Volume 2 — ARGENTINE ORNITHOLOGY. (continued 5)

Description.—Above dark olive-brown, with small white spots: beneath black, barred across with white: whole length 5·5 inches, wing 3·0, tail 1·3.

Hab. Argentina and Patagonia.

The type specimen of this little Crake was obtained during the voyage of the ‘Beagle,’ on board the ship, when in the Rio Plata. Another specimen was captured off the coast of Uruguay and brought alive to England in 1876. An example of the same species in the Paris Museum was procured by d’Orbigny in Patagonia.

377. PORPHYRIOPS MELANOPS (Vieill.).

(LITTLE WATERHEN.)

Ortygometra melanops, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 505 (R. Uruguay). Porphyriops melanops, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 140; iid. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 461, et 1869, p. 634 (Buenos Ayres); Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 195 (Buenos Ayres).

Description.—Above olivaceous; head darker; wings brown; wing-coverts tinged with chestnut; outer secondaries more or less distinctly margined with white: beneath cinereous; middle of belly and crissum white; flanks olivaceous, spotted with white; bill dark olive, with the tip yellowish; feet hazel: whole length 9·0 inches, wing 5·0, tail 2·0. Female similar.

Hab. South America.

In the southern part of the Argentine country the Little Waterhen is a summer visitant, and very abundant in the marshes along the Plata. In language and habits it is like the Coots: it is not often seen on land, and feeds principally as it swims about in a jerky manner among the floating weeds. It appears in October, migrating exclusively, I think, by night; and after the autumnal departure an individual is rarely seen. By day they are shy and retiring, but scatter abroad in the evening, frequently uttering their hollow mysterious cry, called the witch laugh by superstitious people, and resembling a sudden burst of hysterical laughter, the notes beginning loud and long, becoming brief and hurried as they die away.

378. GALLINULA GALEATA (Licht.).

(AMERICAN WATERHEN.)

Gallinula galeata, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 505 (Rio Paraná); Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 140; iid. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 462; White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 627 (Buenos Ayres); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 277 (Entrerios).

Description.—Above grey; middle of back and wings olivaceous brown: beneath grey, whitish on the middle of the belly; bend of the wing, stripes on the flanks, and sides of crissum pure white; middle of crissum and tail black; frontal shield and bill red, the latter tipped with yellow; feet olive varied with yellow; naked portion of shank scarlet: whole length 15·0 inches, wing 7·5, tail 5·5. Female similar.

Hab. North and South America.

The American representative of our familiar Waterhen extends into the western provinces of the Argentine Republic. Mr. Barrows tells us it is abundant on the Lower Uruguay, and Dr. Burmeister met with it on the Paraná.

379. FULICA ARMILLATA, Vieill.

(RED-GARTERED COOT.)

Fulica armillata, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 505 (Mendoza, Paraná); Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 140; iid. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 145 (Buenos Ayres); iid. Ex. Orn. pl. lviii. p. 115; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 195 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 401 (Centr. Patagonia); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 277 (Entrerios); Withington, Ibis, 1888, p. 471 (Lomas de Zamora).

Description.—Dark slaty; whole head blackish; bend of wing and outer margin of external primary white; crissum white, with a black median patch; bill yellow, with red basal spots; frontal shield large, oval, yellow, margined with red; feet large, yellowish olive; front of them and naked portion of tibiæ red: whole length 16·0 inches, wing 7·8, tail 2·0. Female similar.

Hab. South Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chili, and Patagonia.

This is the largest of the three Coots found within our limits, and further distinguishable by the great size of the feet and the bright red markings at the base of the yellow bill. It seems to be generally distributed over the lagoons of the Pampas. Dr. Burmeister obtained specimens at Mendoza and Paraná, Durnford near Buenos Ayres and in Chupat, and Mr. Barrows in Entrerios, where he says it is not uncommon in the cold weather. In general plumage this Coot closely resembles the Yellow-billed Coot, but differs in the base of the upper mandible being of a deep orange-red, this colour extending to the middle of the frontal shield, and in the absence of white on the secondaries. The naked part of the leg above the foot is also of a bright red, hence Azara’s appropriate name of “Red-gartered Coot.”

Durnford received the eggs of this Coot from a correspondent living to the south of Buenos Ayres, where it was said to be “quite common.” He describes the eggs as being readily distinguishable from those of the two other species by their larger size.

380. FULICA LEUCOPYGA, Hartl.

(RED-FRONTED COOT.)

Fulica leucopyga, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 140; iid. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 467; iid. Ex. Orn. p. 120; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 42 (Chupat), et 1878, p. 66 (Buenos Ayres) et p. 402 (Centr. Patagonia); Withington, Ibis, 1888, p. 471 (Lomas de Zamora).

Description.—Dark cinereous; head and neck black; crissum white, with a black median patch; bill and frontal shield scarlet; tip of bill yellow; feet olivaceous: whole length 15·0 inches, wing 6·8, tail 2·0. Female similar.

Hab. Uruguay, Argentina, Chili, and Patagonia.

The want of the white margin to the outer primary and the smaller and pointed head-shield distinguish this Coot from the preceding species. From F. leucoptera it may be at once known by the absence of the white tips to the secondaries.

Durnford found the Red-fronted Coot common, and breeding in the lagoons north of Buenos Ayres. The nests of this bird and of F. leucoptera, he tells us, are much alike, but those of the present species are perhaps rather the smaller. “They are formed of reeds, and placed in clumps of the same, the bottom just above the water. The eggs vary in number from six to eight, and also differ a good deal in colour. Their ground-colour is dark greyish brown, finely mottled and streaked with rufous and darker brown, some of the spots being of a considerable size.”

381. FULICA LEUCOPTERA, Vieill.

(YELLOW-BILLED COOT.)

Fulica leucoptera, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 505 (Paraná); Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 140; iid. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 468; iid. Ex. Orn. pl. lx. p. 119; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 195 (Buenos Ayres); White, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 42 (Cordova); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 277 (Carhué, Pampas); Withington, Ibis, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas de Zamora).

Description.—Dark slaty; head and neck black; crissum white, with a black median patch; bend of wing and outer margin of external primary, also the tips of some of the secondaries, white; bill yellow; head-shield rounded behind; feet olivaceous: whole length 15·0 inches, wing 7·8, tail 2·0. Female similar.

Hab. Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, and Bolivia.

This is perhaps the most abundant species of Fulica in the Plata region, and certainly congregates in the largest numbers. The colour of the beak and shield is of a very delicate yellow; the legs and feet dull green; the head, neck, and part of the back velvet-black; all the rest of the plumage dark slate-colour, except the under coverts of the tail, which are white, and render the bird very conspicuous when it is swimming away with the tail raised vertically.

On the pampas, in large marshy lagoons, this Coot is sometimes seen in immense numbers; thousands of birds uniting in one flock, and spreading over the low shores to feed, they look like a great concourse of Rooks. But they are exceedingly timid, and at the sight of a bird of prey or other enemy they all scuttle back to the water, tumbling over each other in their haste to reach it. They rise in a peculiar manner, rapidly striking the surface of the water with their great lobed feet, often for a distance of twenty or thirty yards before they are fully launched in the air. They are loquacious birds, and when swimming about concealed among the thick rushes are heard answering each other in a variety of curious tones, some of their loud, hollow-sounding, reiterated cries resembling peals of laughter.

The nest is a slovenly structure of rushes lying on the water, with a very slight depression for the eggs, which are ten or twelve in number. These are long, pointed at one end, dull cream-colour, marked over the whole surface with small blackish and purple spots.

Fam. XLIV. ARAMIDÆ, or COURLANS.

The Courlans are a peculiar American family, intermediate between the Cranes and the Rails. Of the two known species, which are nearly allied, one occurs in the Argentine Republic.

382. ARAMUS SCOLOPACEUS (Gm.).

(SOUTHERN COURLAN.)

Aramus scolopaceus, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 504 (Paraná); Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 141; iid. P. Z. S. 1869, p. 160; Hudson, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 102 (Buenos Ayres); Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 196 (Buenos Ayres); Gibson, Ibis, 1880, p. 160 (Buenos Ayres); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 277 (Entrerios).

Description.—Above brown; forehead, lores, and chin greyish white; neck striped with white: beneath similar; bill brown; legs greenish grey: whole length 24·0 inches, wing 13·0, tail 5·0. Female similar.

Hab. South America.

This curious bird has a blackish-brown plumage, glossed with bronze on the upper parts; its total length is about two feet and a half, and the wings, when spread, measure nearly four feet from tip to tip. It has been called “an abnormal relative of the Rails at most,” and in its peculiar flight and many of its habits certainly differs very widely from the Rails.

The beak of this bird is nearly 5 inches long, straight, and of an iron hardness; the tip is slightly bent to one side, the lower mandible somewhat more than the upper. The tongue extends to the extremity of the beak; at the end it is of a horny toughness, and frayed or split into filaments. This beak is a most effective instrument in opening shells; for where mollusks abound the Courlan subsists exclusively on them, so that the margins of the streams which this bird frequents are strewn with innumerable shells lying open and emptied of their contents.

Every shell has an angular piece, half an inch long, broken from the edge of one valve. Mussels and clams close their shells so tightly that it would perhaps be impossible for a bird to insert his beak, however knife-like in shape and hardness, between the valves in order to force them open; therefore I believe the Courlan first feels the shell with his foot whilst wading, then with quick dexterity strikes his beak into it before it closes, and so conveys it to the shore. Otherwise it would be most difficult for the bird to lift the closed shell from the water and to carry it to land; but supposing it could do this, and afterwards succeed in drilling a hole through it with its beak, the hole thus made would have jagged edges and be irregular in shape. But the hole is, as I have said, angular and with a clean edge, showing that the bird had just thrust his beak half an inch or an inch between the valves, then forced them open, breaking the piece out during the process, and probably keeping the shell steady by pressing on it with its feet.

By day the Courlan is a dull bird, concealing itself in dense reed-beds in streams and marshes. When driven up he rises laboriously, the legs dangling down, and mounts vertically to a considerable height. He flies high, the wings curved upward and violently flapped at irregular intervals; descending, he drops suddenly to the earth, the wings motionless, pointing up, and the body swaying from side to side, so that the bird presents the appearance of a falling parachute. On smooth ground he walks faster than a man, striking out his feet in a stately manner and jerking the tail, and runs rapidly ten or twelve yards before rising. At the approach of night he becomes active, uttering long clear piercing cries many times repeated, and heard distinctly two miles away. These cries are most melancholy, and, together with its mourning plumage and recluse habits, have won for the Courlan several pretty vernacular names. He is called the “Lamenting Bird” and the “Crazy Widow,” but is more familiarly known as the “Carau.”

