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BIRDS OF LA PLATA
All rights reserved
Red-Billed Ground-Finch
Etnbernagra platensis (Gm.)
QL
y. i
BIRDS
OF LA PLATA
.•b^ BY
W' H/"^ HUDSON
WITH TWENTr-TfFO COLOURED
ILLUSTRATIONS BY
H. GRONFOLD
VOLUME ONE
I 920
LONDON 6- TORONTO
J. M. DENT &> SONS LTD.
NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.
^0^^^' i^n/iv.- ^^^
^ r,n
C?f>;AL r.iU-ii:--<;
There have been printed of this Edition 1500 Copies for England and
1500 Copies for United States of America, also a Large Paper Edition
of 200 Copies, and the type then distributed.
INTRODUCTION
The matter contained in this work is taken from the
two volumes of the Argentine Ornithology f published
in 1888-9, and was my first book on the subject of
bird life. The late Philip Lutley Sclater, who was
at that time the chief authority in this country on
South American Ornithology, collaborated with me
in the work to the extent of arranging the material
in accordance with the most popular system of classi-
fication, and also adding descriptions, synonymy, etc.,
of the species unknown to me. All this matter
which he contributed in order to make the work
a complete list, I have thrown out, along with the
synonymy of the species described by me. And
there was good reason for this simplification, seeing
that we cannot have a complete list owing to the fact
that fresh species are continually being added to
it by the collectors ; these species, new to the list,
being mostly intruders or visitors found on the sub-
tropical northern limits of the country. The original
work {Argentine Ornithology) was thus out of date
as soon as published, and the only interest it still
retains for the reader is in the account of the birds'
habits contributed by me. The work thus being no
longer what it was, or was intended to be, a different
title had to be found, and I cannot think of a more
suitable one than The Birds of La Plata, which
VI BIRDS OF LApLATA
indicates that the species treated here are of the
Plata country — a district of Argentina, Furthermore,
it gives the book its proper place as a companion
work to The Naturalist in La Plata. That book, also
now old in years, has won a permanent place in the
Natural History libraries, and treats of all forms of
life observed by me; but as it was written after
Argentine Ornithology ^ I kept bird subjects out of
it as far as possible, so that the two works should
not overlap, I may add that Argentine Ornithology
was issued in a limited edition, and that copies are
not now obtainable.
One would imagine that during the long thirty
years which have elapsed since these little bird bio-
graphies were first issued, other books on the same
subject would have seen the light. For since my
time many workers in this same field have appeared.
Natural History Societies have been formed, and one
among them, exclusively a bird-lovers* association,
issues a periodical founded on the Ihis pattern, and
entitled El Horner o — The Oven-Bird,
That, at all events, is what I supposed. But I
hear that it has not been so : naturalists out there
have been saying that my book of 1889 and that of
A2;ara, composed a century earlier — The Birds of
Paraguay and the River Plate — are the only works
yet published which treat of the life habits of the
birds in that region.
This, I take it, is a good and sufficient reason for
the re-issue of so old a work. The lives of birds is
a subject of perennial interest to a large and an
INTRODUCTION wii
ever-increasing number of readers — to all those, in
fact> who love a bird, that is to say, the living bird,
not the dead stuffed specimen in a cabinet* It was
well and wisely said by Professor Mivart in his great
anatomical work that '^ there is no such thing as a
dead bird*** For the body is but the case, the habit,
and when the life and soul have gone out of it, what
is left is nothing but dust.
To return for a few moments to the writer on
birds who came so long before me* Don Felix de
A^ara, a Spanish gentleman, a person of importance
in his time, a traveller and author of several works,
was yet able to find his chief pleasure in '' con-
versing with wild animals in desert places in a
remote land/*
The bird life of those then little-known countries
had a special attraction for him, and he was a most
excellent observer and described them carefully* His
brief notes on their habits are all the better to read
on account of his simple natural diction, so rare to
find in the Spanish language, the beauty and sonority
of which perpetually tempts the writer to prolixity
and a florid style*
Aijara had one great advantage over me* He had
his friend Noseda, a village priest in Paraguay, who
shared his interest in the bird life of the district,
and made copious notes of his observations, and
these Azara could draw upon* Noseda was, indeed,
a sort of Gilbert White (his contemporary), and had
his ** parish of Selborne ** in a. barbarous country
rich in bird life* I had no Noseda to compare notes
via BIRDS OF LA PLATA
with^ nor in all the years of my life in the pampas
did I ever have the happiness to meet with anyone
to share my interest in the wild bird life of the
country I was born in.
So far the book and its history. It remains to add
something concerning its subject — the character of
the bird life of the district where my observations
were made* It is like that of South America generally,
but differs in the almost total absence of tropical
forms, such as Trogons, Toucans, Puff-birds, Mot-
mots, Todies, Jacamars, and Barbets*
The bird world has been divided by Ornithologists
into several geographical regions, and undoubtedly
birds differ in widely-separated portions of the earth
and, like the races of men, have the stamp of their
country or continent on them. But the bird is a
volatile being, and vast numbers refuse to belong to
any particular region. Some are migratory, and
travel to distant lands outside of the region assigned
to them, the return journey in many cases covering
a distance of 12,000 miles. That a bird should have
its breeding and feeding, or summer and winter
areas, 6,000 miles apart, seems almost incredible.
Thus, in South America, which is called the Neo-
tropical Region, there are numerous species that
come from the adjoining region of North America,
and among these are several species which breed
in the arctic regions as high as latitude eighty to
eighty-three or four degrees, yet after breeding fly
south as far as the southern extremity of Patagonia.
Besides the strict migrants there are many birds
INTRODUCTION ix
of a wandering disposition, like the European
Crossbills, the Waxwing, and the Short-eared OwL
They have the gipsy habit or the Columbus-like
spirit of the poet's Stork, who goes forth to explore
heavens not his own and worlds unknown before*
Finally, we have a multitude of species, both
resident and migratory, belonging to families that
have a world-wide distribution* Among these are
the Thrushes, Wrens, Pipits, Swallows, Finches,
Crows, Swifts, Goatsuckers, Woodpeckers, Cuckoos,
Owls, Hawks, Vultures, Herons, Storks, Plover,
Snipe, Duck, Rails, Gulls, Cormorants and Grebes*
These universally distributed families are always
more numerous in the temperate ^ones than in the
tropics in relation to the entire number of species.
Thus they are relatively more numerous in the
temperate district of La Plata than in the Brazilian
Forest region*
Undoubtedly South America is richer in bird life
than any other region of equal extent* The species
number considerably over 2,000, and one half or
something over a half belong to a single order —
Passeres, or Perchers* Half of these again are in-
cluded in the Sub-Order Oscines, or birds with a
developed vocal organ — the song birds* We see thus
how rich this region is in bird life in which the
songsters alone equal in number, if they do not
exceed, all the species of birds in Europe together*
About a quarter of the entire number of South
American species inhabit Argentina, and about half
that number are found in the Plata district, which
X BIRDS OF LA PLATA
belongs to the Patagonian Sub-region of the Neo-
tropical Region.
The species known to me personally number 233,
but many more have been added since I left the
country. The exclusively Neotropical types in my
list include Tanagers, Trupials, Tyrant-birds, Plant-
cutters, Wood-hewers, Ant-birds, Gallito birds. Hum-
ming-birds, Screamers, Courlans, Jacanas, Seed-
snipe, Tinamus, and Rheas — in all eighty-four
species.
Thus in this district the exclusively South American
forms, or families, are in a minority ; but if we take
the whole of the Argentine country, these exclusive
forms and the widely-distributed forms are pretty
evenly balanced. Finally, if we take the entire
Neotropical Region we find the exclusively South
American forms in a majority. The Humming-
bird family alone numbers over four hundred
species, the Tanagers about the same number,
while two other Passerine families. Tyrants and
Woodhewers, count together five hundred at least.
We have also to take into account that in the
families that are universal in their distribution there
are groups, genera and sub-families greatly modified
in form. Thus, in the Thrush family we have the
Mocking-birds, and as in the Thrush family so do
we find divergent types in Wrens, Finches, Cuckoos
and other families.
To sum up. We have in the universally distri-
buted families, groups and genera, which exhibit the
peculiar impress of the region they inhabit (in this
INTRODUCTION xi
instance the Neotropical or South American char-
acter)^ existing side by side with the unmodified
forms: a Thrush, a Siskin, a Swallow, an Owl, a
Duck, a Dove, a Plover, etc., hardly (and some-
times not at all) distinguishable specifically from
Old World forms. And along with those modified
and unmodified forms— Asiatic, European and North
American— the distinctly Neotropical forms. Among
these last there are species that have a profound
interest to the student of the evolution of the bird life
of the globe. They are survivals of an incalculably
remote period in the earth's history when the greater
part of the Southern Hemisphere was land; when
South America, South Africa and Australasia were
parts of one continent. Among these forms, which
have struthious and even older affinities, are the
Rheas, the Crypturi (the Partridges of South America)
and the Crested Screamer, which Huxley supposed
to be related by descent to the Archaeopteryx.
To go back to the statement made at the beginning
of this Introduction— that the one interest of this
book is in the account of the birds' habits— I am
tempted in conclusion to add a purely personal
note— a memory of an incident of thirty years ago.
About the time of the publication of Argentine
Ornithology (1889) a small book of a different kind
by me was issued — a fictitious record of romantic
adventures, entitled The Purple Land. It happened
that a copy was sent to an elder brother of mine,
living in the city of Cordova, in the Western Argen-
tine province of that name. It was sent by another
Kii BIRDS OF LA^LATA
brother, residing in Buenos Ayres. In acknowledg-
ing the book he charged his brother with a message
to me, and his letter, written in Spanish, was sent
on to me in London. The message, translated, was
as follows :
'' Why are you staying on in England, and what
can you do there $* I have looked at your romance
and find it not unreadable, but this you must know
is not your line — the one thing you are best fitted
to do. Come back to your own country and come
to me here in Cordova. These woods and sierras
and rivers have a more plentiful and interesting
bird life than that of the pampas and Patagonia.
Here I could help you and make it possible for you
to dedicate your whole time to observation of the
native birds and the fauna generally."
I read the letter with a pang, feeling that his
judgment was right : but the message came too late ;
I had already made my choice, which was to remain
for the rest of my life in this country of my ancestors,
which had become mine.
Now after so long a time the pang returns, and
when I think of that land so rich in bird life, those
fresher woods and newer pastures where I might
have done so much, and then look back at this —
the little I did as shown in these volumes — the
reflection is forced on me that, after all, I probably
made choice of the wrong road of the two then
open to me.
^ W. H. H.
October, 1920.
CONTENTS
FAM. I.— TURDID^
Dusky Thrush, Turdus leucomelas, Vieill.
Red-bellied Thrush, Turdus rufiventris, Vieill.
Magellanic Thrush, Turdus magellanicus, King
Calandria Mocking-bird, Mimus modulator, Gould
Patagonian Mocking-bird, Mimus patachonicus, d'Orb. et Lafr
White-banded Mocking-bird, Mimus triurus, Vieill.
FAM. IV.— HIRUNDINIDJE
Purple Martin, Progne furcata, Baird .
Domestic Martin, Progne chalybea, Gm.
Tree-Martin, Progne tapera, Linn.
Red-backed Rock-Martin, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, Vieill
Common Swallow, Tachycineta leucorrhoa, Vieill. .
Bank-Martin, Atticora cyanoleuca, Teram. ♦
PAGE
I
3
4
5
8
II
FAM. II.— TROGLODYTIDiE, OR WRENS
HovsE-WnEU, Troglodytes furvus, Gm i6
Argentine Marsh- Wren, Cistothorus platensis, Tath. . . 19
FAM. III.— MOTACILLIDiE
Cachila Pipit, Anthus correndera, Vieill. . . ♦ ♦ 30
34
25
27
32
34
38
FAM. v.— TANAGRIDJE
White-capped Tanager, Stephanophorus leucocephalus, Vieill. . 42
FAM. VI.— FRINGILLIDJE
Glaucous Finch, Guiraca glaucocaerulea, d'Orb. et Lafr. . . 44
Screaming Finch, Spermophila caerulescens, Vieill. ... 45
Cardinal Finch, Paroaria cucullata, Lath 47
xiii
XIV
BIRDS OF LAJ>LATA
FAM. VI.— FRINGILLID^— continued
PAGE
Long-tailed Reed Finch, Donacospiza albifrons, Vieill. . . 48
Black-and-Chestnut Warbling Finch, Poospiza nigrorufa,
d'Orb. et Lafr 49
Mourning Finch, Phrygilus fruticeti, Kittl 50
Yellow Cardinal, Gubernatrix cristatella, Vieill. . . -51
Lesser Diuca Finch, Diuca minor, Bp 53
Chingolo Song-Sparrow, Zonotrichia pileata, Bodd. . . 54
Red-billed Ground-Finch, Embemagra platensis, Cm. . . 57
Black-headed Siskin, Chrysomitris icterica, Licht. ... 59
Yellow House-Sparrow, Sycalis pelzelni, Sel. . . ,61
MisTO Seed-Finch, Sycalis luteola, Sparrm. .... 67
FAM. VIL— ICTERID^, OR TROUPIALS
Argentine Cow-bird, Molothrus bonariensis, Gm. .
Screaming Cow-bird, Molothrus rufoaxillaris, Cassin.
Bay-winged Cow-bird, Molothrus badius, Vieill.
