tail, entirely black. It soon became very tame, and used to wander all over the premises, looking for food, or watching any work that was going on. Rats were swallowed whole; and the way it would gulp down a pound or two of raw meat would have horrified an English housekeeper. Snakes it seized by the nape of the neck, and passed them transversely through its bill by a succession of rapid and powerful nips, repeating the operation two or three times before being satisfied that life was totally
MAGUARI STORK 115
extinct. It used often to do the same thing with dry sticks (in order not to forget the way, I suppose) ; while on one occasion it swallowed a piece of hard cowhide, a foot long, and consequently could not bend its neck for twenty-four hours after—till the hide softened, in fact. The story also went that ‘ Byles the lawyer’ (as he was called) mistook the tail of one of the pet lambs for a snake, and actually had it down his throat, but was * brought up ’ by the body of the lamb! Byles inspired a wholesome respect in all the dogs and cats, but was very peace- able as a rule. One of our men had played some trick on him, however; and the result was that Byles generally went for him on every possible occasion, his long legs covering the ground like those of an Ostrich, while he produced a demoniacal row with his bill. It was amusing to see his. victim dodging him all over the place, or sometimes, in desperation, turning on him with a stick; but Byles evaded every blow by jumping eight feet into the air, coming down on the other side of his enemy, and there repeating his war dance; while he always threatened (though his threats were never fulfilled) to make personal and pointed remarks with his for- midable bill.
“Shortly after his capture feathers began to appear; and the following is a description of the bird at the age of about two months: Tail-feathers white, remainder of plumage glossy green-black ; bill black; legs and feet grey. Spots and patches of white began to appear on head, back, and wings ;
116 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
these gradually extended, until, by the end of May, the adult plumage was all acquired. Then my interest in Byles ceased, and latterly he strayed away to his native swamps.”
WOOD-IBIS
Tantalus loculator
White ; greater wing-coverts and wing- and tail-feathers black with bronze reflections; head and upper part of neck naked, dusky ; vertex covered with a horny place; sides of head purplish ; feet slaty ; length 44, wing 17 inches. Female similar.
Most people in the Plata region are familiar with this bird of the marshes, its lofty stork-like figure and white plumage making it a very conspicuous object.
On the pampas it is not uncommon in summer and autumn, and goes in flocks of a dozen or twenty. The birds are usually seen standing motionless in groups or scattered about in spiritless attitudes, apparently dozing away the time. On the wing it appears to better advantage, having a singularly calm, stately flight; on a warm, still day they are often seen soaring in circles far up in the sky.
I have never heard of this bird nesting on the pampas, and am inclined to think that it only breeds in forest regions, and visits the marshes in the tree- less districts after the young have flown.
Its habits in North America, where it is called the ‘* Wood-Ibis,’”’ are tolerably well known, and in
WOOD-IBIS E17,
the ornithological works of that country it is described as “a hermit standing listless and alone on the topmost limb of some tall decayed cypress, its neck drawn in upon its shoulders, and its enormous bill resting like a scythe upon its breast.”’
It there nests on tall trees, sometimes in company with Egrets, and lays three white eggs.
There are three species of Stork in Argentina, the two described and the famous Jabiru, Mycteria americana.
This is a majestic bird, the largest of the American Storks ; it stands five feet high, and the wings have a spread of nearly eight feet. The entire plumage is pure white, the head and six inches of the neck covered with a naked black skin; from the back part extend two scarlet bands, the skin being glossy and exceedingly loose, and runs narrowing down to the chest. When the bird is wounded or enraged this loose red skin is said to swell out like a bladder, changing to an intensely flery scarlet hue. The name Jabiru is doubtless due to this circumstance, for Azara (who gives the Guarani name of the Stork as Aiaiai) says that the Indian word Yabira signifies “blown out with the wind.”
The Jabirt is but rarely found near Buenos Ayres, but occurs more frequently in Misiones, and in other districts on the northern frontier of the Republic. It nests on high trees, as has been recorded by Brown,} and is said to lay “‘ blue-green ”’ eggs.
1 Canoe and Camp-Life in British Guiana, p. 272.
118 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
WHITE-FACED IBIS
Plegadis guarauna
Head, neck, and upper surface purplish chestnut, with a white band round the base of the bill; back with metallic reflections ; wings and tail green with bronze reflections ; band across wing-coverts chestnut; length 22, wing g inches.
Tus form of the well-known “ Glossy Ibis” of Europe is one of our most abundant waterfowl on the pampas, and appears in spring in flocks; but as their movements are somewhat irregular and many individuals remain with us through the winter, their migrations probably do not extend very far. In summer they are found beside every marsh and watercourse, briskly wading about in the shallow water and plunging their long curved beaks down- wards at every step. When taking wing they invari- ably utter a loud ha ha ha, resembling hearty human laughter, but somewhat nasal in sound. They frequently leave the marshy places and are seen scattered about the grassy plains, feeding like land- birds; and on the pampas they often congregate about the carcase of a dead horse or cow, to feed on the larve of the flesh-fly, in company with the Milvago and the Hooded Gull.