Near sunset the Caraus leave the reed-beds and begin to ascend the streams to visit their favourite fishing-grounds. They are very active at night, retiring again at the approach of morning, and sometimes pass the day perched on trees, but more frequently concealed in dense reed-beds.

As the breeding-season draws near they become exceedingly clamorous, making the marshes resound day and night with their long wailing cries. The nest is built among the rushes, and contains ten or twelve eggs as large as Turkey’s, slightly elliptical, sparsely marked with blotches of pale brown and purple on a dull white ground, the whole egg having a powdered or floury appearance. When the nest is approached the parent birds utter sharp angry notes as they walk about at a distance. The young and old birds live in one flock until the following spring.

The Carau is more nocturnal than the true Rails, and, having a far more powerful flight, takes to wing more readily; in its gestures and motions on the ground it resembles them, but differs strikingly from all Ralline birds in the habit it possesses of flying when disturbed to some open place, where it walks about conspicuously, watching the intruder.

Fam. XLV. CARIAMIDÆ or CARIAMAS.

The Cariamas are another purely Neotropical family of which but two species are known. These peculiar birds, remarkable for their long legs and harsh voices, have been regarded by some authors as allied to the Cranes, and by others as akin to the Secretary-Vulture (Serpentarius), to which they have certainly considerable superficial resemblance. Dr. Burmeister, who has carefully investigated the osteology and anatomy of Cariama cristata, has come to the conclusion that the true place of this somewhat isolated form is near the Storks. But Huxley (P. Z. S. 1867, p. 457) has placed it along with the Cranes, though somewhat doubtful whether it should not rather form an Order apart; and we prefer to follow his decision.

383. CARIAMA CRISTATA (Linn.).

(CRESTED CARIAMA.)

La Saria, Azara, Apunt. iii. p. 101 (Paraguay). Dicholophus cristatus, Burm. Syst. Ueb. Vög. Brasil. iii. p. 401; id. Abh. nat. Ges. Halle, i. p. 11 (1854). Cariama cristata, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 141.

Description.—Plumage yellowish grey, with numerous narrow darker and lighter cross bands; lower belly not banded; wings and tail blackish brown, with broad white cross bands; breast with pale shaft-stripes: front crested; bill and feet reddish: whole length 32·0 inches, wing 14·0, tail 14·0. Female similar, but more yellowish.

Hab. Campos of S.E. Brazil and Paraguay.

The Crested Cariama is a native of the Campos of the interior of Brazil, where it is well known as the “Seriema.” Hence it extends into the open districts of Paraguay, and, it is said, into the adjoining parts of the Argentine Republic, though we are not able at present to give any exact authority for this statement.

The Cariama lives on the ground among the high grasses of the Campos, where the traveller frequently hears its loud screaming cry as he rides along the tracks. It feeds principally upon insects and caterpillars, but also eats berries and fleshy fruits, and, it is said, snakes and other reptiles. It breeds in low bushes; and lays two roundish, spotted eggs, which in colour somewhat resemble those of the Crakes and Rails.

This bird is often brought alive to Europe, and examples may always be seen in the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London. Here they have paired and nested on more than one occasion, but have not succeeded in rearing their young. The frontispiece to the first volume of this work, which represents the Crested Cariama, is taken from one of these captive birds.

384. CHUNGA BURMEISTERI (Hartl.).

(BURMEISTER’S CARIAMA.)

Dicholophus burmeisteri, Hartl. P. Z. S. 1860, p. 335; Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 506 (Rioja, Catamarca, Tucuman). Chunga burmeisteri, Scl. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 666, pl. xxxvi.; Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 141. Cariama burmeisteri, Salvin, Ibis, 1880, p. 364 (Tucuman).

Description.—A very slight frontal crest; plumage cinereous, the feathers crossed by very narrow bands of whitish and black; lores and long superciliary stripe white: beneath paler on the chest; lower belly and crissum fulvous white; wings brownish black, beneath with broad blackish bars; tail like the back, but with two broad black subterminal cross bands, except on the two middle rectrices; bill and feet black: whole length 28·0 inches, wing 12·0, tail 14·0. Female similar.

Hab. Northern Argentina.

This Cariama, which much resembles the Crested Cariama in general appearance though smaller in size, and distinguished by several structural characters, is one of the many discoveries of the distinguished naturalist whose name it appropriately bears. Dr. Burmeister first met with the “Chuñia,” as this bird is called by the natives, in the province of Tucuman during his travels in the northern parts of the Argentine Republic in 1859.

The Chuñia, he tells us, is naturally friendly to mankind, and is often kept tame in the courtyards of houses along with the domestic fowls, amongst which it stalks about, eating remnants of flesh and large insects, especially grasshoppers. At night it roosts upon the roofs of the corridors.

In a free state the Chuñia lives in the forests, running about in the bush in the daytime, and roosting in the summit of the large trees. The nest is placed in bushes, not very high, and the young birds are often taken when half-fledged and become quickly accustomed to captivity.

Dr. Burmeister first met with this bird at La Invernada between Tucuman and Catamarca10, but tells us that it inhabits besides these two provinces the adjoining districts of La Rioja and Santiago del Estero. It is always easier to hear it than to see it, for its loud screaming voice may be recognized at a distance, but when approached in the bush it keeps a discreet silence.

Several examples of Burmeister’s Cariama have been received alive in the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London, from one of which an excellent figure has been taken by Mr. Smit (see P. Z. S. 1870, plate xxxvi.). The frontispiece of the present volume is a reduction of that figure by the same artist.

Order XV. LIMICOLÆ.

Fam. XLVI. PARRIDÆ, or JACANAS.

The Jacanas are a tropical group of birds with a somewhat general resemblance to the Rails, but with their toes enormously elongated, so as to enable them to move with facility over water-plants on the surface of lakes and ponds. In essential structure, however, they are now ascertained to be most nearly allied to the Plovers.

One genus of Jacanas (Parra) is peculiar to America, and a single species of this genus occurs in the Argentine Republic.

385. PARRA JACANA (Linn.).

(COMMON JACANA.)

Parra jacana, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 506 (Tucuman); Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 142; iid. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 145 (Buenos Ayres); Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 196 (Buenos Ayres); White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 627 (Buenos Ayres); Barrows, Auk, 1864, p. 277 (Entrerios).

Description.—Head and neck purplish black; back and wings bright chestnut; primaries and secondaries pale greenish yellow tipped with brown; flanks dark chestnut; breast dark black; abdomen purplish; tail chestnut tipped with black; wattles on head and base of bill red, rest of bill yellow; feet olive: whole length 10·5 inches, wing 5·8, tail 2·2. Female similar.

Hab. South America from Venezuela down to Buenos Ayres.

The beautiful Jacana or Jassana, sometimes called Alas-amarillas in the vernacular, differs very widely from all the other members of the Limicoline Order in its appearance, which is most singular—the toes being enormously long, the head ornamented with red lobes, and the wings armed with spurs, these and the beak being of a bright yellow. The colouring of the plumage heightens the novelty of its appearance; the head, neck, and underparts being black; the shoulders, back, and wing-coverts chestnut; while the quills, which have a bright satiny lustre, are apple-green in colour, and in some lights appear golden yellow.

In the southern part of the Plata district the Jacana is migratory, arriving from the north in Buenos Ayres early in October, either singly or in small parties. In their migration they appear to follow the course of the Plata; and, though some individuals are found breeding inland, they are for the most part confined to the littoral marshes.

The Jacanas journey by very easy stages, frequently alighting to rest by the way; for they are so incapable of sustained flight that boys on the pampas occasionally take them, pursuing them on horseback till the birds drop down exhausted. I believe the migratory Rails travel in the same way—a matter not easily determined, as they migrate by night; but they are feeble-winged creatures, and when driven to rise flutter away as if wounded. I have observed the Jacanas migrating by day, but would not for this reason affirm that they do not journey by night, since the Bartram’s Sandpiper and other species journey both day and night.

The Jacana flies swiftly, in a straight line and close to the surface: the wings flutter rapidly; and there are frequent intervals of gliding. When rising it presents a most novel appearance, as the lovely pale green of the wings is quite concealed when the bird is at rest; the beauty of its flight is thus greatly enhanced by the sudden display of a hue so rare and delicate. At a distance from the beholder, and in a strong sunshine, the wings appear of a shining golden yellow. Not only when flying does the Jacana make a display of its beautiful wings; without rising it has a way of exhibiting them, appearing to delight as much in them as the Cockatoo does in its crest or the Peacock in its train. When several of these birds live in company, occasionally they all in one moment leave their feeding, and with quick excited notes, and clustering together in a close group, go through a singular and pretty performance, all together holding their wings outstretched and agitated, some with a rapid fluttering, others with a slow-moving leisurely motion like that of a butterfly sunning itself. The performance over, the birds peaceably scatter again. I have never observed Jacanas fighting.

Shortly after arriving they pair, and build a simple nest with few materials, usually on the floating weeds. The eggs are four, in shape like Snipe’s eggs, and have deep-brown spots on a pale yellowish-brown ground. During incubation the male keeps guard at some distance from the nest, and utters a warning cry at the approach of an intruder; the female instantly flies from the nest, but in rising renders herself very conspicuous. When the nest is approached the parent birds hover about, occasionally fluttering as if wounded, all the time keeping up a clamour of hurried angry notes somewhat resembling the barking cries of the Black-collared Stilt.

Fam. XLVII. CHARADRIIDÆ, or PLOVERS.

Plovers are found all over the world’s surface and in every degree of latitude, and some of the species have an almost cosmopolitan distribution. In the Neotropical Region about twenty Plovers are known, of which seven are found within our limits. Three of these are Antarctic species that visit Argentina during the winter, one arrives in the opposite season from the north, and the other three are more or less abundant residents.

386. VANELLUS CAYENNENSIS (Gm.).

(CAYENNE LAPWING.)

Vanellus cayennensis, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 502; Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 142; iid. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 144 (Buenos Ayres); Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 42 (Chupat), p. 196; (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 402 (Centr. Patagonia); Gibson, Ibis, 1880, p. 161 (Buenos Ayres); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 278 (Entrerios, Pampas); Seebohm, Plovers, p. 216. Philomachus cayanus, Darwin, Zool. Voy. ‘Beagle,’ iii. p. 127.