Yellow-shouldered Marsh-bird, Agelceus thilius, Mol. .
Yellow-headed Marsh-bird, Agelceus flavus, Gm. .
Scarlet-headed Marsh-bird^ Amblyrhamphus holosericeus, Scop
Rufous-headed Marsh-bird, Agelxus ruficapillus, Vieill. .
Red-breasted Marsh-bird, Leistes super ciliaris, Bp.
Yellow-breasted Marsh-bird, Pseudoleistes virescens, Vieill.
Patagonian Marsh-Starling, Trupialis militaris, Linn. .
Military Starling, Trupialis defilippii, Bp. .
Chestnut-shouldered Hang-nest, Icterus pyrrhopterus, Vieill.
Chopi, Aphobus chopi, Vieill.
69
96
112
"5
116
118
119
120
133
126
128
130
132
FAM. Vin.— TYRANNID^, OR TYRANTS
Chocolate Tyrant, Myiotheretes rufiventris, Vieill. .
Pepoaza Tyrant, Taenioptera nengeta, Linn. .
Black-crowned Tyrant, Txnioptera coronata, Vieill,
Dominican Tyrant, Txnioptera dominicana, Vieill. .
Little Widow Tyrant, Tsnioptera irupero, Vieill. .
Mouse-coloured Tyrant, Txnioptera murina, d'Orb. et Lafr.
Chat-like Tyrant, Taenioptera rubetra, Burm,
135
138
141
144
145
147
148
CONTENTS
XV
Swallow-like Tyrant^ Fluvicola albiventris .
CocK-TAiLED TYRANT, Alectrurus tricolor, Vieill.
Strange-tailed Tyrant, Alectrurus risorius, Vieill. .
Yellow-browed Tyrant, Sisopygis icterophrys, Vieill.
Ashy-black Tyrant, Cnipolegus anthracinus, Heine .
Black Tyrant, Cnipolegus hudsoni, Scl. .
SiLVERBiLL, Lichenops perspicillatus, Gm.
Short-winged Tyrant, Machetomis rixosa, Vieill. .
Chin-spotted Tyrant, Muscisaxicola macloviana, Garu.
Little Black Red-back, Centrites niger, Bodd.
Reed Tyrant, Hapalocercus flaviventris, d'Orb. et Lafr.
Little Long-tailed Tyrant, Stigmatura flavo-cinerea, Burm.
Little Crested Grey Tyrant, Serpophaga subcristata, Vieill.
Little River-side Grey Tyrant, Serpophaga nigricans, Vieill.
Little Tit-like Grey Tyrant, Anxretes parulus, Kittl. .
Many-coloured Tyrant, Cyanotis azarx, Naum. .
Bienteveo Tyrant, Pitangus bolivianus, Lafr. .
Scarlet Tyrant, Pyrocephalus rubineus, Modd.
Black-and-Yellow Crested Tyrant, Empidonomus aurantio
atro-cristatus, d'Orb. et Lafr.
Bellicose Tyrant, Tyrannus melancholicus, Vieill. .
ScissoR-TAiL Tyrant, Milvulus tyrannus, Linn. *
page
149
150
151
153
154
155
157
161
163
165
167
168
169
170
172
173
176
181
186
187
190
FAM. IX.— PHYTOTOMID^, OR PLANT-CUTTERS
Red-breasted Plant-cutter, Phytotoma rutila, Vieill. . » 193
FAM. X.— DENDROCOLAPTIDJE, OR WOODHEWERS
Little Housekeeper, Geositta cunicularia, Vieill. . . ♦ 195
Oven-bird, Furnarius rufus, Gm 197
Patagonian Earth-creeper, Upucerthia dumetoria, Geoffr. et
d'Orb 203
Brown Cinclodes, Cinclodes fuscus, Vieill 204
Rush-loving Spine-tail, Phloeocryptes melanops, Vieill. . , 305
Tit-like Spine-tail, Leptasthenura xgithaloides, Kittl. . . 209
Chicli Spine-tail, Synallaxis spixi, Sel. .... 210
White-throated Spine-tail, Synallaxis albescens, Temm. , 211
xvi BIRDS OF LA PLATA
FAM. X.— DENDROCOLAPTIDiE— co/jfmued
PAGE
Black-and- Yellow Throated Spine-tail^ Synallaxis phry-
ganophila, Vieill. 214
Striped Spine-tail^ ^^'naWaxtj sfrmficeps^ d'Orb. et Lafr. . 215
Modest Spine-tail, Synallaxis modesta, Eyton . . .216
Sordid Spine-tail, Synallaxis sordida, Less 217
Yellow-spot Spine-tail, Synallaxis sulphurifera, Burm. . . 218
Patagonian Spine-tail, Synallaxis patagonica, Lafr. et d'Orb. . 219
Hudson's Spine-tail, Synallaxis hudsoni, Sel 220
Wren-like Spine-tail, Synallaxis maluroides, d'Orb. . . 222
Firewood-gatherer, Anumbius acuticaudatus, Less, . . . 223
Curved-bill Rush-bird, Limnornis curvirostris, Gould . . 227
Red Thorn-bird, Phacellodomus ruber, Vieill 228
Rufous Cachalote, Homorus lophotes, Reicheub. . ♦ .231
Laughing Cachalote, Homorus gutturalis, d'Orb, et Lafr. . 233
Climbing Wood-hewer, Picolaptes angustirostris, Vieill. . . 235
FAM. XL— FORMICARID^, OR ANT-BIRDS
Red-capped Bush-bird, Thamnophilus ruficapillus, Vieill. . . 236
FAM. XIL— PTEROPTOCHIDJE, OR GALLITOS
Little Cock, or Gallito, Rhinocrypta lanceolata, Geoffr. et
d'Orb. , 238
Index »,,,♦,♦..♦ 241
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Red-billed Ground-Finch, Embernagra platensis,
Gm Frontispiece
Two-thirds natural size See p. 57
White-banded Mocking-bird, Mimus triurm, Vieill. facing page 10
Three-fifths natural size
Red-backed Rock-Martin, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota,
"Vieill „ 33
Natural size
Black-headed Siskin, Chrysomitris icterica, Licht. . „ 59
Four-fifths natural size
Bay-winged Cow-bird, Molothrus badius, Vieill. . „ 97
One-half natural size See p. 112
Screaming Cow - bird, Molothrus rufoaxillaris,
Cassin. „ 97
One-half natural size
Military Starling, Trupialis defilippii, Bp. . ♦ „ 128
One-half natural size
Note. — On page facing 138, for "militaris, Linn.," read ''defilippii, Bp."
Chocolate Tyrant, Myiotheretes rufiventris, Vieill. . „ 135
Three-fifths natural size
Many-coloured Kinglet, Cyanotis azarse, Nautn. . „ 173
Two-thirds natural size
Note. — On page facing 173, for "Knight" read "Kinglet."
Bienteveo Tyrant, Pitangus bolivianus, Lafr. ♦ . „ 177
One-half natural size
Red Oven-bird, Furnarius rufus, Gm. . . . „ 197
One-third natural size
Gallito (Little Cock), Rhinocrypta lanceolata,
Geoffr ,, 238
Two-thirds natural size
xvii
BIRDS OF LA PLATA
DUSKY THRUSH
Tardus leucomelas
Above olive-grey; beneath pale grey, threat white striped with
brown ; under wing-coverts and inner margins of wing-feathers
fulvous ; bill yellow ; length 9 inches,
EIGHT Thrushes are found in Argentina, three
being Mocking-birds — MiminaBf a group re-
stricted to America, The other five are true
Thrushes, and of these I describe the three which are
known to me from personal observation.
The Dusky Thrush, the best singer, which most
nearly resembles our Throstle or Song-Thrush, is
widely distributed in South America, and ranges as
far south as Buenos Ayres, where it is quite common
in the woods along the Plata river. It is a shy forest-
bird ; a fruit, earth-worm, and insect eater ; abrupt
in its motions ; runs rapidly on the ground with
beak elevated, and at intervals pauses and shakes its
tail ; pugnacious in temper ; strong on the wing, its
flight not being over the trees, but masked by their
shadows. It can always be easily distinguished, even
at a distance, from other species by its peculiar short
metallic chirp — a melodious sound indicating alarm
or curiosity, and uttered before flight — so unlike
2 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
the harsh screams and alarm notes of the other
Thrushes in this district.
Whether it is a fine singer or not within the tropics
I am unable to say^ its vocal powers having received
no attention from the naturalists who have observed
it. With us in the temperate climate of Buenos Ayres,
where it commences to sing in September^ it has the
finest song of any bird known to me in this region^
excepting the White -banded Mocking-bird, Mimus
triurus. Like the English Song-Thrush, but unlike
its near neighbours the Red-bellied Thrush and the
Magellanic Thrush, it perches on the summit of a
tree to sing. Its song is, however, utterly unlike that
of the English bird, which is so fragmentary and, as
Burroughs describes it, made up of '' vocal atti-
tudes and poses." The two birds differ also in voice
as much as in manner. The strains of the Dusky
Thrush are poured forth in a continuous stream,
with all the hurry and freedom of the Skylark's song ;
but though so rapidly uttered, every note is distinct
and clear, and the voice singularly sweet and far-
reaching. At intervals in the song there recurs a
two-syllabled note twice repeated, purely metallic,
and its clear bell-like te-ling te-ling always comes as
a dehghtful surprise to the listener, as it sounds like
an instrumental accompaniment to the song.
The song is altogether a very fine one, its peculiar
charm being that it seems to combine two opposite
qualities of bird-music, plaintiveness and joyousness,
in some indefinable manner.
I have never heard this species sing in a cage or
RED-BELLIED THRUSH 3
anywhere near a human habitation ; and it is prob-
ably owing to its recluse habits that its excellent song
has not been hitherto noticed* A2;ara perhaps mistook
the song of this species for that of Tardus mfiventriSf
a very inferior vocalist*
The nest is made in the centre of a thick bush or
tree six or eight feet above the ground, and is a deep
elaborate structure, plastered inside with mud, and
lined with soft dry grass* The eggs are four in
number, oblong; the ground-colour light blue,
abundantly marked with reddish-brown spots*
This Thrush has, I believe, a partial migration in
Buenos Ayres* In the autumn and winter I have
frequently observed it in localities where it is never
seen in summer*
RED-BELLIED THRUSH
Tardus rufiventris
Above olive-grey, throat to breast white, striped with dark brown ;
under surface and under wing-coverts rufous red, deepest on the belly ;
bill dull yellow ; feet brown ; length 9 inches.
The Red-bellied Thrush, distinguished from the
species just described by its larger size and the
bright rufous colour of its under plumage, is common
everywhere in the Plata district, and does not appear
to be migratory* It is a noisy, strong-winged, quarrel-
some bird, closely resembling the Dusky Thrush in
its manners* It inhabits forests, runs on the ground
4 BIRDS OF I^ PLATA
in search of food, and when approached darts away
with loud chuckling notes, flying close to the sur-
face* They are also often seen pursuing each other
through the trees with loud, harsh screams. They
remind one in their habits now of the Missel Thrush,
now of the Blackbird.
The song has a faint resemblance to that of the
Throstle, being composed of a variety of discon-
nected notes with frequent pauses ; but it is, both
in sweetness and strength, inferior to that of the
English bird. A poor song for a Thrush, and the
bird perhaps knows it, as he sings concealed in a
thick bush or tree.
The nest is deep, well made, plastered inside with
mud, and concealed in the centre of a large bush or
low tree. The eggs are four, pale blue in colour, and
thickly spotted with brown.
MAGELLANIC THRUSH
Tardus magellanicus
Head, wings, and tail brownish black, rest of upper surface olive-
brown ; under surface pale rufous ; white throat striped with black ;
bill and feet dull yellow ; length 10.5 inches.
This fine Thrush inhabits Patagonia and Chili, and
is hardly distinguished from the preceding species by
casual observers, but it is a larger bird, with a darker
upper and paler under plumage. Its nest and eggs
are also precisely like those of its northern repre-
sentative. The song is, however, even poorer, and
CALANDRIA MOCKING-BIRD 5
reminds one of the first attempts of a young bird.
That a member of so melodious a family should have
so inferior a song I attribute to the fact that Thrushes
(unlike the songsters of other genera) sing only in
the warm season and when the air is calm. In the
southern portion of the South-American continent
violent winds prevail in summer, so that this southern
Thrush sings perhaps less frequently than any other
song-bird, and appears to be losing the faculty of
song altogether.
The two remaining Argentine Thrushes are the
Black-headed Thrush, Tardus nigriceps, and the
Argentine Blackbird, Turdus fuscater, both inhabi-
tants of the North- Western provinces. The Black-
bird is of a uniform brownish black with yellow feet
and bill, and is larger than the home bird, being
1 1.5 inches long. The song, it is said, resembles that
of our bird, and is liked even better by some who
have heard it.
CALANDRIA MOCKING-BIRD
Mimus modulator
Above dark grey, rump tinged with brown ; wings nearly black ;
tail black, the feathers, except the two middle ones, broadly tipped
with white ; under surface dull white ; bill and legs black ; eye
olive-green ; length 1 1 inches,
AzARA has not failed to remark that it would be well
to find a more appropriate name for this species,
which was absurdly called Calandria (i.e.. Skylark)
6 BIRDS OF L^PLATA
by the early colonists of the Plata. Moreover, by
a curious irony of fate, the Spanish naturalist him-
self, by employing this unsuitable name in his Birds
of Paraguay^ even while protesting against it, has
been the cause of its introduction into scientific
nomenclature.