Their flight is singularly graceful; and during migration the flocks are seen to follow each other in rapid succession, each flock being usually composed of from fifty to a hundred individuals, sometimes of
WHITE-FACED IBIS 119
a much larger number. It is most interesting to watch them at such times, now soaring high in the air, displaying the deep chestnut hue of their breasts, then descending with a graceful curve towards the earth, as if to exhibit the dark metallic green and purple reflections of their upper plumage. The flock is meanwhile continually changing its form or dis- position, as if at the signal of a leader. One moment it spreads out in a long straight line; suddenly the birds scatter in disorder, or throw themselves together like a cloud of Starlings ; as suddenly they re-form to continue their journey in the figure of a phalanx, half-moon, or triangle. The fanciful notion can scarcely fail to suggest itself to the spectator that the birds go through these unnecessary evolutions intelligently in order to attain a greater proficiency in them by practice, or, perhaps, merely to make a display of their aerial accomplishments. The Glossy Ibis has another remarkable habit when on the wing. _ At times the flock appears as if suddenly seized with frenzy or panic, every bird rushing wildly away from its fellows, and descending with a violent zig-zag flight ; in a few moments the mad fit leaves them, they rise again, reassemble in the air, and resume their journey. ae
120 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
BLACK-FACED IBIS
Theristicus caudatus
Sides of throat and lores bare, skin black; top of head and lower part of neck in front reddish chestnut; neck white; back and wings grey with green reflections; tertials and outer webs of secondaries for two-thirds of their length white, remainder dark green ; primaries dark green; rump light green, bronzed; tail dark bronze green; under parts black; length 33, wing 16.25 inches.
Tus very fine Ibis, called Mandurria 6 Curucdu by Azara and Vanduria de invierno (Winter Vanduria) in the vernacular, is one of the most interesting winter visitors from Patagonia to the pampas of Buenos Ayres. It is found in Chili, and has even been obtained as far north as Peru. On the east side of the continent it is most abundant (during the cold season) about latitude 37 deg. or 38 deg. Its summer home and breeding ground appears to be in the extreme south of the continent, its eggs having been obtained on the Straits of Magellan by Darwin, and later by Dr. Cunningham, who only says of it that it is a shy and wary bird, that goes in flocks of from four to eight, and has a cry resembling qua-qua, qua-qua. But he might just as well have spelt it quack-quack, since qua-qua fails to give the faintest idea of the series of hard, abrupt notes of extra- ordinary power the bird utters, usually when on the wing, which sound like blows of a powerful hammer on a metal plate. On the pampas this Ibis appears in May, frequents dry grassy situations, and goes in flocks of a dozen to forty or fifty individuals.
ws ie
Ahr
ey _
BLACK-FACED IBIS Thertsticus caudatus (Bodd.)
BLACK-FACED IBIS 121
They walk rapidly, stooping very much, and probing the ground with their long, slender, curved beaks, and appear to subsist principally on the larve of the large horned beetle, with which their stomachs are usually found filled. So intent are they on seeking their food that the members of a flock often scatter in all directions and wander quite out of sight of each other; when this happens they occasionally utter loud vehement cries, as if to call their com- panions, or to inform each other of their whereabouts. Frequently one is seen to lift up its wings as if to fly, and, stretching them up vertically, to remain for fifteen or twenty seconds in this curious attitude. At sunset they all rise up clamouring and direct their flight to the nearest watercourse, and often on their way thither go through a strange and interesting performance. The flock suddenly precipitates itself downwards with a violence wonderful to see, each bird rushing this way and that as if striving to outvie its fellows in every wild fantastic motion of which they are capable. In this manner they rise and descend again and again, sometimes massed together, then scattering wide apart in all directions. This exercise they keep up for some time, and while it lasts they make the air resound for miles with their loud percussive screams.
In Patagonia I first observed this Ibis roosting on tall trees; and, according to Azara, it possesses the same habit in Paraguay. He says that all the flocks within a circuit of some leagues resort to one spot to sleep, and prefer tall dead trees, bordering
122 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
on the water, and if there is only one suitable tree all the birds crowd on to it, and in the morning scatter, each family or pair flying away to spend the day in its customary feeding-ground.
The egg obtained by Dr. Cunningham at Elizabeth Island is thus described by Prof. Newton (Ibis, 1870, p. 502): “ Dull surface of a pale greenish white with engrained blotches (mostly small) of neutral tint, and some few blotches, spots, and specks of dull deep brown ; towards the larger end some hair- like streaks of a lighter shade of the same, and so far having an Ibidine or Plataleine character.”