Description.—Wings with a large yellow spine. Above grey; broad front and thin vertical crest black; a patch on the scapulars bronzy purplish; upper tail-coverts white; primaries purplish black; greater coverts pure white, passing into greyish on the secondaries; lesser wing-coverts bronzy green; tail—basal half white, apical half purplish black tipped with white: beneath, chin, line down the middle of the throat and breast shining black; sides of neck grey, passing into white on the face; abdomen and under wing-coverts pure white; bill red, with black tip; feet flesh-colour: whole length 13·0 inches, wing 8·2, tail 4·2, tarsus 3·1. Female similar.

Cayenne Lapwing. (Seebohm’s ‘Plovers,’ p. 216.)

Hab. Eastern South America.

The Lapwing of La Plata is considerably larger than the well-known Lapwing of the Old World, but closely resembles that bird in the general colour of the plumage, in the long, slender, black crest, and in general appearance. Throughout the Argentine country it is called Téru-téru, from its ever-repeated dissyllabic cry; west of the Andes the vernacular name is Queltregue, also in imitation of its notes. It has red legs, crimson irides, a rosy beak tipped with black, and coral-red wing-spurs; and these spots of bright colour add to its bold striking appearance. In size, beauty, and spirit it is a king among the Plovers, while its jealous aggressive disposition gives it the character of a tyrant amongst birds in general. On the pastoral pampas (the district from which the giant grasses have disappeared) it is excessively abundant; and it is there resident, although, as with most strong-winged resident species, some individuals do certainly migrate, small parties being occasionally seen in spring and autumn flying steadily at a great height, apparently performing a long journey. As a rule the birds pair for life, and remain always on the spot where they breed. They may be persecuted with guns, their eggs taken year after year, even the ground turned up with the plough, but they still refuse to be driven out. In regions having a broken surface—hills, woods, and sheltered hollows—birds naturally get attached to one spot, for each locality possesses its own features, and individuals frequenting it acquire a knowledge of its advantages. The vast pampas have a uniform level surface, and produce the same kinds of food in the same quantities. They are parched with droughts and flooded by rains alternately, and swept by dust-storms in summer and cold gales in winter—violent enough, one would imagine, to drive every winged creature away and obliterate all marks of home. Again, the powerful flight of this species would enable it to take long journeys, and, if unaffected by atmospheric changes, scarcity of food and water might be a temptation to seek new regions. But through all vicissitudes the Téru-téru clings to its chosen spot of ground.

In defence of its territory it wages perpetual war against most living creatures, the objects of its special abhorrence being men, dogs, rheas, and birds of prey generally. Its noisy cry and irascible temper are spoken of by most travellers and naturalists; for no person riding across the pampas could possibly overlook the bird, with its screaming protests against all trespassers perpetually ringing in his ears; but they have all omitted to mention the singular habit which this bird has of associating in sets of three for the purpose of amusement or play. Each couple, as I have said, live always together on their own pretty-well-defined plot of ground, which they jealously guard from intrusion. Yet if one watches a pair of them for a while he presently sees another—one of a neighbouring couple—rise up and fly to them, leaving his own mate to take care of home; and, instead of resenting this visit as an intrusion, they welcome it with notes and signs of manifest pleasure. Advancing to the visitor, they place themselves behind it, and then all three, keeping step, begin a rapid march, uttering loud drumming and rhythmical notes in time with their movements, the notes of the birds behind coming in a rapid stream, while the leading bird utters loud single notes at regular intervals. The march ceases, the leader stretches out his wings, still emitting loud notes, while the other two, with puffed-out plumage, standing exactly abreast, stoop forward until the tips of their beaks touch the ground, and, sinking their voices to a murmur, remain for some time in this singular posture. The performance is then over; the birds all resume their natural attitudes, and the visitor takes his leave. It is quite certain that this display has no connection with the sexual feeling, for it is indulged in all the year round, at all hours of the day, and also during moonlight nights. It is simply the bird’s manner of expressing its joyous spirits; for most living creatures—birds especially—have more or less well-defined methods of playing; and playday with the Téru is every day, and at very brief intervals. And yet the grave pompous air of the birds, and the military precision of their movements, might easily lead an observer to attribute these displays to some more important motive. Play is not only indulged in with neighbours; there are many solitary Térus continually wandering about from place to place—probably young birds not yet settled in life—and when one of these vagrants passes near a pair he is immediately invited to join them, and, when he alights, all go through the performance together with great zest. In this case, however, as soon as it is over, the strange bird is attacked with great spirit and chased away; and if by chance he comes down again near them, they hasten to drive him up with increased fury.

While watching their antics, which the Gauchos call the Téru’s quadrilles, a curious subject of inquiry suggested itself to my mind. It appeared to me that its manner of playing has had a reflex effect strong enough to mark the bird’s whole character—language, bearing, and habits being coloured by it, and even the domestic relations interfered with. And with regard to the latter point, though it is the rule that each cock bird has only one hen, I have known several instances of a cock with two hens, the two females laying their eggs in one nest and taking turns in sitting on them. I have also found instances of two males to one female; and in one case, where I watched the birds, I noticed that when the female was on the nest the males stood over her, one on each side.

I once had my attention drawn to a large concourse of Térus by the strange behaviour of two individuals amongst them, and I stayed to watch their proceedings. It was in the dry hot weather, and a great many birds had congregated to drink at a lagoon. Some hundreds of them were standing about, quietly preening their feathers, and in the middle of the flock two birds were conspicuously marching about, stiff and upright as a couple of soldiers engaged in some military exercise, and uttering loud notes full of authority. Every few minutes a fresh bird would arrive and alight at some distance from the water, on which the two noisy birds would bustle up, and, ranging themselves behind it, run it with loud drumming notes to the margin; then, standing close together, they would wait till its thirst was quenched, after which they would run it away to some distance from the water, of which they seemed to have made themselves dispensers. For over an hour I continued watching them, and every bird that arrived was conducted to and from the water in this ceremonious manner.

Occasionally several couples unite and soar about in a compact flock; they divide into sets of three birds each, then hover for some time, all waving their wings exactly in time and screaming their notes in unison, and these movements seem like an imitation in the air of the usual marching and drumming performance on the ground.

The breeding-season of the Térus begins as early as the month of June in favourable seasons; severe cold, drought, or other causes sometimes delays it to August. The nest is a shallow circular hollow made by the bird on the level plain, and lined with broken grass-stems and small fragments of thistle-stalks; the eggs are four, rather sharply pointed at one end, and have an olive-green ground-colour spotted with black. The eggs in different nests vary greatly in size, ground-colour, and in the amount of black they are marked with, no two birds laying eggs exactly alike.

While the female is on the nest the male keeps watch at a distance of twenty or thirty yards, and utters a low warning cry in case of danger. The female leaves the nest sometimes by running, but oftener flies from it, and by marking the spot she rises from, it is easy to find the nest on the open level pampas. In the course of a morning’s ride I have picked up as many as sixty-four eggs. During incubation the birds are excessively watchful and jealous, their irritability increasing with the growth of the chick in the shell; and at that time they will attack any bird of prey approaching the nest with amazing virulence. When approached by a human being they fly to meet him when he is still far from them, and hovering, with loud screams, over him, dash down at intervals, threatening to strike with their wing-spurs, coming very close to his head. Unable to intimidate the enemy with this show of violence, the bird changes its tactics, and, alighting at some distance, counterfeits the action of a bird seeking its nest. With well-acted caution and secrecy in its manner, it runs silently along, stooping low, and having found a slight nest-like depression on the surface, sits on it, half opens its wings, and begins gathering all the small sticks or straws within its reach and carefully arranges them about it, as most ground-breeding birds do when incubating. Sometimes also, like many other species, it tries to lead one away from the nest by feigning lameness; but the former instinct of seeking and sitting on an imaginary nest, which I have not observed in any other bird, seems far more complex and admirable.

When sheep in a flock pass over the nest, the bird stands on it to defend its eggs; and then its loud cries and outspread wings often serve to bring the sheep, from motives of curiosity, about it. Even with a dozen sheep clustered round it the bird stands undaunted, beating their faces with its wings; but, unhappily for it, if the shepherd is following, the loud cries of the bird bring him to the spot, and the eggs so bravely defended are taken.

387. CHARADRIUS DOMINICUS, Müller.

(AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER.)

Charadrius virginianus, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 501. Charadrius virginicus, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 142; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 197 (Buenos Ayres); White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 628 (Buenos Ayres); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 313 (Bahia Blanca); Withington, Ibis, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas de Zamora). Charadrius dominicus, Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 139. Charadrius fulvus americanus, Seebohm, Plovers, p. 100.

Description.—Above brownish black, with numerous irregular spots of yellow; forehead, superciliary stripe, and sides of neck white: beneath black; crissum whitish; axillaries smoky grey; bill black; feet dark grey: whole length 10·5 inches, wing 7·0, tail 2·8. Female similar. Young: beneath dirty white, with greyish freckles.

Hab. America.

This closely allied representative of the Golden Plover of Europe, from which it is distinguishable mainly by its rather larger size and smoky-grey axillaries, visits South America in autumn.

The American Golden Plover is abundant and well known to everyone by its native name Chorlo throughout Southern Argentina. Its wild clear notes are first heard about the last week in August; and among the first comers many individuals are seen still wearing the nuptial dress. After their long journey from the Arctic regions they are lean and not worth shooting; two months later they become excessively fat, and are then much appreciated by gourmets. But although so regular in their arrival they do not regularly visit the same localities every season; the bird may be abundant in a place one year and scarce or absent altogether the next. During the spring, from September to December, they prefer open plains with short grass and in the neighbourhood of wet or marshy ground; at the end of December, when the giant thistle (Carduus mariana), which often covers large areas of country, has been burnt up by the sun and blown to the ground, they scatter about a great deal in flocks of from one to four or five hundred. At noon, however, they all resort to a lagoon or marshy place containing water, congregating day after day in such numbers that they blacken the ground over an area of several acres in extent; and at a distance of a quarter of a mile the din of their united voices resembles the roar of a cataract. As population increases on the pampas these stupendous gatherings are becoming more and more rare. Twenty-five years ago it was an exceptional thing for a man to possess a gun, or to use one when he had it; and if Chorlos were wanted, a Gaucho boy, with a string a yard long with a ball of lead attached to each end, could knock down as many as he liked. I have killed them in this way myself, also with the bola perdida—a ball at the end of a long string thrown at random into a cloud of birds.