It would be impossible to improve on the account
Azara gives of the bird's appearance and manners.
The prevailing colour of the plumage is grey, the
irides are deep green, the beak black, slender and
curved. The tail is long, jerked and elevated when the
bird is at rest, spread open and depressed in flight.
The Calandria's movements are measured and digni-
fied, its flight low and never extends far, the bird
usually passing from one tree to another in a long
graceful curve. It goes alone or with its mate only ;
feeds chiefly on the ground ; does not penetrate into
deep forests, nor is it seen on the treeless plains. It
frequents the borders of woods and open grounds
abounding in isolated shrubs and trees ; is fond of
coming about houses, and invariably perches itself
on the most conspicuous places. It sings chiefly in
spring, and its really wonderful vocal powers have
made it one of our best-known and most admired
songsters. To sing, it usually places itself on the
summit of a bush or tree, and occasionally, as if
carried away by excitement, it darts upwards three
or four yards into the air, and then drops back on to
its perch. So varied are its notes, and so frequently
suggestive of the language of other species, that the
listener finds himself continually asking whether the
CALANDRIA MOCKING-BIRD 7
Calandria is really an original singer or merely a
cunning plagiarist, able to steal scraps of fifty different
melodies and to blend them in some sort into one
complete composition* As a whole the song is in
character utterly unlike that of any other bird (birds
of the Mimus genus of course excepted), for the same
notes are never repeated twice in the same order ;
and though the Calandria has many favourite notes,
he is able to vary every one of them a hundred ways.
Sometimes the whole song seems to be made up of
imitations of other singers, with shght variations —
and not of singers only, for now there will be clear
flute-like notes, only to be succeeded by others reedy
and querulous as the hunger-calls of a young Finch ;
then there will be pretty flourishes or Thrush-like
phrases, and afterwards screams, as of a frightened
Swallow hurrying through the sky to announce the
approach of a Falcon ; or perhaps piteous outcries,
as of a chicken in the clutches of a Kite.
Nevertheless A2;ara says truly that the Calandria
does not mock or mimic the songs of other birds ;
for though the style and intonation of a score of
different singers are reproduced by him, one can never
catch a song, or even a portion of a song, of which he
is able to say that it is absolutely like that of any
other species. This much, however, can be said of
the Calandria : he has a passion for endless variety
in singing, a capacity for varying his tones to almost
any extent, and a facility in reproducing the notes
of other birds, which, in the Virginian Mocking-bird
of North, and in the White-banded Mocking-bird
8 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
of South America, has been developed into that
marvellous faculty these two species possess of faith-
fully imitating the songs of all other birds. The two
species I have just named, while mockers of the songs of
other birds, also retain their own original music — their
** natural song/' as an American ornithologist calls it.
The Calandria makes its nest in the middle of a
large bush or low thorn-tree standing by itself; it
is deep, like the nest of a Thrush in form, built of
sticks, thorns, and grass, and lined with thistle-down
or some other soft material. The eggs are four or
five, pale blue, and thickly marked with reddish-
brown spots.
When the nest is approached the parent birds
demonstrate their anxiety by uttering loud, harsh,
angry notes.
It is generally believed that the Calandria will not
live in captivity. I have, however, seen a few indivi-
duals in cages, but they never sang.
PATAGONIAN MOCKING-BIRD
Mimus patachonicus
Above and beneath grey, paler on the under surface and tinged
with rufous on the belly ; throat and eye-mark white ; wings black ;
tail black, tipped with white ; bill and feet black ; eye olive-green ;
length g.2 inches. Female smaller in size and lighter in colour.
The Patagonian Mocking-bird, which I met with
during my sojourn on the Rio Negro of Patagonia,
closely resembles the species just described, but is
PATAGONIAN MOCKING-BIRD 9
smaller, the plumage is of a darker grey, and the
irides are also of a darker green* It is a common
bird, resident, lives alone or with its mate, feeds on
insects and berries, and in its manner of flight and
habits is like Mimas modulator. The nest is made in
the centre of a bush of thorns and sticks, and lined
with dry grass, cow-hair, or other soft material ;
the eggs are four in number, bluntly pointed, and
thickly marked with dark flesh-coloured spots. When
the nest is approached the parent birds come close to
the intruder, often perching within a yard of his head,
but without uttering any sound, differing in this
respect from M. modulator.
The song of the Patagonian bird is in character
like that of the northern species, the variety of its
notes being apparently infinite ; there are, however,
some differences worth mentioning. The singing of
the Patagonian species is perhaps inferior, his voice
being less powerful, while his mellow and clear notes
are constantly mingled with shrill ones, resembling
the cries of some of the Dendrocolaptine birds.
While incapable of notes so loud or so harsh as those
of the northern bird, or of changes so wild and
sudden, he possesses an even greater variety of soft
notes. Day after day for many months I have heard
them singing, yet never once listened to them for
any length of time without hearing some note or
phrase I had never heard before. The remarks I
have made concerning the Calandria's mocking-
faculties also apply to this bird : but though he does
not actually repeat the notes and songs of other
lo BIRDS OF L^ PLATA
species^ he certainly does mock the notes of indivi-
duals of his own species ; for it must be borne in
mind that no two individuals sing quite alike, and
that the same bird constantly introduces new notes
into his song, and never repeats his notes in the same
order, I have often observed that when a bird while
singing emits a few of these new notes, he seems
surprised and delighted with them ; for, after a
silent pause, he repeats them again and again a vast
number of times, as if to impress them on his memory.
When he once more resumes his varied singing, for
hours and sometimes for days the expression he has
discovered is still a favourite one, and recurs with
the greatest frequency. But this is not all. If the
new note or phrase happens to be a very striking
one, it immediately takes the fancy of all the other
birds within hearing, and often in a small thicket
there will be a dozen or twenty birds near together,
each sitting perched on the summit of his own bush.
After the new wonderful note has been sounded
they all become silent and attentive, reminding one
in their manner of a caged Parrot listening to a sound
it is trying to learn. Presently they learn it, and are
as pleased with its acquisition as if they had dis-
covered it themselves, repeating it incessantly. I
noticed this curious habit of the bird many times,
and on one occasion I found that for three entire
days all the birds in a small thicket I used to visit
every day did nothing but repeat incessantly two or
three singular notes they had borrowed from one of
their number. The constant repetition of this one
White-Banded Mocking-Bird
Mimus U-iurus (^^ieill.)
WHITE-BANDED MOCKING-BIRD ii
sound had an irritating effect on me; but a day or
two later they had apparently got tired of it them-
selves, and had resumed their usual varied singing.
This bird usually sits still upon the summit of
a bush when singing, and its music is heard in all
seasons and in all weathers from dawn till after dark :
as a rule it sings in a leisurely, unexcited manner,
remaining silent for some time after every five or
six or a dozen notes, and apparently listening to his
brother-performers. These snatches of melody often
seem like a prelude or promise of something better
coming ; there is often in them such exquisite
sweetness and so much variety that the hearer is
ever wishing for a fuller measure, and still the bird
opens his bill to delight and disappoint him, as if
not yet ready to display his whole power.
WHITE-BANDED MOCKING-BIRD
Mimus triurus
Above grey, brown on the rump ; beneath light grey ; wing black,
crossed with a broad white band ; tail white, except the two middle
feathers which are black ; bill and feet black ; eye orange yellow ;
length 9.5 inches.
AZARA first met with this king of the Mocking-birds
in Paraguay a century ago ; he named it Calandria
de las tres colaSf and described the plumage accur-
ately, but was, I think, mistaken about the colour of
12 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
the eye, which is orange-red and not olive-green*
He says that it is a rare species, possessing no melo-
dious notes, which proves at once that he never heard
it sing. D'Orbigny obtained it in Bolivia, Bridges in
Mendoza, and more recently it has been found by
collectors in various parts of the Argentine country,
even in Buenos Ayres, where, however, it is probably
only an occasional visitor. But they have told us
nothing of its song and of its miraculous mocking-
powers. For my part I can think of no other way to
describe the surpassing excellence of its melody,
which delights the soul beyond all other bird-music,
than by saying that this bird is among song-birds
like the diamond among stones, which in its many-
coloured splendour represents and exceeds the special
beauty of every other gem.
I met with this species on the Rio Negro in Pata-
gonia ; it was there called Calandria blancUf a name
not strictly accurate, since the bird is not all white,
but certainly better than A^ara's strange invention
of '' Lark with three tails.''
The bird was not common in Patagonia, and its
only language was a very loud harsh startled note,
resembling that of the Mimus calandria ; but it was
past the love-season when I first met with it, and
the natives all assured me that it possessed a very
wonderful song, surpassing the songs of all other
birds ; also that it had the faculty of imitating other
species. In manners and appearance it struck me as
being utterly unlike a Mimus ; in its flight and in
the conspicuous white and black of the wings and
WHITE-BANDED MOCKING-BIRD 13
tail it looked like a Tyrant of the Tsenioptera group.
It was extremely shy, had a swift, easy, powerful
flight, and when approached would rise up high in
the air and soar away to a great distance. In February
it disappeared from the Rio Negro and did not
return till the following October, after the arrival of
all the other migrants. It was then that I had the
rare good fortune to hear it sing, and I shall never
forget the sensation I experienced when listening to
its matchless melody.
While walking through a chaitar-wood one bright
morning, my attention was suddenly arrested by notes
issuing from a thicket close by, to which I listened in
delighted astonishment, so vastly superior in melody,
strength, and variety did they seem to all other bird-
music. That it was the song of a Mimas did not occur
to me ; for while the music came in a continuous
stream, until I marvelled that the throat of any bird
could sustain so powerful and varied a song for so
long a time, it was never once degraded by the harsh
cries, fantastical flights, and squealing buffooneries
so frequently introduced by the Calandria, but every
note was in harmony and uttered with a rapidity and
joyous abandon no other bird is capable of, except,
perhaps, the Skylark ; while the purity of the sounds
gave to the whole performance something of the
ethereal rapturous character of the Lark's song when
it comes to the listener from a great height in the air.
Presently this flow of exquisite unfamiliar music
ceased, while I still remained standing amongst the
trees, not daring to move for fear of scaring away
14 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
the strange vocalist. After a short interval of silence
I had a fresh surprise. From the very spot whence
that torrent of melody had issued, burst out the
shrill, confused, impetuous song of the small Yellow-
and-Grey Patagonian Flycatcher (Stigmatura flavo-
cinerea). It irritated me to hear this familiar and
trivial song after the other, and I began to fear that
my entertainer had flown away unobserved. But in
another moment, from the same spot, came the
mellow matin-song of the Diuca Finch, and this was
quickly succeeded by the silvery bell-like trilling
song of the Churrinche, or little Scarlet Tyrant-bird.
Then followed many other familiar notes and songs
— the flute-like evening call of the Crested Tinamu,
the gay hurried twittering of the Black-headed Siskin,
and the leisurely-uttered delicious strains of the
Yellow Cardinal, all repeated with miraculous fidelity.
How much was my wonder and admiration increased
by the discovery that my one sweet singer had pro-
duced all these diverse strains ! The discovery was
only made when he began to repeat songs of species
that never visit Patagonia. I knew then that I was at
last listening to the famed White Mocking-bird, just
returned from his winter travels, and repeating in
this southern region the notes he had acquired in
sub-tropical forests a thousand miles away.
These imitations at length ceased, after which the
sweet vocalist resumed his own matchless song once
more. I ventured then to creep a little nearer, and
at length caught sight of him hardly fifteen yards
away. I then found that the pleasure of listening to
WHITE-BANDED MOCKING-BIRD 15
its melody was greatly enhanced when I could at the
same time see the bird, so carried away with rapture
does he appear while singing, so many and so beau-
tiful are the gestures and motions with which his
notes are accompanied. He passes incessantly from
bush to bush, scarcely alighting on their summits,
and at times dropping down beneath the foliage;
then, at intervals, soaring to a height of a hundred
feet above the thicket, with a flight slow as that of a
Heron, or mounting suddenly upwards with a wild,
hurried, zigzag motion ; then slowly circling down-
wards, to sit with tail outspread and the broad
glistening white wings expanded, or languidly waved
up and down like the wings of some great butterfly
— an object beautiful to see.
When I first heard this bird sing I felt convinced
that no other feathered songster on the globe could
compare with it ; for besides the faculty of repro-
ducing the songs of other species, which it possesses
in common with the Virginian Mocking-bird, it has
a song of its own, which I believed matchless ; and
in this belief I was confirmed when, shortly after
hearing it, I visited England, and found of how much
less account than this Patagonian bird, which no poet
has ever praised, were the sweetest of the famed
melodists of the Old World*
i6 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
HOUSE-WREN
Troglodytes furvus
Warm brown ; tail-feathers and outer webs of wing-feathers pen-
cilled with dark wavy lines ; beneath pale brown ; length 4.8 inches.
The common Argentine Wren is to all English
residents the '' House- Wren/' and is considered to
be identical with the species familiar to them in
their own country. It is a sprightly little bird, of a
uniform brown colour and a cheerful melodious
voice ; a tireless hunter after small spiders and
caterpillars in hedges, gardens, and outhouses, where
it explores every dark hole and cranny, hopping
briskly about with tail erect, and dropping frequent
little curtsies ; always prompt to scold an intruder
with great emphasis ; a great hater of cats.