BLUE IBIS
Harpiprion cerulescens
White forehead joined to white bar above and behind the eye; top of head and crest dark brown, with greenish tinge; throat and neck covered with long narrow feathers, light brown with pinkish tinge in certain lights; upper parts bluish bronzy green ; wings like the back, in some lights the feathers have a silvery gloss; primaries dark blue ; tail dark green; under parts brownish grey, with pink reflections in some lights ; length 33, wing 15.5 inches.
ites noble Ibis ranges from Brazil, south of the Amazons, to the pampas of Buenos Ayres. It is a bird of the marshes, nowhere abundant, and yet is exceedingly well known to most people in the Argen- tine country : it would be difficult indeed to overlook a species possessing so peculiar and powerful a voice. In the vernacular it is called Vanduria, with
BLUE IBIS 123
the addition of aplomado, or barroso, or de las lagunas, to distinguish it from the Winter Vanduria. The word is also frequently spelt Manduria or Banduria, but it does not come from bandada (flock), as Mr. Barrows imagines when he gives this vernacular name to the Glossy Ibis, but from the Spanish stringed instrument called vandiria. Possibly the instrument is obsolete now; not so the word, however, and it is sometimes used by the poets, instead of “ harp ”
r “ lyre ”’ to symbolise poetic inspiration, especially in mock heroic compositions. Thus Iriarte :
Atencion ! que la vanduria he templado.
If one could get a banjo with brass strings so big that it could be heard a mile and a half away, a dozen strokes dealt in swift succession on one string would produce a sound resembling the call of this Ibis— a voice of the desolate marshes, which competes in power with the outrageous human-like shrieks of the Ypecaha Rail, the long resounding wails of the Crazy Widow or Courlan, and the noe song of the Crested Screamer.
The Vanduria is usually seen singly or in pairs, and sometimes, but rarely, in small companies of half a dozen birds. In its habits it is like a Tantalus, ' wading in the shallow water of the marshes, and devouring eels, frogs, fish, etc. After examining the well-filled stomachs of a few individuals one is strongly tempted to believe that the beautiful long beak of this Ibis has “‘ forgotten its cunning ” as a probe. At intervals in the daytime it utters, standing
124. BIRDS OF LA PLATA
on the ground, its resonant metallic cry. It is wary and has a strong, easy flight, and is a great wanderer, but I am not able to say whether it possesses a regular migration or not.
The celebrated naturalist Natterer procured speci- mens of this Ibis in the lagoons of Caicara, in the Brazilian province of Matogrosso, in September and November, 1825, but it is not mentioned by general writers on the birds of South-east Brazil.
WHISPERING IBIS
Phimosus infuscatus
Dark bronzy green, glossed with purple; fore-part and sides of head and neck naked, red; bill and feet red; length 24, wing 11.5 inches.
Or this Ibis, which ranges from Colombia to the Argentine Republic, a few individuals come as far south as the pampas of Buenos Ayres.
The unfeathered state of the fore part of the head and throat suggested to Azara the name of Afeytado, or ‘“ shaved,’ but about its habits he has nothing to say, nor dces he mention its peculiar voice, or, perhaps it would be more correct to say, its want of voice; for it seems quite silent unless one comes near to it and listens very intently, when he will be able to hear little sigh-like puffs of sound as the bird flies away. It seems strange that this member of a loquacious loud-voiced family should be reduced to speak as it were in whispers !
ROSEATE SPOONBILL 125
On two or three occasions I have seen as many as half a dozen individuals together ; at other times I have seen one or two associating with the Glossy Ibis.
Azara’s name, ‘‘ Shaved ”’ Ibis, seems well enough in Spanish, just as his ‘ Throat-cut ” for a Starling with a scarlet throat does not strike one as at all shocking in that language; but for an English name I fancy that ** Whispering Ibis,’’ from the whisper- like sound the bird emits, would be more suitable, or at all events better sounding.
It is possible that two races of this Ibis exist on the South American continent; for in Brazil and further north it is said to have a loud cry, uttered when taking wing, as in the case of the Glossy Ibis ; and one of its native names in the tropics—curri- curri—is said to be an imitation of its usual note.
ROSEATE SPOONBILL
Ajaja rosea
Head bare; neck, back, and breast white; tail orange-buff with the shafts deep pink; rest of plumage pale rose-pink; lesser wing- coverts and upper tail-coverts intense carmine; neck with a tuft of twisted plumes, light carmine; head greenish, space round the eye and gular sac orange; eyes crimson, feet red; length 30, wing 15 inches. Female similar. Young with head completely feathered.