The habits, flight, and language of the Golden Plover need not be spoken of here, as this bird has been so often and exhaustively described by North-American ornithologists. The only peculiarity it possesses which I have not seen mentioned, is its faculty of producing a loud sound, as of a horn, when a few passing birds, catching sight of others of their kind on the ground below, descend violently and almost vertically to the earth with unmoving wings. This feat is, however, rarely witnessed; and on the first occasion when I heard the sound high above me, and looked up to see half a dozen Chorlos rushing down from the sky, the sight almost took my breath away with astonishment.

The Golden Plover appears to be most abundant on the pampas between the thirty-fourth and thirty-sixth parallels of latitude, but how far south its range extends has not yet been ascertained. The return migration begins early in March, and yet Mr. Barrows met with it in the neighbourhood of Bahia Blanca and on the Sierra de la Ventana from February 8 to March 19. During most of this time he says it was abundant in flocks of from twenty to two hundred birds, which appeared to be moving uniformly south or south-west.

388. EUDROMIAS MODESTA (Licht.).

(WINTER PLOVER.)

Vanellus modestus, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 502 (Pampas). Eudromias modesta, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 143; iid. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 144 (Buenos Ayres); Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 197 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 402 (Centr. Patagonia); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 313 (Entrerios); Withington, Ibis, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas de Zamora). Charadrius modestus, Seebohm, Plovers, p. 105.

Description.—Above brownish cinereous; frontal band and superciliary stripe white; wings and central tail-feathers blackish; lateral tail-feathers white, the inner ones with an imperfect black subterminal band: beneath, throat cinereous, breast bright chestnut with a black band below; belly white; bill black, base of lower mandible yellowish; feet brown: whole length 7·5 inches, wing 5·3, tail 2·4. Female similar. Young without the rufous chest.

Winter Plover. (Seebohm’s ‘Plovers,’ p. 105.)

Hab. Antarctic America.

This species in its gait, flight, and general appearance closely resembles the American Golden Plover, but is smaller than that bird, and its sober upper plumage is unrelieved with flecks of golden colour. It breeds in South Patagonia and the Falklands, and migrates north in autumn, appearing on the pampas in April, and being met with there throughout the winter; hence the vernacular name Chorlito de invierno (Little Winter Plover). In its winter dress the upper plumage is greyish drab colour; the breast dark brown; the belly white. It is shy and active in disposition, has a very rapid flight, and is seen in flocks varying greatly in number, from a dozen to two or three hundred individuals. When feeding the birds scatter very widely, running swiftly over the ground in all directions. When on the wing it frequently utters its cry, which has not the mellow tone of the Golden Plover’s note, but it is wonderfully clear and far-reaching, and impresses the listener with its wildness and melancholy.

Their return migration takes place in August.

389. ÆGIALITIS FALKLANDICA (Lath.).

(PATAGONIAN SAND-PLOVER.)

Ægialitis falklandica, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 143; iid. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 144 (Buenos Ayres), et 1872, p. 549 (Rio Negro); Durnford, Ibis, 1878, p. 402 (Centr. Patagonia); Gibson, Ibis, 1880, p. 163 (Buenos Ayres); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 313 (Entrerios). Charadrius falklandicus, Seebohm, Plovers, p. 155.

Description.—Above brown; front white; band across forehead and sides of head black, bordered with rufous; wings black, with bright shafts and white edges to the base of some of the inner primaries; central tail-feathers black, lateral white, with a more or less distinct subterminal blackish band, except on the outer pair: beneath white, crossed by two broad blackish bands on the breast; bill and feet black: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 5·0, tail 2·1. Female similar.

Hab. Patagonia, Falkland Islands, Chili, and Argentina.

The pretty little Belted Plover inhabits the Falklands and South Patagonia, and migrates north in winter as far as Paraguay; but it is not anywhere common, and is seldom seen in parties exceeding half a dozen in number. It is extremely active, always preferring wet grounds to dry, and runs rapidly over the mud in search of food like a Tringa. Its only language is a low clicking note uttered when taking wing.

Some individuals remain to breed as far north as the pampas of Buenos Ayres. Mr. Gibson says the nest is always placed near the water, and is a slight scrape in the ground lined with dry grass. The eggs are three in number, have black spots on an olive ground; and in shape resemble Lapwing’s eggs.

Durnford also found it breeding in the Chupat Valley in September 1877.

390. ÆGIALITIS COLLARIS (Vieill.).

(AZARA’S SAND-PLOVER.)

Charadrius azaræ, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 501. Ægialitis collaris, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 143; Durnford, Ibis, 1878, p. 67 (Buenos Ayres); id. Ibis, 1880, p. 424 (Tucuman); White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 628 (Buenos Ayres); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 313 (Entrerios). Charadrius collaris, Seebohm, Plovers, p. 173. “Cinereous Plover,” Hudson, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 261.

Description.—Above brown; front white; fore half of head and line between bill and eyes black; top of head and sides of neck tinged with rusty red; primaries blackish with bright shafts and slight white edgings; tail with the central rectrices blackish brown, lateral rectrices white: beneath white; pectoral collar black; bill black; feet yellow: whole length 6·0 inches, wing 4·1, tail 2·0. Female similar.

Azara’s Sand-Plover. (Seebohm’s ‘Plovers,’ p. 173.)

Hab. South and Central America.

Azara’s Sand-Plover is distributed all over South America east of the Andes, and has been obtained by Mr. Salvin in Guatemala. It is a close ally of the Kentish Plover of Europe (Æ. cantiana), but has the black pectoral band complete in the adult form.

This Plover appears to be an inland species. Durnford observed it in October, December, and February in the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres, on “dry sandy ground,” frequenting the same sort of places as the Common Ring-Plover in England. He also met with it during his last journey to Tucuman, and Mr. Barrows found it “rather abundant” in small flocks all over the open country in Entrerios.

391. OREOPHILUS RUFICOLLIS (Wagl.).

(SLENDER-BILLED PLOVER.)

Oreophilus ruficollis, Wagl., Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 143; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 42 (Chupat), et 1878, p. 402 (Centr. Patagonia). Oreophilus totanirostris, Cab. J. f. O. 1878, p. 199 (Sierra de Cordova). Charadrius totanirostris, Seebohm, Plovers, p. 111.

Description.—Above grey, varied with yellowish brown, and striped with black on the back and wing-coverts; front and superciliaries yellowish brown; stripe through the eye blackish; wings blackish with white shafts, and slightly edged with white, their under surface white; tail grey, with a black subterminal bar on the lateral feathers: beneath grey, whole throat rusty reddish; large ventral patch black; sides of belly and crissum cinnamomeous white; bill black; feet yellowish: whole length 10·0 inches, wing 6·5, tail 3·0, bill from gape 1·5.

Slender-billed Plover. (Seebohm’s ‘Plovers,’ p. 111.)

Hab. Southern half of South America.

This pretty and curious Plover, with a Snipe-like beak, inhabits South Patagonia and the Falklands. In the autumn it migrates north, and during the cold season is found sparsely distributed throughout the Argentine States, and passes into Bolivia and Peru. On the pampas it is most abundant in April, but most of the birds seen during that month are travellers to warmer latitudes.

It is a shy and exceedingly active bird, somewhat larger than the Golden Plover in size, and in the Plata district is usually called Chorlo canela, from the prevailing cinnamon-red tint of the plumage. It is distinguished in the family it belongs to by the great length of its straight slender probe-like bill, unlike that of any other Plover; and it also has other structural peculiarities, the toes being exceptionally short and thick, the frontal bone curiously modified, and the eyes enormously large, like those of a nocturnal species. I do not think, however, that it migrates by night, as I have never heard its peculiar passage-cry after dark. A flock is usually composed of from a dozen to thirty individuals, and when on the ground they scatter widely, running more rapidly than any other Plover I am acquainted with. When they travel the flight is swift and high, the birds much scattered. They possess no mellow or ringing tones like other members of the Plover family; on the ground they are silent, but when taking wing invariably utter a long tremulous reedy note, with a falling inflection, and usually repeated three or four times. The sound may be imitated by striking on the slackened strings of a guitar. This cry is frequently uttered while the birds are migrating.

On the Rio Negro in Patagonia I observed this Plover only in the winter season; but Durnford found it nesting in the valley of the Sengel in Chupat in the month of December.

392. HÆMATOPUS PALLIATUS, Temm.

(AMERICAN OYSTER-CATCHER.)

Hæmatopus palliatus, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 143; Durnford, Ibis, 1878, p. 403 (Centr. Patagonia); Seebohm, Plovers, p. 305; Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 112.

Description.—Head and neck all round black; back and wing-coverts brown; upper tail-coverts, greater wing-coverts, and abdomen white; bill and feet orange: whole length 17·0 inches, wing 9·5, tail 3·5. Female similar.

Hab. America.

This Oyster-catcher is widely distributed along the coasts of North and South America, from Nova Scotia to Patagonia. Durnford found it nesting near Tombo Point in Central Patagonia in the month of December, but failed to obtain the eggs.

At the same place Durnford also observed the Black Oyster-catcher (H. ater), but that is an Antarctic species, which may probably not come further north.

Fam. XLVIII. THINOCORIDÆ, or SEED-SNIPES.

The family Thinocoridæ, which embraces the two genera Thinocorus and Attagis, is a peculiar group of South-American birds of somewhat Partridge-like appearance, and associated by the older authors with the Gallinæ, but now known to be most nearly allied in essential structure to the Plovers. The Seed-Snipes are inhabitants of bare and desolate districts, being found in the northern parts of the continent only on the high Andes, but descending to the sea-level in Patagonia and the Falkland Islands. The species are few in number, only about six being known, of which two occur within Argentine limits.

393. THINOCORUS RUMICIVORUS, Eschsch.

(COMMON SEED-SNIPE.)

Thinocorus rumicivorus, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 501 (Rosario); Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 144; iid. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 143 (Buenos Ayres); Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 42 (Chupat) et p. 197 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 403 (Centr. Patagonia); Tacz. Orn. Pér. iii. p. 283.