It was my belief at one time that the Wren was
one of the little birds a cat could never catch ; but
later on I discovered that this was a mistake. At my
home on the pampas we once had a large yellow tom-
cat exceedingly dexterous in catching small birds ;
he did not, however, eat them himself, but used to
bring them into the house for the other cats. Two
or three times a day he would appear with a bird,
which he would drop at the door, then utter a loud
mew very well understood by the other cats, for they
would all fly to the spot in great haste, and the first
to arrive would get the bird. At one time I noticed
that he brought in a Wren almost every day, and.
HOUSE-WREN 17
curious to know how he managed to capture so
clever a bird, I watched him. His method was to go
out into the grounds frequented by Wrens, and seat
himself conspicuously amongst the weeds or bushes ;
and then, after the first burst of alarm had subsided
amongst the small birds, one or two Wrens would
always take on themselves the task of dislodging him,
or, at all events, of making his position a very uncom-
fortable one. The cat would sit perfectly motionless,
apparently not noticing them at all, and by-and-by
this stolid demeanour would have its effect, and one
of the Wrens, growing bolder, would extend his
dashing little incursions to within a few inches of
pussy^s demure face ; then at last, swift as lightning,
would come the stroke of a paw, and the little brown
body would drop down with the merry, brave little
spirit gone from it.
The House- Wren is widely distributed in South
America, from the tropical forests to the cold uplands
of Patagonia, and, possessing a greater adaptiveness
than most species, it inhabits every kind of country,
moist or dry, and is as much at home on lofty moun-
tains and stony places as in the everglades of the
Plata, where it frequents the reed-beds and damp
forests. About houses they are always to be found ;
and though the traveller on the desert pampas might
easily imagine that there are no Wrens in the giant
grasses, if he makes himself a lodge in this lonely
region, a Wren will immediately appear to make its
nest in his thatch and cheer him with its song.
Even in large towns they are common, and I always
i8 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
remember one flying into a church in Buenos Ayres
one Sunday^ and during the whole sermon-time
pouring out its bright lyric strain from its perch high
up somewhere in the ornamental woodwork of the
roof.
The Wren sings all summer, and also on bright
days in winter. The song is not unlike that of the
European Wren, having the same gushing character,
the notes strong and clear, uttered with rapidity and
precision ; but the Argentine bird has greater sweet-
ness and power ; although I cannot agree with A^ara
that it resembles or comes nearest to the Nightingale.
In spring the male courts his mate with notes high
and piercing as the squeals of a young mouse ; these
he repeats with great rapidity, fluttering his wings
all the time like a moth, and at intervals breaking out
into song.
The nest is made in a hole in a wall or tree,
sometimes in the forsaken domed nest of some other
bird ; and where such sites are not to be found,
in a dense thistle or thorn-bush, or in a large tussock
of grass. I have also found nests in dry skulls of
cows and horses, in an old boot, in the sleeve of an
old coat left hanging on a fence, in a large-necked
bottle, and in various other curious situations. The
nest is built of sticks and lined with horsehair or
feathers, and the eggs are usually nine in number, of a
pinkish ground-colour, thickly spotted with pale red.
ARGENTINE MARSH-WREN 19
ARGENTINE MARSH-WREN
Cistothorus platensis
Above pale brown^ streaked with black ; head darker brown, streaked
with black ; tail-feathers dark sandy brown, barred with blackish
brown ; beneath pale sandy buff ; length 4.3 inches.
This small Wren is rarely seen, being nowhere
common, although widely distributed. It prefers
open grounds covered with dense reeds and grasses,
where it easily escapes observation, I have met with
it near Buenos Ayres city ; also on the desert pampas,
in the tall pampas-grass. It is likewise met with
along the Parana river, and in Chili, Patagonia, and
the Falkland Islands, In the last-named locality
Darwin found it common, and says that it has there
an extremely feeble flight, so that it may easily be run
down and taken.
The Marsh- Wren has a sweet and delicate song,
resembling that of the House- Wren (Troglodytes
furvus) but much less powerful. It does not migrate ;
and on the pampas I have heard it singing with great
animation when the pampas-grass, where it sat
perched, was white with frozen dew. Probably its
song, like that of Troglodytes furvus^ varies in different
districts ; at all events, the pampas bird does not
possess so fine a song as Azara ascribes to his Todo
Voz in Paraguay, which is undoubtedly the same
species.
South America is rich in Wrens, the known species
20 BIRDS OF L^ PLATA
numbering no fewer than a hundred. In Argentina
only four species are found, the two described and
the Black-headed Reed- Wren, Donacobius atricapilluSf
a. common Brazilian species, and the Eared Wren,
Troglodytes auriculariSf found in the province of
Tucuman.
CACHILA PIPIT
Anthus correndera
Above pale sandy buff, with black centres to the feathers ; wing-
and tail-feathers dark brown, edged with buff; the outer tail-feathers
almost entirely white ; below sandy buff with large triangular black
spots ; length 6 inches.
Azara's only reason for calling this bird La Corren-
dera was that he thought it resembled a Titlark
known by that name in his own country, but of which
he merely had a confused recollection. It is therefore
to be regretted, I think, that correndera has been
adopted as a specific name by naturalists instead of
Cachila^ the vernacular name of the bird, familiar
to every one in the Argentine country. Azara's
Spanish bird was probably Anthus pratensis^ which
closely resembles A, correndera in general appearance,
and has, moreover, as wide a range in the northern
as the last-named species has in the southern hemi-
sphere. In the volume on Birds in the Voyage of
the Beagle it is said that a species of Anthus ranges
further south than any other land-bird, being the
CACHILA PIPIT 21
only land-bird found on Georgia and South Orkney
(lat* 6 1 deg* S*)*
In colour and language, possibly also in size, the
Cachila is variable. It is a very common bird, widely
and plentifully distributed over the pampas, found
alike on marshy and dry grounds, but rare in the
region of giant grasses. While abundant it is also
very evenly dispersed, each bird spending its life on
a very circumscribed plot of earth. Those frequenting
marshy or moist grounds are of a yellowish-cream
colour, thickly mottled and striped with fuscous and
black, and have two narrow parallel pure white marks
on the back, very conspicuous when the bird is on
the ground. The individuals frequenting high and
dry grounds are much paler in hue, appearing almost
grey, and do not show the white marks on the back.
They also look larger than the birds on marshy
lands ; but this appearance is probably due to a
looser plumage. The most strongly marked pale
and dark-plumaged variations may be found living
within a few hundred yards of each other, showing
how strictly each bird keeps to its own little '' beat '' ;
for this difference in coloration is no doubt due
entirely to the amount of moisture in the ground
they live on.
The Cachilas are resident, living in couples all
the year round, the sexes being faithful. Several
pairs frequent a small area, and sometimes they
unite in a desultory flock ; but these gatherings
are not frequent. In the evening, at all seasons,
immediately after the sun has set, the Cachilas all
23 BIRDS OF L^LATA
rise to a considerable height in the air and fly wildly
about, chirping for a few minutes, after which they
retire to roost.
When approached they frequently rise up several
feet from the ground and flutter in the air, chirping
sharply, with breast towards the intruder. This is
a habit also found in Synallaxine species inhabiting
the grassy plains. But as a rule the Cachilas are the
tamest of feathered creatures, and usually creep
reluctantly away on their little pink feet when
approached. If the pedestrian is a stranger to their
habits they easily delude him into attempting their
capture with his hat, so little is their fear of man.
To sing, the Cachila mounts upwards almost
vertically, making at intervals a fluttering pause,
accompanied with a few hurried notes. When he
has thus risen to a great height (but never beyond
sight as Azara says) he begins the descent slowly,
the wings inclining upwards ; and, descending, he
pours forth long impressive strains, each ending
with a falling inflection of with two or three short
throat-notes as the bird pauses fluttering in mid-
air, and then renewed successively until, when the
singer is within three or four feet of the earth, without
alighting he re-ascends as before to continue the
performance. It is a very charming melody, and
heard always on the treeless plains when there is
no other bird-music, with the exception of the trilling
and grasshopper-like notes of a few Synallaxine
species. But in character it is utterly unlike the
song of the Skylark with its boundless energy, hurry^
CACHILA PIPIT 23
and abandon ; and yet it is impossible not to think
of the Skylark when describing the Cachila, which
in its manners^ appearance, and in its habit of soaring
to a great height when singing, seems so like a small
copy of that bird.
The Cachila rears two broods in the year ; the
first is hatched about the middle of August, that is,
one to three months before the laying-season of other
Passerine species. By anticipating the breeding-
season their early nests escape the evil of parasitical
eggs ; but on the other hand, frosty nights and
heavy rains are probably as fatal to as many early
broods as the instinct of the Molothrus honariensiSf
or Cow-bird, is to others at a later period.
There is another species of Pipit found in Argen-
tina, the Fork-tailed Pipit, Anthus f meatus ; it
inhabits the grassy pampas and the moist valleys in
Patagonia, but so closely resembles the Cachila in
its plumage, language, and habits as to be generally
taken for that species. The only difference I have
noted is that it is shyer, and has a somewhat shriller
song.
24 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
PURPLE MARTIN
Progne furcata
Deep purple-blue ; tail black marked with blue ; length 7.7 inches.
Female, upper parts dull purple ; head, neck, and lower parts blackish
brown.
The Purple Martin is occasionally seen in the eastern
provinces of La Plata when migrating^ but has not
been found nesting anywhere so far north as Buenos
Ayres. I met with it breeding at Bahia Blanca on
the Atlantic coasts and on the Rio Negro, where it
is very common. It arrives in Patagonia late in Sep-
tember, and leaves before the middle of February.
On the fourteenth of that month I saw one flock
flying north, but it was the last. It breeds in holes
under the eaves of houses or in walls, and its nest is
like that of P. chalybea ; but many also breed in
holes in the steep banks of the Rio Negro. They do
not, however, excavate holes for themselves, but
take possession of natural crevices and old forsaken
burrows of the Burrowing Parrot {Conurus patacho-
nicus)* In size, flight, manners, and appearance the
Purple Martin closely resembles the following species,
the only difference being in the dark plumage of the
under surface. The language of the two birds is
also identical ; the loud excited scream when the
nest is approached, the various other notes when
the birds sweep about in the air, and the agreeably
modulated and leisurely-uttered song are all pos-
sessed by the two species without the slightest
DOMESTIC MARTIN 25
difference in strength or intonation. This cir-
cumstance appears very remarkable to me, because,
though two species do sometimes possess a few notes
alike, the greater part of their language is generally
different ; also because birds of the same species in
different localities vary more in language than in
any other particular. This last observation, however,
applies more to resident than to migratory species.
I am inclined to believe that the Purple and
Domestic Martins form one dimorphic species, like
the Carrion and Hooded Crows of Europe, and that,
like these two Crows, they would inter-breed should
their nesting areas overlap.
DOMESTIC MARTIN
Progne chalybea
Upper parts deep purple-blue ; wing- and tail-feathers black,
glossed with steel-blue ; throat and chest ash-colour ; breast, abdomen,
and under tail-coverts pure white ; length 8 inches. Female similar.
This species, distinguished from the Purple Martin
by its white underparts, ranges from Mexico to
Buenos Ayres, the extreme limit of its range being
about 250 miles south of that city. It was well called
Golondrina domestica by A2;ara, being pre-eminently
domestic in its habits. It never breeds in banks as
the Purple Martin often does, or in the domed nests
of other birds in trees, a situation always resorted to
by the Tree Martin, and occasionally by the Common
26 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
Swallow ; but is so accustomed to the companion-
ship of man as to make its home in populous towns
as well as in country houses. It arrives in Buenos
Ayres about the middle of September, and appar-
ently resorts to the same breeding-place every year.
A hole under the eaves is usually selected, and the
nest is roughly built of dry grass, hair, feathers, and
other materials. When the entrance to its breeding-
hole is too large, it partially closes it up with mud
mixed with straw ; if there be two entrances it stops
up one altogether. The bird does not often require
to use mud in building ; it is the only one of our
Swallows that uses such a material at all. The eggs
are white, long, pointed, and five in number.
In the season of courtship this Martin is a noisy
pugnacious bird, and always, when quitting its nest,
utters an exceedingly loud startling cry several times
repeated. It also has a song, uttered both when
resting and on the wing, composed of nine or ten
agreeably modulated notes, invariably repeated in
the same order. It is a pleasing song with something
of that peculiai human-like quality in the sound
which is so engaging in our Barn Swallow. But it is
a voice of much greater power and may be heard
when the bird sings flying at so great a height as to
be invisible.
Before leaving in February these birds congregate
in parties of from twenty to four or five hundred,
their congregating place being usually on the broad
leafy top of an old ombu tree.
TREE-MARTIN 27
TREE-MARTIN
Progne tapera
Upper parts dull brown ; tail-feathers blackish brown ; throat ashy
white ; fore neck and chest ashy brown ; abdomen white ; length
7 inches. Sexes alike.
The Tree-Martin is more slender and has a greater
extent of wing than the Purple Martins ; and instead
of the beautiful dark purple (their prevailing colour)
its entire upper plumage is dusky brown, the under
surface white. But if these differences of structure
and hue merely serve to show that it is not a
very near relative of the other species, those ex-
hibited in its habits remove it very far indeed from
them*
The Tree-Martin is a garrulous bird, and no
sooner arrives early in September, than we are
apprised of the circumstance by the notes which
the male and female incessantly sing in concert,
fluttering and waving their wings the while, and
seeming quite beside themselves with joy at their
safe arrival ; for invariably they arrive already mated,
and they probably pair for life. Their language is
more varied, the intonation bolder and freer than
that of our other Swallows, The length of the notes
can be varied at pleasure ; some are almost harsh,
others silvery or liquid, as of trickling drops of
water : all have a glad sound ; and many have that
peculiar character of some bird-notes of shaping
28 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
^^
themselves into words ; but unlike the other Swallows
the Martin has no set song.