THE Roseate Spoonbill is found in both Americas and ranges south to the Straits of Magellan, but in Patagonia it is, I think, rare, for on the Rio Negro I
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did not meet with it. On the pampas it is abundant, and I have been told that it breeds in the marshes there, but I have never been able to find a nest. It is usually seen in small flocks of from half a dozen to twenty individuals, which all feed near together, wading up to their knees and sweeping their long flat beaks from side to side as they advance. An English acquaintance of mine kept one of these birds as a pet on his estancia for seven years. It was very docile, and would spend the day roaming about the grounds, associating with the poultry, but invariably presented itself in the dining-room at meal-time, where it would take its station at one end of the table and dexterously catch in its beak any morsel thrown to it.
Formerly, when I wrote the intel biographies for Argentine Ornithology I believed that there were two species of Spoonbill in Argentina, but I found that I was alone among ornithologists in that belief. I can, therefore, only repeat here a part of what I wrote in that work, and leave the question for time to decide.
The general belief is that the pale-plumaged birds, with feathered heads and black eyes (the Roseate Spoonbill having crimson eyes), and without the bright wing-spots, the tuft on the breast, horny excresences on the beak, and other marks, are only immature birds. Now, for one bird with all these characteristic marks of the true Platalea ajaja, which has a yellow tail, we meet on the pampas with not less than a hundred examples of the pale-plumaged
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bird without any traces of such marks and with a rose-coloured tail; and the disparity in number between mature and immature birds of one species could not well be so great as that. I have shot one immature specimen of the true Ajaja—so immature that it seemed not long out of the nest ; but the head was bare of feathers, and it had the knobs on the upper mandible, only they were so soft that they could be indented with the nail of the finger. Azara also mentions an immature bird which he obtained, but he does not say that the head was feathered ; and even this negative evidence goes a great way, since it would have been very unlike him to see a Spoonbill with a feathered head and otherwise unlike Ajaja rosea, and not describe it as a distinct species.
To conclude, I may mention that the pet bird my friend kept was of the pale-plumaged species, and never lost the feathers from its head, nor did it, in seven years, acquire any of the characteristic marks of P. ajaja. |
ARGENTINE FLAMINGO Phenicopterus ignipalliatus
Plumage rosy red; wing-coverts crimson; wing-feathers black ; bill pale red, apical half black; length 39, wing 15 inches. Female similar but smaller. THE Argentine Flamingo inhabits the whole of the Argentine country, down to the Rio Negro in the south, where I found it very abundant. The resi- dents told me of a breeding-place there—a shallow
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salt-lake—which, however, had been abandoned by the birds before my visit. The nest there, as in other regions, was a small pillar of mud raised a foot or eighteen inches above the surface of the water, and with a slight hollow on the top; and I was assured by people who had watched them on their nests that the incubating bird invariably sits with the hind part of the body projecting from the nest, and the long legs dangling down in the water, and not tucked up under the bird.
On the Rio Negro I found the birds most abundant in winter, which surprised me, for that there is a movement of Flamingoes to the north in the autumn I am quite sure, having often seen them passing overhead in a northerly direction in the migrating season. I have also found the young birds, in the grey plumage, at this season in the marshes near to Buenos Ayres city, hundreds of miles from any known breeding-place. Probably the birds in the interior of the country, where the cold is far more intense than on the sea-coast, go north before winter, while those in the district bordering on the Atlantic have become stationary.
The Flamingo has a curious way of feeding: it immerses the beak, and by means of a rapid con- tinuous movement of the mandibles passes a current of water through the mouth, where the minutest insects and particles of floating matter are arrested by the teeth. The stomach is small, and is usually found to contain a pulpy mass of greenish-coloured stuff, mixed with minute particles of quartz. Yet
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on so scanty a fare this large bird not only supports itself but becomes excessively fat. I spent half a winter in Patagonia at a house built on the borders of a small lake, and regularly every night a small flock of Flamingoes came to feed in the water about 200 yards from the back of the house. I used to open the window to listen to them, and the noise made by their beaks was continuous and resembled the sound produced by wringing out a wet cloth. They feed a great deal by day, but much more, I think, by night.
Where they are never persecuted they are tame birds, and when a flock is fired into and one bird killed, the other birds, though apparently much astonished, do not fly away. They are silent birds, but not actually dumb, having a low, hoarse cry, uttered sometimes at the moment of taking flight ; also another cry which I have only heard from a wounded bird, resembling the gobbling of a turkey- cock, only shriller. They are almost invariably seen standing in the water, even when not feeding, and even seem to sleep there; on land they have a very singular appearance, their immense height, in pro- portion to their bulk, giving them an appearance amongst birds something like that of the giraffe amongst mammals. To the lakes and water-courses in the midst of the grey scenery of Patagonia they seem to give a strange glory, while standing motion- less, their tall rose-coloured forms mirrored in the dark water, but chiefly when they rise in a long crimson train or phalanx, flying low over the