Description.—Above buffy brown, marbled and irregularly banded with black; wing-feathers black, edged with white, external secondaries like the back; tail black, broadly tipped with white, central rectrices like the back: beneath white; a broad line on each side of the throat uniting in the centre of the neck and expanding into a collar on the breast black; sides of neck greyish; bill dark brown; feet yellow; claws black: whole length 6·5 inches, wing 3·9, tail 1·9. Female: above like the male: beneath white, sides of neck and breast brown varied with blackish, with slight traces only of the black bar.

Hab. Western Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Patagonia, and Argentina.

This curious bird has the grey upper plumage and narrow, long, sharply-pointed wings of a Snipe, with the plump body and short strong curved beak of a Partridge. But the gallinaceous beak is not in this species correlated, as in the Partridges, with stout rasorial feet; on the contrary, the legs and feet are extremely small and feeble, and scarcely able to sustain the weight of the body. When alighting the Seed-Snipe drops its body directly upon the ground and sits close like a Goatsucker; when rising it rushes suddenly away with the wild hurried flight and sharp scraping alarm-cry of a Snipe. It is exclusively a vegetable-feeder. I have opened the gizzards of many scores to satisfy myself that they never eat insects, and have found nothing in them but seed (usually clover-seed) and tender buds and leaves mixed with minute particles of gravel.

These birds inhabit Patagonia, migrating north to the pampas in winter, where they arrive in April. They usually go in flocks of about forty or fifty individuals, and fly rapidly, keeping very close together. On the ground, however, they are always much scattered, and are so reluctant to rise that they will allow a person to walk or ride through the flock without taking wing, each bird creeping into a little hollow in the surface or behind a tuft of grass to escape observation. During its winter sojourn on the pampas the flock always selects as a feeding-ground a patch of whitish argillaceous earth, with a scanty withered vegetation; and here when the birds crouch motionless on the ground, to which their grey plumage so closely assimilates in colour, it is most difficult to detect them. If a person stands still close to or in the midst of the flock the birds will presently betray their presence by answering each other with a variety of strange notes, resembling the cooing of Pigeons, loud taps on a hollow ground, and other mysterious sounds, which seem to come from beneath the earth.

In the valley of Rio Negro I met with a few of these birds in summer, but could not find their nests.

Durnford, however, who found them breeding in Chupat at the end of October, tells us that the nest is a slight depression in the ground, sometimes lined with a few blades of grass. “The eggs have a pale stone ground-colour, very thickly but finely speckled with light and dark chocolate markings; they have a polished appearance, and measure 1·3 × ·8 inch” (Ibis, 1878, p. 403).

394. THINOCORUS ORBIGNYANUS, Geoffr. et Less.

(D’ORBIGNY’S SEED-SNIPE.)

Thinocorus orbignyanus, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 500; Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 144; Tacz. Orn. Pér. iii. p. 281.

Description.—Above yellowish brown, streaked and marbled with black; wing-feathers blackish with lighter edgings, inner secondaries like the back; back and sides of neck grey: beneath white; throat white, surrounded by a narrow black band; breast grey, joining the grey neck, and bordered beneath by a narrow black band; bill brown, tip black; feet yellow, claws black: whole length 8·0 inches, wing 5·5, tail 3·0. Female: above like the male, but without the grey neck: beneath white, sides of neck and breast like the back; throat white.

Hab. Western Peru, Bolivia, Chili, and Western Argentina.

Dr. Burmeister met with examples of this Seed-Snipe, which is easily distinguishable from the preceding species by its larger size, in the high valleys of the Sierra of Uspallata, at an elevation of about 6000 feet above the sea-level. It is called “Guancho” by the natives after its peculiar call-note, which, however, sounded more like “Tulco” to Dr. Burmeister, and is often heard at night-time.

This Seed-Snipe is also found in Peru at high elevations in the Puna region (12,000 to 14,000 feet), where M. Jelski obtained its eggs. A description of them with some interesting notes on the habits of the species are given in Taczanowski’s ‘Ornithologie du Pérou.’

Fam. XLIX. SCOLOPACIDÆ, or SNIPES.

Like the Plovers, the Snipes are nearly universally distributed over the world’s surface, though most abundant in northern regions. Of about 35 Neotropical species 15 are known to occur in the Argentine Republic, and many additions to the list of these wandering birds may be reasonably expected.

Of the fifteen Scolopacidæ already recognized as occurring within our limits, all but three are Arctic species, which only visit the far south during their migrations. The three exceptions are the Brazilian Stilt (Himantopus brasiliensis), the Paraguay Snipe (Gallinago paraguaiæ), and the Painted Snipe (Rhynchæa semicollaris), which are resident all the year in the Argentine Republic.

395. HIMANTOPUS BRASILIENSIS, Brehm.

(BRAZILIAN STILT.)

Himantopus nigricollis, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 502 (Pampas); Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 144 (Buenos Ayres); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 314 (Entrerios, Azul, Pampas). Himantopus brasiliensis, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 144; iid. P. Z. S. 1873 p. 454; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 198 (Buenos Ayres); Gibson, Ibis, 1880, p. 162 (Buenos Ayres).

Description.—White; line behind each eye, nape, back of neck, interscapulium, and wings black; a narrow white band divides the black neck from the black upper back; bill black; feet orange: whole length 14·0 inches, wing 8·5, tail 3·3, bill from gape 2·5, tarsus 4·2. Female similar.

Head of Brazilian Stilt. (P. Z. S. 1873, p. 454.)

Hab. South America.

This bird is resident and common in the Plata district, and is called in the vernacular Téru-real, also Zancudo (stilt). It frequents marshes and lagoons, and wades in search of food in the shallow water near the margin. It is lively in its movements, and notwithstanding the great length of its legs has a pretty, graceful appearance on the ground. On the wing, however, it is seen at its best, the flight being remarkably swift and free, while the sharply-pointed glossy-black wings contrast finely with the snow-white plumage of the body, and the red legs stretched out straight behind have the appearance of a long slender tail. Stilts are fond of aerial exercises, pursuing each other with marvellous velocity through the air, so that a few moments after the spectator has almost lost sight of them in the sky above they are down again within a few yards of the surface. While pursuing each other they constantly utter their excited barking cries, which in tone remind one of the melodious barking of some hounds.

The nest is made on the low ground close to the water, and consists merely of a slight lining of dry grass and leaves gathered in a small depression on the surface; the eggs are four in number, pyriform, dark olive colour, spotted with brownish black, the spots being very thickly crowded at the large end. During incubation the male keeps guard and utters a warning note on the appearance of an enemy, whereupon the female quits the nest. They also counterfeit lameness to draw a person from the neighbourhood of the eggs or young; but in a manner peculiar to this species; for owing to the great length of their legs they cannot drag themselves along the ground, as ducks, plovers, partridges, and other birds do. Placing themselves at a distance of forty or fifty yards from the intruder, but with breast towards him, they flutter about a foot above the ground, their long legs dangling under them, and appear as if struggling to rise and repeatedly falling back. If approached they slowly retire, still fluttering just above the grass and without making any sound. After the young birds are able to fly they remain with the parents until the following spring; and sometimes two or three families associate together, raising the number of the flock to fifteen or twenty birds. The young have a sharp querulous cry of two notes; the plumage is brown and pale grey; the eyes black. After nine or ten months the adult plumage is acquired, not by moulting, but by a gradual change in the colours of the feathers. By the same gradual process the eye changes from black to crimson, the outer edge of the iris first assuming a dull reddish colour, which brightens and widens until the whole iris becomes of a vivid red.

396. PHALAROPUS WILSONI, Sabine.

(WILSON’S PHALAROPE.)

Phalaropus wilsoni, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 144; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 42 (Chupat). Steganopus wilsoni, Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 335.

Description.—Above cinereous; head above and stripe down the neck clear greyish white; sides of head and neck black; middle of back grey, varied with dark maroon; rump and body beneath white; neck beneath stained with rufous; bill and feet black: whole length 8·5 inches, wing 5·5, tail 2·5. Female similar, but rather brighter. Winter plumage: above dark grey, beneath white.

Wilson’s Phalarope. (Seebohm’s ‘Plovers,’ p. 342.)

Hab. America, descending southwards during migration to Patagonia.

Wilson’s Phalarope is a North-American species; which breeds in the north-west of that continent, and descends as far south as Chili and Patagonia during migration.

Durnford in 1876 met with this species in the Chupat Valley, “in the still pools formed by the eddies in the river and in the adjacent stagnant ditches.” It was “usually seen in pairs.” Leybold’s collector obtained specimens of it near Mendoza.

397. GALLINAGO PARAGUAIÆ (Vieill.).

(PARAGUAY SNIPE.)

Scolopax frenata, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 503. Gallinago paraguaiæ, Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 144 (Buenos Ayres); iid. Nomencl. p. 144; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 198 (Buenos Ayres); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 314 (Entrerios); Withington, Ibis, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas de Zamora). Scolopax frenata magellanica, Seebohm, Plovers, p. 496.

Description.—Above brown, striped and barred with black and pale fulvous; wings dark cinereous edged with white; tail of 16 rectrices, of which the outer pair are pin-shaped: beneath white, breast marbled with blackish and brown: whole length 10·5 inches, wing 5·1, tail 2·4, bill 2·8.

Hab. Patagonia, La Plata, and Paraguay.

This familiar bird, called Agachona in the vernacular, from its habit of crouching close to the ground to escape observation when approached, is abundant in the Plata district and resident, although its sudden and total disappearance from all the open wet places where it is common in the winter gives one the impression that it is migratory. The bird, however, only retires to breed in the extensive lonely marshes. The nest is a slight depression on the moist ground close to the water, and lined with a little withered grass. The eggs are four, pear-shaped, and spotted with black on an olive-coloured ground.

After the summer heats are over Snipes suddenly appear again all over the country, and at this season they are frequently met with on the high and dry grounds among the withered grass and thistles. In favourable wet seasons they sometimes collect in large flocks, numbering not less than five or six hundred birds, and a flock of this kind will occasionally remain in one spot for several months without breaking up. They usually frequent an open spot of level ground where the water just covers the roots of the short grass; here the birds keep close together while feeding and are visible from a long distance; but they become extremely wary, all raising their heads in a very un-Snipe-like manner at the slightest alarm, and taking flight with the readiness of Wild Ducks. These flocks are, however, not often met with. Usually the Snipe is a solitary bird, crouches close when approached, and springs up suddenly when almost trodden on, loudly uttering its sharp scraping alarm-cry; after rising to a considerable height, flying in a wild erratic manner, it returns suddenly to the earth, often dropping into the grass within twenty yards of the spot it rose from.