This Martin is never seen to alight on the ground
or on the roofs of houses, but solely on trees ; and
when engaged in collecting materials for its nest, it
sweeps down and snatches up a feather or straw
without touching the surface. It breeds only in the
clay ovens of the Oven-bird (Furnarius rufus). I at
least have never seen them breed in any other situa-
tion after observing them for many summers. An
extraordinary habit, for, many as are the species
that possess the semi-parasitical custom of breeding
in other birds* nests, they do not confine them-
selves to the nest of a single species excepting the
bird I am describing. It must, however, be under-
stood that my knowledge of this bird has been
acquired in Buenos Ayres, where I have observed
it ; and as this Martin possesses a wider range in
South America than the Oven-birds, there is no
doubt that in other districts it builds in different
situations.
On arriving in spring each pair takes up its position
on some tree, and usually on a particular branch ;
a dead branch extending beyond the foliage is a
favourite perch. Here they spend much of their
time, never appearing to remain long absent from it,
and often, when singing their notes together, fluttering
about it with a tremulous, uncertain flight, like that
of a hovering butterfly. About three weeks after
first arriving they begin to make advances towards
the Oven-bird's nest that stands on the nearest post
TREE-MARTIN 39
or tree ; and if it be still occupied by the rightful
owners, after much time has been spent in sporting
about and reconnoitring it, a feud begins which
is often exceedingly violent and protracted for
many days.
In seasons favourable to them the Oven-birds build
in autumn and winter, and breed early in spring ; so
that their broods are out of their clay houses by the
end of October or earlier ; when this happens the
Swallow that breeds in November quietly takes
possession of the forsaken fortress. But accidents
will happen, even to the wonderful fabric of the
Oven-bird. It is sometimes destroyed and must be
rebuilt ; or its completion has perhaps been retarded
for months by drought, or by the poor condition of
the birds in severe weather ; or the first brood has
perhaps perished, destroyed by some tree-climbing
enemy ; a young opossum for instance, less than a
rat in size, and able to squeeze itself into the nest-
ing chamber. November, and even December, may
thus arrive before some pairs have hatched their
eggs ; and it is these unfortunate late breeders that
suffer the violence of the marauding Swallows. I
have often witnessed the wars of these birds with
the deepest interest ; and in many ovens that I have
opened after the builders had been expelled I have
found the eggs of the Oven-bird buried under the
nest of the Swallows. After the Swallows have taken
up a position near the coveted oven, they occasionally
fly towards and hover about it, returning again to
their stand. By-and-by, instead of returning as at
30 BIRDS OF L^ PLATA
first, they take.to alighting at the entrance of the
coveted home ; this is a sort of declaration of war,
and marks the beginning of hostilities. The Oven-
birds, full of alarm and anger, rush upon and repel
them as often as they approach ; they retire before
this furious onset, but not discomfited, and only
warbling out their gay, seemingly derisive notes in
answer to the outrageous, indignant screams of their
enemies. Soon they return ; the scene is repeated ;
and this desultory skirmishing is often continued
for many days.
But at length the lawless invader, grown bolder,
and familiar with his strength and resources, will no
longer fly from the master of the house ; desperate
struggles now frequently take place at the entrance,
the birds again and again dropping to the ground
clutched fiercely together, and again hurrying up
only to resume the combat. Victory at last declares
itself for the aggressors, and they busy themselves
carrying in materials for their nest, screaming their
jubilant notes all the time as if in token of triumph.
The brave and industrious Oven-birds, dispossessed
of their home, retire to spend their childless summer
together, for the male and female never separate ;
and when the autumn rains have supplied them
with wet clay, and the sense of defeat is worn
off, they cheerfully begin their building operations
afresh.
This is not, however, the invariable result of the
conflict. To the superior swiftness of the Martin
the Oven-bird opposes greater strength, and, it might
TREE-MARTIN 31
be added, a greater degree of zeal and fury than can
animate its adversary. The contest is thus nearly an
equal one ; and the Oven-bird, particularly when
its young are already hatched, is often able to main-
tain its own. But the Martins never suffer defeat ;
for, when unable to take the citadel by storm, they
fall back on their dribbling system of warfare,
which they keep up till the young birds leave the
nest, when they take possession before it has grown
cold.
The Martin makes its own nest chiefly of large
feathers, and lays four eggs, long, pointed, and pure
white.
It will be remarked that in all its habits above-
mentioned this bird differs widely from the two
preceding species. It also differs greatly from them
in its manner of flight. The Purple Martins move
with surprising grace and celerity, the wings extended
to their utmost ; they also love to sail in circles high
up in the air, or about the summits of tall trees, and
particularly during a high wind. At such times
several individuals are usually seen together, and
all seem striving to outvie each other in the beauty
of their evolutions.
The Tree-Martin is never seen to soar about in
circles ; and though when hawking after flies and
moths it sweeps the surface of the grass with amazing
swiftness, at other times it has a flight strangely slow
and of a fashion peculiar to itself : the long wings
are depressed as much as those of a Wild Duck when
dropping on to the water, and are constantly agitated
32 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
with tremulous flutterings, short and rapid as those
of a butterfly*
Neither is this bird gregarious like all its congeners,
though occasionally an individual associates for a
while with Swallows of another species ; but this
only when they are resting on fences or trees, for as
soon as they take flight it leaves them. Once or twice
when for some mysterious cause the autumnal migra-
tion has been delayed long past its usual time, I
have seen them unite in small flocks ; but this is
very rare. As a rule they have no meetings pre-
paratory to migration, but skim about the fields and
open plains in un-Swallow-like solitude, and in a
little while are seen no more.
RED-BACKED ROCK-MARTIN
Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
Above glossy dark steel-blue ; lower back and rump cinnamon
rufous ; upper tail-coverts brown ; wing black ; tail black, glossed
with green ; crown steel-blue ; forehead sandy buff ; cheeks and
sides of face chestnut ; chin chestnut and lower throat steel-blue ;
fore-neck, chest, and flanks ashy brown ; middle of breast and abdomen
white, tinged with brown ; length 5.3 inches. Sexes alike.
This species does not breed in the Plata district, and
is only seen there in spring, flying south or south-
west, and again in much larger numbers on its return
journey in autumn. Nor does it breed anywhere in
South America, so far as we know, but in Arizona
and other districts in the northern division of the
Red-Faced Rock Martin
Petrochelidon pyrrhoiiota (\ ieill.)
RED-BACKED ROCK-MARTIN 33
Continent, and has a migration similar to that of
many species of the Limicolee order. Thus, flying
south in the autumn of the northern hemisphere, it
crosses the tropics and extends its enormous journey
to the southernmost parts of South America, On
the Rio Negro, in Patagonia, I did not meet with
it, and suppose its summer resort must be south
of that locality ; and, judging from the immense
numbers visible in some seasons, I should think
that they must, in their non-breeding ground in
Patagonia, occupy a very extensive area. They
do not seem to be as regular in their movements
as other Swallows here ; some years I have observed
them passing singly or in small parties during the
entire hot season : usually they begin to appear,
flying north, in February ; but in some years not
until after the middle of March. They are not seen
passing with a rapid flight in close flocks, but straggle
about, hawking after flies ; first one bird passing,
then two or three, and a minute or two later half
a do2;en, and so on for a greater part of the day. So
long as the weather continues warm they journey in
this leisurely manner ; but I have known them to
continue passing till April, after all the summer
migrants had left us, and these late birds flew by with
great speed in small close flocks, directly north, as if
their flight had been guided by the magnetic needle.
While flying this species continually utters sharp
twitterings and grinding and squealing notes of
various lengths.
34 BIRDS OF L^PLATA
COMMON SWALLOW
Tachycineta leucorrhoa
Above glossy dark green ; rump white ; quills black, washed with
green ; tail black with greenish gloss ; base of forehead, cheeks, and
whole under surface white ; flanks and sides washed with smoky
brown ; length 5.5 inches.
This is the most abundant and best known of our
Swallows ; a pretty bird in its glossy coat of deep
green, and rump and under surface snowy white ;
exceedingly restless in its disposition, quick and
graceful in its motions ; social, quarrelsome, gar-
rulous, with a not unmusical song, beginning with
long, soft, tremulous notes, followed by others
shorter and more hurried, and sinking to a murmur.
They are the last of all our migrants to leave us in
autumn, and invariably reappear in small numbers
about the houses on every warm day in winter.
Probably many individuals in Buenos Ayres remain
through the winter in sheltered situations, to scatter
over the surrounding country whenever there comes
a warm bright day, I once saw three together,
skimming over the plains, on one of the coldest
days I ever experienced on the pampas, the ther-
mometer having stood at 29 deg, Fahrenheit that
morning.
Further south their migration is more strict ; and
on the Rio Negro, in Patagonia, from March to
COMMON SWALLOW 35
August I did not meet with a single individual. In
Buenos Ayres the autumnal migration of the Hirun-
dines begins about the middle of February, and from
that date vast numbers of this Swallow are seen
travelling north, and, in some seasons, they continue
passing for over a month. One autumn, in April,
several days after the Swallows had all disappeared,
flocks of the Common Swallow began again to appear
flying north, and for ten days afterwards they con-
tinued to pass in large numbers. They would stoop
to dip themselves in a pool where I observed them,
and then alight on the reeds and bushes to rest, and
appeared quite tired with their journey, rising reluc-
tantly when approached and some allowing me to
stand almost within arm's length of them without
stirring, I had never before observed any later or
supplementary migration like this ; for as a rule the
causes which in some years delay the departure of
birds seem to affect them all alike. Possibly these
late birds come from some remote district, where
exceptionally cold weather had retarded breeding
operations.
The Common Swallow sometimes lays in a tree,
in the large nest, previously abandoned, of the
Lefiatero {Anumbius acuticaudatus). Its favourite site
is, however, a hole in a wall, sheltered by the over-
hanging tiles or thatch ; for though it does not go
much into towns, as Azara has remarked, it is very
domestic, and there is not a house on the pampas,
however humble it be, but some of these birds are
about it, sportively skimming above the roof, or
36 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
curiously peering under the eaves, and incessantly
uttering their gurgling happy notes.
For a period of a month to six weeks before build-
ing begins they seem to be holding an incessant
dispute, reminding one in their scolding tones of a
colony of contentious English House-Sparrows, only
the Swallow has a softer, more varied voice, and
frequently, even when hotly quarrelling, he pauses
to warble out his pretty little song, with its sound
like running water. However many eligible chinks
and holes there may be, the contention is always
just as great amongst them, and is doubtless referable
to opposing claims to the best places. The excited
twittering, the incessant striving of two birds to
alight on the same square inch of wall, the perpetual
chases they lead each other round and round the
house, always ending exactly where they began, tell
of clashing interests and of great unreasonableness
on the part of some amongst them. By-and-by the
quarrel assumes a more serious aspect ; friends and
neighbours have apparently intervened in vain ; all
the arguments of which Swallows are capable have
been exhausted, and, a compromise of claims being
more impossible than ever, fighting begins. Most
vindictively do the little things clutch each other and
fall to the earth twenty times an hour, where they
often remain struggling for a long time, heedless of
the screams of alarm their fellows set up above them ;
for often, while they thus lie on the ground punishing
each other, they fall an easy prey to some wily pussy
who has made herself acquainted with their habits.
COMMON SWALLOW 37
When these feuds are finally settled^ they address
themselves diligently to the great work and build a
rather big nest. They are not neat or skilful workers,
but merely stuff a great quantity of straw and other
light materials into the breeding-hole, and line the
nest with feathers and horsehair. On this soft but
disorderly bed the female lays from five to seven pure
white eggs.
All those species that are liable at any time to
become the victims of raptorial birds are very much
beholden to this Swallow, as he is the most vigilant
sentinel they possess. When the hurrying Falcon is
still far off, and the other birds unsuspicious of his
approach, the Swallo^^ suddenly rush up into the
sky with a wild rapid flight to announce the evil
tidings with distracted screams. The alarm spreads
swift as light through the feathered tribes, which on
all sides are in terrified commotion, crouching in the
grass, plunging into thickets, or mounting upwards
to escape by flight. I have often wondered at this,
since this swift-winged and quick-doubling little bird
is the least likely to fall a prey himself.
They possess another habit very grateful to the
mind of every early riser. At the first indication of
dawn, and before any other wild bird has broken the
profound silence of night, multitudes of this Swallow,
as if at the signal of a leader, begin their singing and
twittering, at the same time mounting upwards into
the quiet dusky sky. Their notes at this hour differ
from the hurried twittering uttered during the day,
being softer and more prolonged, and, sounding far
38 BIRDS OF L^PLATA
up in the sky from so many throats^ the concert has
a very charming effect^ and is in harmony with the
shadowy morning twilight*
BANK-MARTIN
Atticora cyanoleuca
Above dark glossy blue ; quills and tail-feathers black ; cheeks and
under surface pure white ; sides of the neck blue, descending in a
half-crescent on the sides of the chest ; length 4.7 inches.
This diminutive dark-plumaged species is the small-
est of our Hirundines. In Buenos Ayres they appear
early in September, arriving before the Martins, but
preceded by the Common Swallow, They are bank-
birds, breeding in forsaken holes and burrows, for
they never bore into the earth themselves, and are
consequently not much seen about the habitations of
man. They sometimes find their breeding-holes in
the banks of streams, or, in cultivated districts, in the
sides of ditches, and even down in wells. But if in
such sites alone fit receptacles for their eggs were met
with, the species, instead of one of the commonest,
would be rare indeed with us ; for on the level
pampas most of the water-courses have marshy
borders, or at most but low and gently sloping
banks. But the burrowing habits of two other
animals — the Vi^cacha (Lagostomus trichodactylus)^
the common large rodent of the pampas, and the
curious little bird called Minera (Geositta cunicu-
BANK-MARTIN 39
laria) — have everywhere afforded the Martins abun-
dance of breeding-places on the plains, even where
there are no streams or other irregularities in the
smooth surface of the earth.
The Minera bores its hole in the sides of the
Vizcacha's great burrow, and in this burrow within
a burrow the Martin lays its eggs and rears its young,
and is the guest of the Visjcacha and as much depen-
dent on it as the House- Wren and the Domestic
Swallow on man ; so that in spring, when this
species returns to the plains, it is in the villages of
the Vi^cachas that we see them. There they live and
spend the day, sporting about the burrows, just as
the Common Swallow does about our houses ; and
to a stranger on the pampas one of these villages,
with its incongruous bird and mammalian inhabi-
tants, must seem a very curious sight in the evening.
Before sunset the old male Vi^cachas come forth to
sit gravely at the mouths of their great burrows.
One or two couples of Mineras, their little brown
bird-tenants, are always seen running about on the
bare ground round the holes, resting at intervals
with their tails slowly moving up and down, and
occasionally trilling out their shrill laughter-like cry.
Often a pair of Burrowing-Owls also live in the
village, occupying one of the lesser disused burrows ;
and round them all flit half a dozen little Martins,
like twilight moths with long black wings. It is
never quite a happy family, however, for the Owls
always hiss and snap at the Vizcacha if he comes
too near ; while the little Martins never become
40 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
reconciled to the Owls, but perpetually flutter about
them, protesting against their presence with long
complaining notes.
The nest, made of dry grass lined with feathers,
is placed at the extremity of the long, straight,
cylindrical burrow, and contains five or six white
pointed eggs. I have never seen these Martins
fighting with the Minera to obtain possession of the
burrows, for this industrious little bird makes itself
a fresh one every spring, so that there are always
houses enough for the Martins. After the young
have flown, they sit huddled together on a weed or
thistle-top, and the parents continue to feed them
for many days.
As in size and brightness of plumage, so in language
is the Bank-Martin inferior to other species, its only
song being a single weak trilling note, much pro-
longed, which the bird repeats with great frequency
when on the wing. Its voice has ever a mournful,
monotonous sound, and even when it is greatly
excited and alarmed, as at the approach of a fox or
hawk, its notes are neither loud nor shrill. When
flying they glide along close to the earth, and fre-
quently alight on the ground to rest, which is
contrary to the custom of other Swallows. Like
other species of this family, they possess the habit
of gliding to and fro before a traveller's horse, to
catch the small twilight-moths driven up from the
grass. A person riding on the pampas usually has a
number of Swallows flying round him, and I have
often thought that more than a hundred were before
BANK-MARTIN 41
my horse at one time ; but from the rapidity of their
motions it is impossible to count them. I have
frequently noticed individuals of the four most
common species following me together ; but after
sunset, and when the other species have long forsaken
the open grassy plain for the shelter of trees and
houses, the diminutive Bank-Martin continues to
keep the traveller company. At such a time, as they
glide about in the dusk of evening, conversing
together in low tremulous tones, they have a pecu-
liarly sorrowful appearance, seeming like homeless
little wanderers over the great level plains.
When the season of migration approaches they
begin to congregate in parties not very large, though
sometimes as many as one or two hundred individuals
are seen together ; these companies spend much of
their time perched close together on weeds, low trees,
fences, or other slightly elevated situations, and pay
little heed to a person approaching, but seem pre-
occupied or preyed upon by some trouble that has no
visible cause.
The time immediately preceding the departure of
the Martins is indeed a season of very deep interest
to the observer of nature. The birds in many cases
seem to forget the attachment of the sexes and their
songs and aerial recreations ; they already begin to
feel the premonitions of that marvellous instinct that
urges them hence : not yet an irresistible impulse,
it is a vague sense of disquiet ; but its influence is
manifest in their language and gestures, their wild
manner of flight, and their listless intervals.
42 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
The little Bank-Martin disappears immediately
after the Purple Martins. Many stragglers continue
to be seen after the departure of the main body ; but
before the middle of March not one remains, the
migration of this species being very regular.
WHITE-CAPPED TANAGER
Stephanophorus leucocephalus
Uniform deep blue ; cap silvery white with a small crimson crest
above the forehead ; length 7 inches. Female less bright.
This beautiful bird is one of the three species of
Tanager which range south as far as Buenos Ayres.
The Tanagers are, however, a numerous family
{Tanagridae)^ numbering about 400 species, mostly
restricted to the forest-clad regions of Central and
South America, between the tropics. They are an
American family nearly related to the Finches, and
the relationship is so close in at least one genus as to
make it difficult for naturalists to determine its true
place — whether in the Finch or Tanager family. In
form they resemble Buntings and do not vary greatly
in size ; of the greater number it may be said that
they are about as big as a Yellow or a Corn Bunting.
But in their colouring they have diverged widely
from their relations — the family they spring from as
we must suppose. There are many bright-coloured
Finches, but with a few rare exceptions they do not
WHITE-CAPPED TANAGER 43
equal the Tanagers in this respect. Another difference
is that while wearing a more brilliant dress they are
less musical They have not wholly forgotten that
they are song birds ; they all sing " after a fashion/'
but it is rare to find a species possessing a song
comparable in beauty to that of the best singers in
the Finch family.
Azara gave the generic name Lindo (beautiful)
to the Tanagers, and this species he named the
'* Blue White-headed Beautiful/' the entire plumage
being of a very lovely deep cornflower blue, except
a cap of silvery-white feathers on the head, with a
crimson spot on the forehead, looking like a drop of
blood.
It is a summer bird in Buenos Ayres, where it
makes its appearance in spring in the woods border-
ing on the Plata river, and is usually seen singly or
in pairs. The nest is built in a tree ten or twelve
feet from the ground, and is somewhat shallow
and lined with soft dry grass. The female lays four
eggs, white and spotted with deep red. During
incubation the male sits concealed in the thick
foliage close by, amusing itself by the hour with
singing, its performance consisting of chattering
disconnected notes uttered in so low a tone as
to make one fancy that the bird is merely trying
to recall some melody it has forgotten, or endea-
vouring to construct a new one by jerking out a
variety of sounds at random. The bird never gets
beyond this unsatisfactory stage, however, and
must be admired for its lovely colouring alone.
44 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
The second species of the three known to me is
the Blue Tanager, Tanagra sayaca, the entire plumage
of which is a pale glaucous blue, A few of these
birds migrate as far south as Buenos Ayres and are
seen in small parties of four or five in the woods on
the shores of the Plata, The male emits a series of
squealing sounds by way of song.
The third species is the Blue-and- Yellow Tanager,
Tanagra honariensis. The plumage is rich blue above
and bright yellow beneath. The female is olive green
above and buff colour beneath. This species also
visits Buenos Ayres in small numbers in spring
(October). Both sexes have a long reedy call-note,
and the male has a song composed of a succession
of sounds like the bleating of a kid.
" There are eleven more species of Tanager in
Argentina, all confined to the northern part of the
country.
GLAUCOUS FINCH
Guiraca glaucocxrulea
Uniform glaucous blue ; wings and tail blackish, the feathers edged
with light blue ; length 5.7 inches.
The Finches in Argentina number about fifty species
and belong mostly to forms peculiar to the New
World, the chief exception being the genus Chry-
somitris (Siskins), which has perhaps the widest
SCREAMING FINCH 45
range among Finches, From personal observation
I can only speak of fifteen species ♦
The Glaucous Finch was to me a rare bird^ and
its massive beak and rich blue plumage give to it a
highly interesting appearance ; but about its habits
I have little to tell, for it is essentially a bird of the
wild forest, seldom coming near the abodes of man,
and being, moreover, shy in disposition, it is difficult
to observe even in its haunts. It is migratory, and is
usually seen singly or in pairs, or in small companies
of four or five individuals. The male sings, but his
performance is merely a confused medley of chat-
tering notes, uttered in so low a tone that they can
scarcely be heard at a distance of twelve yards.
Another species of Guiraca, the Indigo Finch, G,
cyaneUfis found in the northern province of Catamarca,
SCREAMING FINCH
Spermophila Ccerulescens
Above pale smoky brown ; front and lores black ; beneath, upper
part of throat black, with white mystical stripe on each side ; fore-
neck white ; broad black band across the chest ; abdomen and under
wing-coverts white ; length 4,8 inches. Female pale olive-brown ;
beneath lighter, tinged with ochraceous.
This species is a summer visitor in Buenos Ayres,
and is one of the last to arrive and first to depart of
our migrants. These birds are always most abundant
in plantations, preferring peach-trees, but do not
associate in flocks : they are exceedingly swift and
46 BIRDS OF I^ PLATA
active^ overflowing with life and energy, their im-
petuous notes and motions giving one the idea that
they are always in a state of violent excitement. The
male has a loud, startled chirp, also a song composed
of eight or ten notes, delivered with such vehemence
and rapidity that they run into each other and sound
more like a scream than a song. There is not a more
clever architect than this species ; and while many
Synallaxes are laboriously endeavouring to show how
stately a mansion of sticks a little bird can erect for
itself, the Screaming Finch has successfully solved
the problem of how to construct the most perfect
nest for lightness, strength, and symmetry with the
fewest materials. It is a small cup-shaped structure,
suspended hammock-wise between two slender up-
right branches, to which it is securely attached by
fine hairs and webs. It is made of thin, pale-coloured,
fibrous roots, ingeniously woven together — reddish or
light-coloured horsehair being sometimes substi-
tuted ; and so little material is used that, standing
under the tree, a person can easily count the eggs
through the bottom of the nest. Its apparent frailness
is, however, its best protection from the prying eyes
of birds and mammals that prey on the eggs and young
of small birds ; for it is difficult to detect this slight
structure, through which the sunshine and rain pass
so freely. So light is the little basket-nest that it may
be placed on the open hand and blown away with the
breath like straw ; yet so strong that a man can
suspend his weight from it without pulling it to
pieces. The eggs are three in number, white and
CARDINAL FINCH 47
spotted with black ; sometimes bluish-brown spots
are mingled with the black*
Two other species of Spermophila — 5. palustris
and S. melanocephala — are found in Argentina,
CARDINAL FINCH
Par oar ia cucullata
Above light grey ; wings and tail dark grey ; head^ crest, and
throat brilliant scarlet, the scarlet extending downward to the chest ;
beneath pure white ; length 8 inches.
This well-known species is perhaps the finest Finch
the Argentines have. The entire upper plumage is
clear grey, the under surface pure white ; but its
chief glory is its crest, which, with the anterior
part of the head and throat, is of the most vivid
scarlet. The song has little variety, but is remarkably
loud, and has that cheerful ring which most people
admire in their caged pets, possibly because it pro-
duces the idea in the listener's mind that the songster
is glad to be a prisoner. As a cage-bird this Finch
enjoys an extraordinary popularity ; and a stranger
in Buenos Ayres, seeing the numbers that are exposed
for sale by the bird-dealers in the markets of that
city, might fancy that a Cardinal in a cage is con-
sidered a necessary part of the menage of every house
in the country. This large supply of caged birds
comes from South Brazil, Paraguay, and the north-
eastern part of the Argentine country, where the
48 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
Cardinals are most abundant and unite in large flocks.
As a rule they are not snared^ but taken when young
from the nest ; thus most of the birds when first
exposed for sale are in immature plumage.
The Cardinal in a wild state is found as far south
as the province of Buenos Ayres, but it is there a
scarce bird. It breeds at the end of October, and
makes a shallow nest of twigs, vine-tendrils, and
horsehair. The eggs are four ; ground-colour white
or tinged with faint brown or greenish, and spotted
with brown, more densely at the large end.
The Lesser Cardinal Finch, P. capitata, common
in Bolivia and Paraguay, is also found in Northern
Argentina.
LONG-TAILED REED-FINCH
Donacospiza albifrons
Above yellowish grey, the back striped with blackish ; lesser wing-
coverts clear grey ; greater coverts and quills black ; head like back^
greyish in the cheeks ; eye-stripe and under surface buff ; length
6 inches.
The slender body, great length of tail, and the hue
of the plumage, assimilating to that of sere decaying
vegetation, might easily lead one into mistaking this
Finch for a Synallaxis where these birds are abundant.
I have met with it in the marshy woods and reed-
beds along the shores of the Plata, but it is a shy,
rare bird in Buenos Ayres. I have followed it about,
hoping to hear it utter a song or melodious note, but
it had only a little chirp. I would not, however, on
WARBLING FINCH 49
this account pronounce it to be the one silent member
of a voiceful family, as my acquaintance with it is so
very slight.
BLACK-AND-CHESTNUT WARBLING
FINCH
Poospiza nigrorufa
Above black, faintly washed with olive; eye-stripe pale straw-
colour ; two outer tail-feathers on each side tipped with white ; be-
neath bright chestnut; under tail-coverts pale buff; length 5.8
inches. Female : above not so dark as in male ; beneath light buff
striped with blackish.