It is, indeed, curious to see how these habits, characteristic of the Snipes all over the world, are so completely laid aside when the birds associate in large flocks.

Early and late in the day many individuals are usually on the wing engaged in their aerial pastimes, the singular grinding sounds caused by their feathers in their violent descent from a great height being distinctly audible at a distance of nearly a mile. It is heard throughout the winter at all hours of the day in mild damp weather, and on moonlight nights often until after midnight.

398. RHYNCHÆA SEMICOLLARIS (Vieill.).

(PAINTED SNIPE.)

Rhynchæa hilarii, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 504 (Rio Paraná). Rhynchæa semicollaris, Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 144 (Buenos Ayres); iid. Nomencl. p. 145; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 199 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 403 (Chupat); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 314 (Entrerios); Seebohm, Plovers, p. 459, pl. xix.; Withington, Ibis, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas de Zamora).

Description.—Above dark brown; head black, with a central and two lateral longitudinal bands of buffy white; wings ashy blackish, spotted with buffy white and barred with black; coverts with large oval spots of clear white: beneath, throat and breast dark brownish, with a conspicuous white neck-collar on each side; belly white, flanks tinged with buffy; bill greenish, reddish at tip; feet flesh-colour: whole length 8·0 inches, wing 4·1, tail 2·0. Female similar, but slightly larger and more brightly coloured.

Hab. Southern parts of South America, from Peru to Patagonia.

In the Argentine provinces this bird is called Dormilon (Sleepy-head), in allusion to its dull habits, which are like those of a nocturnal species. It passes the daylight hours concealed in dense reed-beds, rising only when almost trodden on; the flight is feeble and erratic, the rapid wing-flutterings alternating with intervals of gliding, and after going a short distance the bird drops again like a Rail into the rushes. From its behaviour on the ground, also in flying, when it appears dazed with the light, I have no doubt that it is altogether nocturnal or crepuscular in its habits. It is solitary and resident, and may be met with in small numbers in every marsh or stream in the Plata district, where its favourite reed-beds afford it cover. It appears to have no cry or note of any kind, for even when frightened from its nest and when the eggs are on the point of hatching it utters no sound. The eggs never exceed two in number and are placed on the wet ground, often without any lining, among the close grass and herbage near the water. They are oblong and bluntly pointed at the smaller end, and have a white ground-colour, but so densely marked and blotched with black that in some cases they appear to be almost wholly of that colour, or like black eggs flecked with white.

399. TRINGA MACULATA, Vieill.

(PECTORAL SANDPIPER.)

Tringa maculata, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 145; iid. P. Z. S. 1873, p. 455; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 43 (Chupat), et 1878, p. 68 (Buenos Ayres); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 314 (Entrerios); Saunders, Yarrell’s Birds, iii. p. 368. Actodromas maculata, Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 232. Tringa acuminata pectoralis, Seebohm, Plovers, p. 443.

Description.—Above brown, varied with black; superciliaries whitish; rump and middle upper tail-coverts blackish, lateral upper tail-coverts white: beneath white; neck and breast pale greyish streaked with blackish: whole length 8·5 inches, wing 5·1, tail 2·4, bill 1·1. Female similar.

Tail-feathers of Pectoral Sandpiper. (Seebohm’s ‘Plovers,’ p. 443.)

Hab. Arctic America, migrating south to Patagonia in winter.

The Pectoral Sandpiper is a well-known North-American species that visits the south during migration. It breeds abundantly in Alaska, and descends in winter through Central and South America to Chili and Patagonia. Durnford found it abundant about the salt-lagoons of Chupat. Near the end of August it begins to arrive in La Plata, usually in very small flocks or singly; and among these first-comers there are some young birds so immature and weak in appearance that one can scarcely credit the fact that so soon after being hatched they have actually performed the stupendous journey from the northern extremity of the North-American continent to the Buenos-Ayrean pampas.

This species differs from other Sandpipers in being much more solitary and sedentary in its ways, feeding for hours in one spot, and in its Snipe-like habit of sitting close when approached and remaining motionless watching the intruder; also in its language, its low, soft, tremulous cry when flying being utterly unlike the sharp and clicking sounds emitted by other species. During the hot months, when water begins to fail, they occasionally congregate in flocks, sometimes as many as two or three hundred individuals being seen together; but at all times it is more usual to see them in very small flocks or singly.

400. TRINGA BAIRDI (Coues).

(BAIRD’S SANDPIPER.)

Tringa dorsalis, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 503 (Mendoza)? Tringa bairdi, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 145; iid. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 144, et 1873, p. 455 (Buenos Ayres); Seebohm, Plovers, p. 444. Actodromas bairdi, Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 230.

Description.—Above brown varied with blackish; rump and upper tail-coverts blackish: beneath white, neck and sides of breast pale fulvous-brown, with blackish shaft stripes; bill and feet black: whole length 6·8 inches, wing 4·5, tail 2·1. Female similar.

Tail-feathers of Baird’s Sandpiper. (Seebohm’s ‘Plovers,’ p. 444.)

Hab. Arctic America, migrating south to Patagonia in winter.

This is likewise an Arctic-American species which visits South America in winter. I have met with it in small flocks near Buenos Ayres in April and May; and it has also been procured in Chili.

401. TRINGA FUSCICOLLIS, Vieill.

(BONAPARTE’S SANDPIPER.)

Tringa fuscicollis, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 145; Durnford, Ibis, 1878, p. 68 (Buenos Ayres) et p. 404 (Centr. Patagonia); White, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 42 (Buenos Ayres); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 314 (Entrerios); Saunders, Yarrell’s Birds, iii. p. 373. Tringa bonapartii, Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 144, et 1873, p. 455 (Buenos Ayres); Seebohm, Plovers, p. 445. Actodromas fuscicollis, Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 227.

Description.—Above brownish grey, varied and spotted with black; superciliaries white; rump grey, upper tail-coverts white: beneath white; breast and flanks spotted and streaked with blackish: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 4·8, tail 2·1. Female similar.

Hab. Arctic America, migrating south to Patagonia in winter.

Bonaparte’s Sandpiper is a third of the same category of Arctic Tringæ that range far south after the breeding-season. Durnford found it common “in flocks” near Buenos Ayres, and again in the valley of the Sengel river in Central Patagonia in winter. White and Hudson also obtained specimens near Buenos Ayres, and Barrows in Entrerios near Concepcion.

402. CALIDRIS ARENARIA (Linn.).

(SANDERLING.)

Calidris arenaria, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 145; Durnford, Ibis, 1878, p. 404 (Tombo Point); Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 249; Saunders, Yarrell’s Birds, iii. p. 420. Tringa arenaria, Seebohm, Plovers, p. 431.

Description.—No hind toe. Above in summer light rufous, in winter light greyish, spotted and striped with blackish and edged with whitish: beneath white; bill and feet black: whole length 7·5 inches, wing 5·5, tail 2·2. Female similar.

Hab. Arctic regions of both hemispheres, descending far south in winter.

The Sanderling is one of the most widely spread of all the Arctic Grallæ during its winter migration. Durnford obtained examples at Tombo Point, Central Patagonia, on the 30th December, 1877, so that it must necessarily pass through the Argentine Republic. It is only known to breed in the high Northern Polar lands.

403. TOTANUS MELANOLEUCUS (Gm.).

(GREATER YELLOWSHANK.)

Totanus melanoleucus, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 503; Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 269; Seebohm, Plovers, p. 363; Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 315 (Entrerios). Gambetta melanoleuca, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 145; iid. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 144 (Buenos Ayres); Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 199 (Buenos Ayres); Withington, Ibis, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas de Zamora). Totanus chilensis, Philippi, Wiegm. Arch. 1857, pt. i. p. 264 (Chili).

Description.—Above brownish grey spotted with white; rump nearly white: beneath white; throat and neck with black streaks; bill black; feet yellow: whole length 14·0 inches, wing 7·5, tail 3·4. Female similar.

Hab. North and South America.

The Greater Yellowshank is best known as an Arctic American species, descending south during migration, and arriving in La Plata at the end of September or early in October, singly or in pairs, and sometimes in small flocks. Without ever being abundant the bird is quite common, and one can seldom approach a pool or marsh on the pampas without seeing one or more individuals wading near the margin, and hearing their powerful alarm-cry—a long clear note repeated three times.

These summer visitors leave us in March, and then, oddly enough, others arrive, presumably from the south, to winter on the pampas, and remain from April to August. Thus, notwithstanding that the Yellowshank does not breed on the pampas, we have it with us all the year round. Durnford’s observations agree with mine, for he says that the bird is found throughout the year near Buenos Ayres; and Mr. Barrows writes that this species “occurs every month in the year (at Concepcion in Entrerios), but in increased numbers during August, September, October, and November.”

404. TOTANUS FLAVIPES (Gm.).

(LESSER YELLOWSHANK.)

Totanus flavipes, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 503 (Mendoza, Paraná); Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 273; Seebohm, Plovers, p. 364; Saunders, Yarrell’s Birds, iii. p. 480; Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 315 (Entrerios, Azul). Gambetta flavipes, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 145; iid. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 144 (Buenos Ayres); Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 43 (Chupat) et p. 199 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 404 (Centr. Patagonia).

Description.—Above grey, spotted with white and black; upper tail-coverts white, slightly spotted: beneath white; breast greyish, with black specks; bill black; feet yellow: whole length 10·0 inches, wing 6·0, tail 2·6. Female similar.

Hab. Arctic America, descending south to Chili and Patagonia during migration.

This North-American species is likewise common throughout the year on the pampas, although not nearly so common in winter (June, July, and August) as in summer.

Durnford also found it abundant in Central Patagonia. In habits, language, and in general appearance, except in size, it closely resembles the Greater Yellowshank, and the two species, attracted or deceived by this likeness, are constantly seen associating together.

Mr. Barrows, who found it near Concepcion in Entrerios, usually in company with Totanus melanoleucus, did not observe it in May, June, or July in that locality.

405. RHYACOPHILUS SOLITARIUS (Wils.).

(SOLITARY SANDPIPER.)

Rhyacophilus solitarius, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 146; Durnford, Ibis, 1878, p. 68 (Buenos Ayres); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 315 (Entrerios, Azul); Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 278. Totanus solitarius, Seebohm, Plovers, p. 367.

Description.—Middle toe nearly as long as tarsus. Above dark olivaceous grey, with blacker markings and slightly speckled with white; upper tail-coverts blackish, barred with white; tail white with blackish bars: beneath white; sides of neck and breast streaked and barred with dusky grey; under wing-coverts blackish, barred with white: whole length 8·5 inches, wings 5·0, tail 2·1. Female similar.

Hab. Arctic America, descending south to Buenos Ayres during migration.

The well-known and well-named Solitary Sandpiper arrives later than the other birds of its family in La Plata, and differs greatly from them in its habits, avoiding the wet plains and muddy margins of lagoons and marshes where they mostly congregate, and making its home at the side of a small pool well sheltered by its banks, or by trees and herbage, and with a clear margin on which it can run freely. As long as there is any water in its chosen pool, though it may be only a small puddle at the bottom of a ditch, the bird will remain by it in solitary contentment. When approached it runs rapidly along the margin, pausing at intervals to bob its head, in which habit it resembles the Tatlers or Yellowshanks, and emitting sharp little clicks of alarm. Finally, taking flight, it utters its peculiar and delightful cry, a long note thrice repeated, of so clear and penetrating a character that it seems almost too fine and bright a sound even for so wild and aerial a creature as a bird.

The flight is exceedingly rapid and wild, the bird rising high and darting this way and that, uttering its piercing trisyllabic cry the whole time and finally, dashing downwards, it suddenly drops again on to the very spot from which it rose.

I was once pleased and much amused to discover in a small sequestered pool in a wood, well sheltered from sight by trees and aquatic plants, a Solitary Sandpiper living in company with a Blue Bittern. The Bittern patiently watched for small fishes, and when not fishing dozed on a low branch overhanging the water; while its companion ran briskly along the margin snatching up minute insects from the water. When disturbed they rose together, the Bittern with its harsh grating scream, the Sandpiper daintily piping its fine bright notes—a wonderful contrast! Every time I visited the pool afterwards I found these two hermits, one so sedate in manner, the other so lively, living peacefully together.

406. ACTITURUS BARTRAMIUS (Wils.).

(BARTRAM’S SANDPIPER.)

Totanus bartramia, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 503 (Mendoza). Actiturus bartramius, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 146; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 199 (Buenos Ayres); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 315 (Entrerios); Withington, Ibis, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas de Zamora). Bartramia longicauda, Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 296. Totanus bartrami, Seebohm, Plovers, p. 376.

Description.—Above blackish, feathers edged with yellowish brown; rump black; wing-coverts yellowish brown, barred with black; primaries blackish: beneath white; breast and flanks ochraceous, spotted and barred with black; under surface of wings barred with white and black; bill yellowish, tip black; feet yellow: whole length 10·0 inches, wing 6·3, tail 3·1. Female similar.

Hab. North America, migrating south to Buenos Ayres.

Bartram’s Sandpiper is another of those species which breed in North America, and extend their winter-migrations far into the Southern Hemisphere. It differs, however, from its fellow-migrants, which visit the Argentine country, in its wide and even distribution over all that portion of the pampas where the native coarse grasses which once covered the country have disappeared, an area comprising not less than 50,000 square miles. It begins to arrive as early as September, coming singly or in small parties of three or four; and, extraordinary as the fact may seem when we consider the long distance the bird travels, and the monotonous nature of the level country it uses as a “feeding area,” it is probable that every bird returns to the same spot year after year; for in no other way could such a distribution be maintained, and the birds appear every summer evenly sprinkled over so immense a surface.

On the pampas the bird is called Chorlo solo, on account of its solitary habit, but more commonly “Batitú,” an abbreviation of the Indian name Mbatuitui. In disposition it is shy, and prefers concealment to flight when approached, running rapidly away through the long grass or thistles, or concealing itself behind a tussock until the danger is past, or often, where the herbage is short, crouching on the ground like a Snipe. It runs swiftly and pauses frequently; and while standing still with head raised it jerks its long tail up and down in a slow measured manner. When driven up it springs aloft with a sudden wild flight, uttering its loud mellow-toned cry, composed of three notes, strongly accented on the first and last; and sometimes, when the bird is much alarmed, the first note is rapidly repeated several times like a trill. After flying a very short distance it drops to the ground again, agitating its wings in a tremulous manner as it comes down. In this motion of the wings, also in many of its gestures, on the ground, its skulking habits, and reluctance to fly it is more like a Rail than a Snipe. It also, Rail-like, frequently alights on trees and fences, a habit I have not remarked in any other Limicoline species.

It inhabits the pampas from September until March; but early in February the great return-migration begins, and then for two months the mellow cry of the Batitú is heard far up in the sky, at all hours, day and night, as the birds wing their way north. In some seasons stragglers are found throughout the month of April, but before the winter arrives not one is left.

407. TRYNGITES RUFESCENS (Vieill.).

(BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER.)

Tryngites rufescens, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 146; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 200 (Buenos Ayres); Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 305; Saunders, Yarrell’s Birds, iii. p. 435. Tringa rufescens, Seebohm, Plovers, p. 446.

Description.—Above dark brownish black, each feather widely edged with buff; wings blackish, narrowly tipped with white, the inner half of the inner web whitish reticulated with black; tail blackish, the outer rectrices lighter, each with subterminal black crescent and white terminal edge: beneath buff, darker on the throat and breast, and edged with whitish, lighter on flanks and belly; under primary-coverts barred and reticulated with black, like the inner web of the primaries, and forming a marked contrast with the rest of the under surface of the wing, which is pure white: whole length 7·7 inches, wing 5·3, tail 2·5. Female similar.

Hab. Arctic America, descending south to Buenos Ayres in winter.

This species is also an annual visitor to the pampas from the Arctic regions where it breeds. It begins to arrive, usually in small bodies, early in the month of October; and during the summer is seldom met with in flocks of any size on the pampas, but is usually seen on the dry open ground associating in small numbers with the Golden Plover, the Whimbrel, and other northern species. I, however, think it probable that it travels further south than its fellow-migrants from North America, and has its principal feeding-grounds somewhere in the interior of Patagonia; also that its northern journey takes place later than that of other species. In some seasons I have observed these birds in April and May, in flocks of two to five hundred, travelling north, the birds flying very low, flock succeeding flock at intervals of about fifteen minutes, and continuing to pass for several days.

408. LIMOSA HÆMASTICA (Linn.).

(HUDSONIAN GODWIT.)

Limosa hudsonica, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 146; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 43 (Chupat) et p. 200 (Buenos Ayres); White, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 42 (Buenos Ayres); Seebohm, Plovers, p. 392. Limosa hæmastica, Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 260.

Description.—(In summer.) Above dark brownish black, mixed on the head with longitudinal streaks of whitish, on the neck with pale chestnut, and with many of the feathers of the back spotted or edged with pale chestnut; wings and tail blackish, the upper half of the inner webs of the primaries and secondaries, the basal part of the outer rectrices, and a broad band across the upper tail-coverts pure white: beneath, cheeks and throat whitish, becoming pale chestnut on the neck, longitudinally striped with blackish; rest of under surface deeper chestnut, transversely barred with blackish. (In winter.) Above uniform dull brownish; head, neck, and under surface dirty white or pale buff: whole length 14·3 inches, wing 8·5, tail 3·7.

Hab. Arctic America, descending south to Central Patagonia in winter.

The Hudsonian Godwit, Mr. Seebohm tells us, “breeds on the tundras of North America north of the forest-growth, from Alaska to Baffin’s Bay, but is rare at the western extremity of its range.” In winter it goes far south, like most of the other Grallæ.

Durnford found it “common from April to September about the lagoons and arroyos to the south of Buenos Ayres;” and states that in habits it much resembles the Bar-tailed Godwit of Europe (Limosa lapponica). He also met with it in Chupat, and obtained two specimens there on the 13th of November, 1876.

I have met with it in flocks during the summer of the Southern Hemisphere, and these birds, as well as those obtained at Chupat in November by Durnford, were undoubtedly visitors from the north; but invariably small flocks of half a dozen to thirty birds begin to appear on the pampas in April, and remain there, as Durnford says, until September, when the northern migrants are nearly due. These individuals must therefore breed near the extremity, or beyond the extremity, of South America. It is very curious, to say the least of it, that the Arctic and Antarctic regions of America should possess the same species, and that, at opposite seasons of the year, it should winter in the same district, so far from the breeding-place of one set of individuals, and so near to that of the other! Captain Abbott observed the Hudsonian Godwit in the Falkland Islands in flocks in the month of May (see Ibis, 1861, p. 156). These could not have been Alaskan birds, but were no doubt southern breeders on their way north, for that they could winter so far south seems incredible.

409. NUMENIUS BOREALIS (Forst.).

(ESQUIMO WHIMBREL.)

Numenius borealis, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 146; Durnford, Ibis, 1878, p. 404 (Centr. Patagonia); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 316 (Entrerios); Seebohm, Plovers, p. 333; Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 318.

Description.—Above dark brown, each feather edged or spotted with pale buff or dirty white, becoming most strongly marked on the rump and upper tail-coverts; wings uniform dusky brownish, narrowly edged with white; tail buffy brown, transversely barred with dusky: beneath, throat white; rest of under surface pale buff, with more or less V-shaped dusky markings on the breast, flanks, and under tail-coverts; axillaries and under wing-coverts pale chestnut, transversely barred with dusky: whole length 11·6 inches, wing 8·14, tail 3·3. Female similar.

Hab. Arctic America, extending south to Patagonia in winter.

The Esquimo Whimbrel, which, as Mr. Seebohm tells us, may be distinguished from all its congeners by having scarcely any traces of bars on its primaries and by the back of the tarsus being covered with hexagonal reticulations, migrates from the tundras of North America, where it breeds, to the southern extremity of South America.

Mr. Barrows noted its first arrival at Concepcion in Entrerios on September 9th, 1880, “in large flocks.” After the middle of October none were seen there.

The same excellent observer saw it almost daily on the pampas between Azul and Bahia Blanca, “in company with the Golden Plover and Bartram’s Sandpiper, until late in February.”

From the 8th to the 10th of October, 1877, Durnford saw large flocks of this Whimbrel in the Chupat Valley flying south, and obtained two specimens. Capt. Packe and Capt. Abbott both procured examples in the Falkland Islands.

Order XVI. GAVIÆ.

Fam. L. LARIDÆ, or GULLS.

The Gulls and Terns of the Rio de la Plata require more attention, and it is probable that several additions will have to be made to the list. At present we can enumerate only nine species as certainly found within our limits. The number of known Neotropical Laridæ is about thirty-three.