This sweet-voiced little songster appears in Buenos
Ayres at the end of September ; it is a common bird
in grounds abounding in bushes and scattered trees,
and in its bright ruddy breast and dark upper plumage
has some resemblance to the English Robin ; only
it has a very conspicuous straw-coloured line above
the eye. Its voice also, in purity and sweetness of
tone, is not unlike that of the Robin ; but the song,
composed of six unvarying notes, is uttered in a
deliberate, business-like manner at regular intervals,
and is monotonous. Never more than two birds
are seen together ; they feed on the ground in
humid situations, the male frequently seeking a
perch to sing. The nest is made on the ground,
or in a close bush near the surface ; the eggs have
a pale bluish ground-colour, irregularly marked
with black and very dark brown spots, and in
some instances clouded with faint grey.
50 BIRDS OF yV PLATA
There are six more species of Poospiza found in
the Argentine country^ all of them in the northern
parts.
The English generic name of Warbling Finches
was invented for this group by the late Dr» P» L»
Sclater, and although I retain it here I am by no
means sure that it is the right one. Of the seven
Argentine species we only know the song of one —
the Black-and-Chestnut Finch, and its song is not
exactly a warble in the sense in which we use the
word of the performance of the Garden- Warbler,
Blackcap, Willow- Wren, and other European species.
MOURNING FINCH
Phrygilus fruticeti
Grey, with minute black markings on head and neck and broader
stripes on the back ; greater coverts and wings black, a band of white
across the coverts ; tail black ; beneath, throat and upper breast
black, faintly mottled with grey ; lower breast and belly grey with a
few tjlack spots ; beak yellow ; feet flesh-colour ; length 7.3 inches.
Female obscure grey without black throat and breast.
This Finch is common on the western slopes of the
Andes as far north as Peru ; it is also found in the
Mendoza district and throughout Patagonia. It is
very abundant on the Rio Negro, especially in the
immediate neighbourhood of the Carmen settlements,
for, like the Chingolo and other fringilline species,
it is beneficially affected by cultivation. Though not
possessing any bright tints, it is a very charming bird.
YELLOW CARDINAL 51
tuneful, elegant in form, graceful and buoyant in its
motions. When approached it utters a series of low
ticking sounds, and at intervals a peculiar long squeal-
ing note. The song of the male is very agreeable,
and curiously resembles that of the Cachila Pipit
(Anthus correndera). It usually sits on a twig near
the ground, and at intervals soars up to a height of
ten or twenty yards, and utters its song while gliding
slowly downwards with depressed wings and out-
spread taiL It sings throughout the year ; in bright
weather its notes are heard all day long, but on cold,
cloudy, or wet days only after sunset, on going to
roost. In the warm season they live in pairs, and in
the autumn unite in flocks of as many as two or three
hundred individuals, and have a strong undulating
flight.
There are five more species of Phrygilus in
Argentina,
YELLOW CARDINAL
Gubernatrix cristatella
Above light olive-green^ the back marked with a few black stripes ;
four middle tail-feathers black, edged with olive ; all the others bright
yellow, tipped with ohve ; superciliaries and lower part of head bright
yellow ; crown, crest, and throat velvet black, the black extending to
the chest; beneath, yellow, washed with olive-green on the breast
and sides ; length 8 inches. Female less brightly coloured ; white on
the head where the male is yellow ; breast grey.
The Yellow Cardinal is one of the most charming
of the Argentine Finches ; a lively graceful bird,
beautiful in its yellow-and-black dress, with a loud
52 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
and musical voice. Unfortunately these qualities
have made it a favourite cage-bird, and the young
are diligently sought after in the forests in northern
Argentina and Paraguay and taken from the nest to
be reared by hand. In Buenos Ayres it is somewhat
rare and is a summer visitor in pairs and small
flocks. Its song is composed of four or five notes of
great power and of a sweet quality.
LESSER DIUCA FINCH
Diuca minor
Clear grey ; head, neck, and back faintly washed with brown ; wings
blackish, the feathers edged with grey ; tail-feathers black, tipped with
white on the inner webs ; beneath white, the upper part of breast
grey ; a bright chestnut spot on the flanks ; length 6.5 inches. Female
similar but less bright.
This pretty little grey and white Finch is common
on the Chilian side of the Andes and throughout
Patagonia, and also occurs in the Mendoza district.
It is a tuneful bird, lively, social, and frolicsome in
disposition ; in autumn and winter uniting in flocks
of from fifty to three or four hundred individuals ;
swift of flight, and when on the wing fond of pursuing
its fellows and engaging in mock battles. The song
of the male is very pleasing, the voice having more
depth and mellowness than is usual with the smaller
fringilline singers, which as a rule have thin, reedy,
and tremulous notes. In summer it begins singing
very early, even before the faintest indication of
LESSER DIUCA FINCH 53
coming daylight is visible, and at that dark silent
hour the notes may be heard at a great distance and
sound wonderfully sweet and impressive. During
the cold season, when they live in companies, the
singing-time is in the evening, when the birds are
gathered in some thick-foliaged tree or bush which
they have chosen for a winter roosting-place. This
winter-evening song is a hurried twittering, and
utterly unlike the serene note of the male bird heard
on summer mornings, A little while after sunset
the flock bursts into a concert, which lasts several
minutes, sinking and growing louder by turns,
during which it is scarcely possible to distinguish
the notes of individuals. Then follows an interval of
silence, after which the singing is again renewed very
suddenly and as suddenly ended. For an hour after
sunset, and when all other late singers, like the MimuSf
have long been silent, this fitful impetuous singing is
continued. Close by a house on the Rio Negro, in
which I spent several months, there were three very
large chafiar bushes, where a multitude of Diuca
Finches used to roost, and they never missed singing
in the evening, however cold or rainy the weather
happened to be. So fond were they of this charm-
ing habit, that when I approached the bushes
or stood directly under them the alarm caused
by my presence would interrupt the performance
only for a few moments, and presently they
would burst into song again, the birds all the time
swiftly pursuing each other amongst the foliage,
often within a foot of my head.
54 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
The eggs, Darwin says, are pointed, oval, pale
dull green, thickly blotched with pale dull brown,
becoming confluent and entirely coloured at the
broad end*
CHINGOLO SONG-SPARROW
Zonotrichia pileata
Above dusky grey^ striped with blackish brown; a whitish stripe
from the eye to the nape ; between the stripe and the grey on the
crown, black ; a narrow chestnut ring round the neck, widening to a
large patch on the sides of the chest, the patch bordered with black
on its lower part ; beneath ashy white ; length 5.7 inches. Female
duller in colour and rather smaller.
The common, familiar, favourite Sparrow over a
large portion of the South American continent is
the '' Chingolo/' Darwin says that ** it prefers
inhabited places, but has not attained the air of
domestication of the English Sparrow, which bird
in habits and general appearance it resembles/' As
it breeds in the fields on the ground, it can never be
equally familiar with man, but in appearance it is
like a refined copy of the burly English Sparrow —
more delicately tinted, the throat being chestnut
instead of black ; the head smaller and better pro-
portioned, and with the added distinction of a crest,
which it lowers and elevates at all angles to express
the various feelings affecting its busy little mind.
On the treeless desert pampas the Chingolo is
rarely seen, but wherever man builds a house and
CHINGOLO SONG-SPARROW 55
plants a tree there it comes to keep him company,
while in cultivated and thickly settled districts it is
excessively abundant, and about Buenos Ayres it
literally swarms in the fields and plantations* They
are not, strictly speaking, gregarious, but where
food attracts them, or the shelter of a hedge on a
cold windy day, thousands are frequently seen con-
gregated in one place ; when disturbed, however,
these accidental flocks immediately break up, the
birds scattering abroad in different directions.
The Chingolo is a very constant singer, his song
beginning with the dawn of day in spring and con-
tinuing until evening ; it is very short, being com-
posed of a chirping prelude and four long notes,
three uttered in a clear thin voice, the last a trilL
This song is repeated at brief intervals, as the bird
sits motionless, perched on the disc of a thistle-
flower, the summit of a stalk, or other elevation ;
and where the Chingolos are very abundant the
whole air, on a bright spring morning, is alive with
their delicate melody ; only one must pause and
listen before one is aware of it, otherwise it will escape
notice, owing to its thin ethereal character, the multi-
tudinous notes not mingling but floating away, as it
were, detached and scattered, mere gossamer webs
of sound that very faintly impress the sense. They
also sing frequently at night, and in that dark silent
time their little melody sounds strangely sweet and
expressive.
The Chingolos pair about the end of September,
and at that time their battles are frequent, as they are
56 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
very pugnacious. The nest is made under a thistle or
tuft of grass, in a depression in the soil, so that the
top of the nest is on a level with the surface of the
ground. The nest is mostly made and lined with
horsehair, the eggs four or five, pale blue, and thickly
spotted with dull brown. Sometimes, though very
rarely, a nest is found in a bush or on a stump several
feet above the ground. Two broods are reared in
the season, the first in October, the second in Feb-
ruary or March, I have known these birds to breed
in April and May, and these very late nests escape
the infliction of parasitical eggs. When the nest is
approached or taken the Chingolos utter no sound,
but sit in dumb anxiety, with tail expanded and
drooping wings.
There are three more species of the charming
Zonotrichia Song-Sparrows within the Argentine
country, one of which, the Patagonian Song-Sparrow,
Z, canicapillat I found very abundant in Bahia
Blanca and on the Rio Negro. In appearance and
habits it was not distinguishable from the Chingolo
Song-Sparrow, but differed slightly in its song, this
being without the concluding trill.
RED-BILLED GROUND-FINCH 57
RED-BILLED GROUND-FINCH
Embernagra platensis
Above dull olive-green, striped with blackish; wings silky olive-
green, the inner webs of the feathers black ; edge of wings yellow ;
tail-feathers dull olive-green ; beneath grey, belly buff ; beak bright
red ; length 8.8 inches.
In this Finch the plumage is alike in both sexes*
Above it is dusky olive-green, beneath grey; the
beak is of a fine bright red. In Argentina this bird is
most common in the littoral forests along the Plata,
but ranges as far south as the Rio Negro in Pata-
gonia. It does not migrate, nor associate in flocks ;
but the sexes are faithful, and the male and female
are invariably together, and appear to be very fond
of each other's society. They have a loud, sharp
alarm chirp or cry, which bursts from the bird with
the startling suddenness of a sneeze from a human
being; also a confused unmelodious song, which
always reminds me, in its hurry, vehemence, and
peculiar sound, of the gobbling of a turkey-cock.
They are not shy, but when approached sit jerking
their tails about, and uttering loud chirps as if greatly
excited. The flight is very curious ; the bird springs
up with great suddenness, and with tail erect, the
long legs dangling down like a Rail's, and proceeds by
a series of irregular jerks, violently shutting and
opening its wings. They breed on the ground under
the grass, and conceal their nest so well that I doubt
whether the parasitical Molothrus ever finds it. I
58 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
have at all events never seen them followed by the
young of Molothrus demanding food.
As a rule small seed-eating birds are beneficially
affected by the presence of man ; thus our common
Zonotrichia and other sparrows and finches have
become excessively numerous in the most thickly-
settled districts. With the Red-billed Finch, however,
just the contrary has happened ; and since I have
known this species it has disappeared from many
localities where it was once quite common. Azara^s
name for this species, Hahia de hahadOf signifies that
it is a marsh bird ; but though now found chiefly
in marshy situations, it was once common enough
over the entire pampas region, before the great
plains were settled on by Europeans. The bird is
very badly protected by nature against raptorial
species, owing to its very conspicuous red beak, its
habit of perching on the summit of tall plants and
other elevated positions, its loud impetuous voice,
which invites attention, and the weak eccentric
flight, which challenges pursuit. It is essential to
its safety that it should have, in the open country
it frequents, a dense grass cover into which it can
plunge on the slightest alarm. Where cattle are
introduced, the original pampas-grass which afforded
the suitable conditions disappears, giving place to
the soft, perishable grasses, clovers, and thistles of
Europe. Where these changes take place, the bird
cannot escape from its enemies and quickly dis-
appears ; while many Dendrocolaptine species in-
habiting the same situations are saved by their
Black-Headed Siskin
Chrysomitris icterica (Liclit.)
BLACK-HEADED SISKIN 59
inconspicuous protective colourings sharp wedge-like
bodies, and swift mouse-like motions on the ground*
In marshy places on the pampas, abounding with
long aquatic grasses and reed-beds, the Red-bill
still maintains its existence, but from its old habitat
on the open grassy plains, where it was once the
dominant Finch, it has utterly vanished.
BLACK-HEADED SISKIN
Chrysomitris icterica
Above light olive-green ; wings black, a broad bright yellow band
across the base of the feathers ; rump yellow ; upper tail-coverts
olive-green ; tail-feathers yellow at the base and black at the ends ;
head and throat velvety black ; beneath and under wing-coverts bright
yellow ; length 5 inches. Female without the black head.
This beautiful little golden-plumaged Finch, the
male distinguished from his consort by a brighter
yellow colour and a black head, is common through-
out the entire length of the Argentine country from
Bra^l to Patagonia, In the Buenos-Ayrean district
it probably has a partial migration, as small flocks
are seen to arrive in spring ; but further south, in
Patagonia, it appears to be strictly resident. In
settled districts they are always more abundant than
in the woods, and they have a special predilection
for poplar groves, and always prefer a poplar to
build in. They go in small flocks, seldom more
than about a dozen birds together, have a rapid.