410. RHYNCHOPS MELANURA, Sw.

(BLACK-TAILED SKIMMER.)

Rhynchops nigra, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 520 (Rio Paraná); Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S. 1869, p. 634 (Buenos Ayres); iid. Nomencl. p. 147; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 209 (Buenos Ayres); White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 628 (Buenos Ayres). Rhynchops melanura, Saunders, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 522.

Description.—Above brownish black; forehead and wing-band white; tail black: beneath white; bill, apical half black, basal half orange; feet red: whole length 19·0 inches, wing 15·0, tail 5·0. Female similar.

Hab. Coasts of South America.

The Black-tailed Skimmer, which is common on the coasts of Brazil, migrates south in spring, following the course of the Plata river in its journey, and appearing in pairs or small flocks in the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres during the month of October. Its chief breeding-ground is on the extensive mud-banks and islets at Bahia Blanca on the Atlantic coast. The return-migration occurs in March.

Darwin met with the Scissor-bill during his excursion up the Paraná in October 1833, and speaks of it as follows (Nat. Journ. p. 161):—

“I here saw a very extraordinary bird, called the Scissor-beak (Rhynchops nigra). It has short legs, web feet, extremely long-pointed wings, and is of about the size of a Tern. The beak is flattened laterally, that is in a plane at right angles to that of a Spoonbill or Duck. It is as flat and elastic as an ivory paper-cutter, and the lower mandible, differently from every other bird, is an inch and a half longer than the upper. I will here detail all I know of the habits of the Scissor-beak. It is found both on the east and west coasts, between lat. 30° and 45°, and frequents either salt or fresh water. The specimen now at the Zoological Society was shot at a lake near Maldonado, from which the water had been nearly drained, and which, in consequence, swarmed with small fry. I there saw several of these birds, generally in small flocks, flying backwards and forwards, close to the surface of the lake. They kept their bills wide open, and with the lower mandible half buried in the water. Thus skimming the surface, they ploughed it in their course; the water was quite smooth, and it formed a most curious spectacle to behold a flock, each bird leaving its narrow wake on the mirror-like surface. In their flight, they frequently twist about with extreme rapidity, and so dexterously manage, that with their projecting lower mandible they plough up small fish, which are secured by the upper half of their scissor-like bill. This fact I repeatedly saw, as, like Swallows, they continued to fly backwards and forwards, close before me. Occasionally, when leaving the surface of the water their flight was wild, irregular, and rapid; they then also uttered loud, harsh cries. When these birds are fishing, the length of the primary feathers of the wings is seen to be quite necessary, in order to keep the latter dry. When thus employed, their forms resemble the symbol by which many artists represent marine birds. The tail is much used in steering their irregular course.

“These birds are common far inland along the course of the Rio Paraná; it is said they remain during the whole year, and breed in the marshes. During the day they rest in flocks on the grassy plains, at some distance from the water. Being at anchor, as I have said, in one of the deep creeks between the islands of the Paraná, as the evening drew to a close, one of these Scissor-beaks suddenly appeared. The water was quite still, and many little fish were rising. The bird continued for a long time to skim the surface, flying in its wild and irregular manner up and down the narrow canal, now dark with the growing night and the shadows of the overhanging trees. At Monte Video I observed that some large flocks during the day remained on the mud-banks at the head of the harbour, in the same manner as on the grassy plains near the Paraná; and every evening they took flight direct to seaward. From these facts, I suspect that the Rhynchops generally fishes by night, at which time many of the lower animals come most abundantly to the surface. M. Lesson states that he has seen these birds open the shells of the Mactræ, buried in the sand-banks on the coast of Chile; from their weak bills, with the lower mandible so much produced, their short legs and long wings, it is very improbable that this can be a general habit.”

411. PHAËTHUSA MAGNIROSTRIS (Licht.).

(GREAT-BILLED TERN.)

Sterna magnirostris, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 519 (Rio Paraná); Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 643; Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 316 (Entrerios). Phaëthusa magnirostris, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 147; iid. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 567; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 200 (Buenos Ayres).

Description.—Crown, ear-coverts, and nape black; mantle slate-grey, passing into white at the tips of the secondaries; wing-coverts white; quills black; tail slate-grey; lores and entire underparts glossy white; bill yellow, with a greenish tinge at the base of under mandible; legs and feet olive-yellow: whole length 14·5 inches, wing 11·5. In the young the crown is grey; the mantle browner grey.

Hab. Coasts and rivers of South America.

This large-billed Tern, “with a slightly forked tail, but amply developed feet,” is occasionally seen near Buenos Ayres.

Durnford tells us that he found it common at Baradero in April in small parties, and watched one flock for some time. These individuals kept circling over a mill-pond, which evidently held a good supply of small fishes; for they constantly kept darting into the water. This species, Durnford adds, has a note quite unlike that of any other Tern; it is nearly similar to the cry of the “Tero-tero” (Vanellus cayennensis), for which he had often mistaken it.

412. STERNA MAXIMA, Bodd.

(GREAT TERN.)

Sterna maxima, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 147; iid. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 567; Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 655, et 1882, p. 521.

Description.—Crown and crested nape black; neck, lores, throat, and underparts pure white; black pale grey; quills darker grey, with white on most of the inner webs; tail pearl-white; bill orange; legs and feet black: whole length 18·0 inches, wing 14·5. Young: darker on upper parts.

Head of Sterna maxima. (P. Z. S. 1871, p. 568.)

Hab. Coasts of America from Massachusetts to La Plata, and northwards to California.

This large Tern seems to occur on the Rio Paraná, according to Azara. It is certainly found in Southern Brazil, where Mr. Rogers obtained a series of specimens now in the collections of Messrs. Salvin and Godman and of Mr. H. Saunders.

413. STERNA TRUDEAUII, Aud.

(TRUDEAU’S TERN.)

Sterna trudeauii, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 147, iid. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 570; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 200 (Buenos Ayres); Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 660. Sterna frobeenii, Phil. et Landb. Wiegm. Arch. 1863, pt. i. p. 125 (Chili).

Description.—Above light grey; head white, with a dark transocular line on each side; rump white: beneath light grey; bill black, base and tip yellow; feet yellow: whole length 12·5 inches, wing 10·0. The young are pure white below, and have darker quills.

Hab. Coasts of S.E. Brazil, Argentina, and Chili.

This beautiful Tern, peculiar for its white head in the adult dress, was observed by Durnford on Flores Island in the Rio de la Plata, and in other places on the coast of the Argentine Republic. One was obtained near Punta Lara, in October 1876; and many more since by Mr. E. Gibson, Commander MacFarlane, and others.

414. STERNA HIRUNDINACEA, Less.

(CASSIN’S TERN.)

Sterna hirundinacea, Saund. P. Z. S. 1876, p. 647; Durnford, Ibis, 1878, p. 404 (Centr. Patagonia). Sterna cassini, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 147; iid. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 570; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 201 (Buenos Ayres).

Description.—Head and nape black; mantle and wings grey, darker on the quills; rump white; tail pearl-white, darker on the outer streamers; underparts greyish white; bill blood-red; feet orange-crimson: whole length 15·0 inches, wing 11·5. Young: streaked on the head and mottled on the upper parts with blackish.

Hab. Patagonia, Chili, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, and Falkland Islands, up to Rio.

This is a black-headed Tern with a blood-red bill, which is found abundantly on the coast of Patagonia, and extends up the Atlantic coast to Rio. It was noticed by Durnford near Buenos Ayres, and found breeding by the same excellent observer at Tombo Point, about sixty miles to the south of Chupat, in December 1877. He tells us:—

“I was prepared when I visited this place in December to see a considerable quantity of birds; but the number that met my eyes fairly staggered me. Their nests covered an area about 150 yards square. Allowing three nests and five eggs for every square yard (a very moderate computation, it being difficult to walk without treading on the eggs), we arrive at the extraordinary number of 67,500 nests, 135,000 birds, and 112,500 eggs; and, wonderful as these figures may appear, I feel sure that I have rather understated than overstated the numbers. The nests were mere hollows in the fine gravel or shingle, and contained one, two, and sometimes three eggs. The latter generally have the appearance of the eggs of the Sandwich Tern, though of course smaller; and out of many hundreds I did not see two alike.”

415. STERNA SUPERCILIARIS, Vieill.

(EYEBROWED TERN.)

Sterna superciliaris, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 147; iid. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 571; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 201 (Buenos Ayres); White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 628 (Misiones); Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 662. Sterna argentea, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 519 (Paraná).

Description.—Forehead and underparts white; loral stripe, head, and nape black; back, rump, inner primaries, and inner web of tail pale slate-grey; outer primaries blackish; bill yellow; legs and feet olive-yellow: whole length 8·5 inches, wing 7·0. In the young bird the crown is grey.

Hab. The large rivers and the coast on the east side of South America.

This is a little Tern, belonging to the same group as the European Sterna minuta, with a uniform pale yellow bill. Durnford met with it at Baradero, and says that it frequents shallow inland lagoons and small streams, but is also found on the Rio de la Plata. Dr. Burmeister obtained it on the Paraná, and White at Itapua, Misiones. Saunders shot it on the Huallaga, in Peru, 2800 miles inland.

416. LARUS DOMINICANUS, Licht.

(DOMINICAN GULL.)

Larus dominicanus, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 148; iid. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 576; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 45 (Chupat) et p. 201 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 405 (Chupat); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 316 (Pampas); Saunders, P. Z. S. 1878. p. 180; Withington, Ibis, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas de Zamora). Larus vociferus, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 518 (Buenos Ayres).

Description.—Mantle brownish-black; primaries black, with white tips, and a subapical patch in old birds; rest of plumage white; bill yellow, orange at angle of lower mandible; legs and feet olive: whole length 21·0-22·0 inches, wing 17·0-18·0. Young mottled brown.

Hab. Both coasts of South America, from Peru on the west and Rio on the east, to Patagonia and Falkland Islands.

The Dominican Gull, which belongs to the same section of the group as the well-known Black-backed Gulls of Europe, is common throughout the Plata district in winter, from April to August. During the summer months it confines itself to the Atlantic coast, and breeds in large numbers in the neighbourhood of Bahia Blanca, on the extensive sand-banks and mud-flats there; and in other suitable localities further south. Durnford found it nesting at Tombo Point, sixty miles south of the Chupat river.