66 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
undulating flight, feed chiefly on the ground like
most Finches, and also frequently alight in the
seeding-time on plants like the lettuce and Sonchus
asper (a common weed), and, clinging to the stem,
dexterously pick off the seed, scattering the down
about them in a little cloud. They are very tuneful,
restless, quick in their motions, apparently always
in a light-hearted merry mood. Being much admired
for their song they are often kept in cages ; and
certainly for cheerfulness and constancy in singing
they take the foremost place amongst the Finches ;
but there is little expression in the song, which is
composed of a variety of short twittering notes,
uttered with great rapidity, as the bird sits perched
on a twig or undulates from tree to tree. Usually the
notes flow in a continuous stream, but occasionally
the bird sings in a different manner, making a pause
of two or three seconds of silence after every eight
or ten short notes. When the female is on the nest
the male sometimes perches near her amongst the
leaves and sings sotto vocBf apparently for her hearing
only, this whisper-song being so low that at a distance
of ten yards it is hardly audible.
The nest is usually placed between the angle
formed by a small branch and the bole of the tree,
and is a deep, well-made structure composed of many
materials, and lined with horsehair, down, or feathers.
The eggs are five, very small for the bird, pure white,
and so frail that it is not easy to take them from the
nest without breaking them.
While engaged in building, the birds constantly
YELLOW HOUSE-SPARROW 6i
utter a low, soft, trilling note ; and when the nest
is approached they break out into long, somewhat
reedy notes, resembling those of the Canary, ex-
pressive of alarm or curiosity.
There is but one other Siskin in Argentina, the
Half-black Siskin, C. atratUf found in Bolivia and
North- West Argentina, but of its habits and language
nothing has been recorded.
YELLOW HOUSE-SPARROW
Sycalis pelzelni
Above yellowish olive-green, the back sparsely striped with blackish ;
wing- and tail-feathers black, edged with yellow ; forehead bright
orange, the rest of the head like the back ; below bright yellow ;
under surfaces of wings and tail also yellow; length 5.4 inches.
Female dull brownish grey mottled with blackish above ; under sur-
face whitish grey, striped with dusky brown on the breast; wing-
and tail-feathers edged with yellow.
The Yellow ** House-Sparrow," as this species is
called, is the town-bird of Buenos Ayres, but does
not multiply greatly, nor is he familiar with man,
like his rough, sooty-plumaged, far-away London
relation.^
The forehead of the male is bright orange, the
prevailing colour of the entire plumage yellow,
clouded with other hues. The female is grey, marked
* Alas ! since this was first written in 1888 the " far-away " relation has
invaded Buenos Ayres, and as in so many other countries has become a pest.
One result of its appearance has been the vanishing of the pretty and
engaging Yellow House-Sparrow.
62 BIRDS OF y^ PLATA
with pale fuscous, and is less in size than her mate*
They remain with us all the year and live in pairs,
the sexes in this species being faithfuL Sometimes
they are seen associating in small flocks, but I am
inclined to believe that only the young unmated
birds are gregarious. In 1867-8, during the cholera
epidemic in Buenos Ayres, the Sparrows all dis-
appeared from the town, and I was told by the
manager of a large steam flour-mill in the town that
the birds had not gone away, but had died. They
were found dead all about the mill, where they had
been very abundant. My informant was a careful
observer, and I have no doubt that he was correct
in what he told me.
In spring and summer the male sings frequently
with great energy, but without much melody. After
a hurried prelude of sharp chirps and trills, he pours
out a continuous stream of sound, composed of
innumerable brief notes, high and shrill as those of
a bat, wounding the ear with their excessive sharp-
ness, and emitted so rapidly that the whole song is
more like that of a cicada than of a bird. This piercing
torrent of sound is broken at intervals by a long,
grave note, or half a do2;en short, rapid notes in a
lower key, which come as an agreeable relief.
In towns they build in walls, like the English
Sparrow ; in country places they always select the
domed nest of some Dendrocolaptine species to
breed in. Possibly in some districts where I have
not been, this Sparrow selects other breeding-sites ;
my experience is that outside of a town it never lays
YELLOW HOUSE-SPARROW 63
anywhere but in some domed nest^ and at home I
frequently put up boxes for them in the trees^ but
they would not notice them^ though the Wrens and
Swallows were glad to have them. Sometimes they
make choice of the large fabric of the Anumbius
acuticaudatuSf called Lefiatero in the vernacular;
but their claim to this nest (even when the Lefiateros
are out of it) is frequently disputed by other species
which possess the same habit as this Sparrow, but
are more powerful than he. Their favourite breeding-
place is, however, the solid earthen structure of the
Oven-bird ; and it is wonderful to see how per-
sistently and systematically they labour to drive out
the lawful owners — birds so much larger and more
powerful than themselves. Early in spring, and
before the advent of the Tree-Martins, the pair of
Sparrows begin haunting the neighbourhood of the
oven they have elected to take possession of, usually
one pretty high up in a tree. As the season advances
their desire towards it increases, and they take up
their position on the very tree it is in ; and finally
a particular branch near the oven, commanding a
good view of the entrance, is chosen for a permanent
resting-place. Here they spend a great portion of
their time in song, twitterings, and loving dalliance,
and, if attentively observed, they are seen with eyes
ever fixed on the coveted abode. As the need for a
receptacle for the eggs becomes more urgent they
grow bolder, and in the absence of the owners flit
about the oven, alight on it, and even enter it. The
Oven-bird appears to drive them off with screams
64 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
of indignation, but the moment he retires they are
about it again, and, even when it contains eggs or
young birds, begin impudently carrying in feathers,
straws, and other materials for a nest, as if they
were already in undisputed possession. At this stage
the Tree-Martins {Progne tapera) perhaps appear to
complicate matters ; and even if these last comers
do not succeed in ousting the Oven-birds, they are
sure to sei2;e the oven when it becomes vacant, and
the Sparrows, in spite of their earlier claim, are left
out in the cold. But they do not take their defeat
quietly, or, rather, they do not know when they are
beaten, but still remain to harass their fellow
pirates, just as they did the Oven-birds before,
bringing straws and feathers in their beaks, and
when forced to drop these materials and chased from
the neighbourhood with great noise and fury by the
Tree-Martins, it is only to return undaunted in a
few minutes, bringing more straws and feathers.
This Sparrow makes a rather large nest, neatly
lined with horsehair, and lays five eggs, long, pointed,
the entire surface thickly matted with deep chocolate
brown.
In rural districts this species is comparatively
rare, not more than one or two couples being seen
about each habitation ; and I scarcely think it would
be too much to say that there are four or five thousand
Chingolos for every individual Yellow Sparrow.
Yet it is a hardy little bird, well able to hold its own,
subsists on the same kind of food and lays as many
eggs as the Zonotrichia ; and it possesses, moreover,
YELLOW HOUSE-SPARROW 65
a great advantage over the dominant species in
placing its nest out of the reach of the parasitical
MolothmSf the destroyer of about fifty per cent, of
the Chingolo's eggs, I can only attribute the great
disparity in the numbers of the two species to the
fact that the Yellow House-Sparrow will breed only
(out of towns) in nests not easily taken^ and to the
stubborn pertinacity which leads it to waste the
season in these vain efforts, while the other species
is rearing its brood. This is a blunder of instinct
comparable to that of the Minera (Geositta cuni-
cularia)f mentioned by Darwin in the Voyage of a
Naturalist^ where the bird made its hole in a mud
wall a few inches wide, and on coming out on the
other side simply went back and made another hole,
and then another, unable to understand that the
wall had not the requisite thickness*
In such a case as the Yellow House-Sparrow pre-
sents, in which the colour of the sexes differs, the
female being without any of the brighter hues found
in the male, and which makes an elaborate nest and
lays deeply-coloured eggs, it is impossible not to
believe that the bird originally built in exposed
situations, and subsequently — perhaps in very recent
times — acquired the habit of breeding in dark holes.
The frequent destruction of the exposed nest, and
an abundance of vacant domed nests, into which
some individuals occasionally penetrated to breed,
would lead to the acquisition of such a nesting-
habit ; for the birds inheriting it would have an
advantage and be preserved, while those persisting
66 BIRDS OF 1^ VhkHk
in the old habit of building exposed nests would
perish. Domed nests made by Dendrocolaptine birds
are very abundant even now, and it is probable that,
before the country became settled by Europeans,
they were very much more numerous, Darwin,
speaking of the Oven-bird's habit of always placing
its oven in the most conspicuous and (to man) access-
ible places, predicts, and truly I believe, that this
habit will eventually cause the extinction of the
species ; for when the country becomes more thickly
settled, the bird-nesting boys will destroy all the
ovens. Probably when the Oven-birds were more
abundant the Sparrows could always find vacant
ovens to breed in, until a habit of breeding almost
exclusively in these safe and convenient bird-built
houses was acquired ; and the present seemingly
stupid persistence of the birds in struggling to get
possession of those already occupied by stronger
species, only shows that the habit or instinct has not
been modified to suit a change in the conditions —
z.e., a diminishing number of ovens to breed in,
with perhaps the increase of other stronger species
possessing the same habit. But while the in-
stinct thus survives too strongly in the country
birds, many individuals have taken to a town life,
and acquired the new habit of breeding in holes
in brick walls. Probably this race of town birds
will eventually colonise the rural districts, and
usurp the place of the country birds, which will
then be placed at a disadvantage.
MISTO SEED-FINCH 67
MISTO SEED-FINCH
Sycalis luteola
Above light olive-green, marked with dusky stripes ; wing- and tail-
feathers blackish ; throat and chest dusky buff ; lower breast and belly
yellow ; length 5 inches.
This is a slender, graceful bird, less than the Canary
in size, the whole upper plumage yellowish olive,
with dun markings, the lower surface of a dull yellow.
The female is a little smaller than the male, and her
colours are somewhat dimmer.
This species is resident and gregarious in the
Argentine Republic, and in autumn frequently con-
gregates in flocks of several thousands. They are not
so universally distributed as the Chingolo, and are
not wood-birds, but frequent open plains abounding
in thistles and other coarse herbage, which affords
them shelter. In cultivated districts, where their
food is most abundant, they are excessively numerous,
and after the harvest has been gathered frequent
the fields in immense flocks. While feeding, the
flocks scatter over a large area of ground, being
broken up into small companies of a dozen or more
birds, and at such times are so intent on their food
that a person can walk about amongst them without
disturbing them. They take flight very suddenly,
bursting into a thousand chirping, scolding notes,
pursue each other through the air, and after wheeling
about the field for a minute or two, suddenly drop
down into the grass again and are silent as before.
68 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
.^
In August they begin to sing, here and there an
individual being heard in the fields ; but when the
weather grows warmer they repair to the plantations
in vast numbers, and, sitting on the branches,
sing in a concert of innumerable voices, which
produces a great volume of confused sound, and
which often continues for hours at a time without
intermission.
By-and-by these pleasant choirs break up, the
birds all scattering over the plains and fields to woo
and build, and it is then first discovered that the
male has a peculiar and very sweet song. Apart from
his fellows he acquires a different manner of singing,
soaring up from his stand on the summit of a bush or
stalk, and beginning his song the moment he quits
his perch. Ascending he utters a series of long
melodious notes, not loud but very distinctly enun-
ciated and increasing in volume ; at a height of fifty
or sixty yards he pauses, the notes becoming slower ;
then, as he descends with a graceful flight, the wings
outstretched and motionless, the notes also fall,
becoming slower, sweeter, and more impressive till
he reaches the earth. After alighting he continues
the song, the notes growing longer, thinner, and
clearer, until they dwindle to the merest threads of
sound, and cease to be audible except to a person
standing within a few yards of the singer. The song
is quite unique in character, and its great charm is in
its gradual progress from the somewhat thick notes
at the commencement to the thin, tremulous tones
with which the bird returns to earth, and which
ARGENTINE GOW-BIRD 69
change again to the excessively attenuated sounds at
the close*
The nest is deep^ well built, and well concealed,
sometimes resting on the ground, but frequently-
raised above it. It contains five long, pointed eggs,
with a white or bluish-white ground-colour, and
thickly spotted with brown. I have frequently found
the eggs of the Molothrm in its nest, but have never
been able to see this Sparrow feeding, or followed
by, a young Molothrus, Possibly, if it ever hatches
the parasitical egg at all, the young Cow-bird is
starved by the food supplied by its foster-parents,
as this Finch may feed its young on seed instead of
grubs.
ARGENTINE COW-BIRD
Molothrus Bonariensis
Uniform shining purple-black ; beak and feet black ; length 7.5
inches. Female slightly smaller ; plumage uniform mouse-colour.
We have now come to a remarkable family of Pas-
serine birds, the Icteridee or Troupials, which includes
the Hang-nests and so-called Orioles of North and
South America and the parasitical Cow-birds. They
are the Starlings of the New World and appear to be
an offshoot of the true Starlings, just as the Tanagers
are of the Finches, but Tanagers and Finches exist
together throughout South America, whereas the
true Starling is unknown in that continent. Many
70 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
of the Troupials, like the European Starlings have a
glossed metallic plumage^ and in a majority of
species there is some brilliant colour — scarlet, purple,
orange, and yellow. The whole family numbers
about 130, and of these fifteen or twenty are found
in Argentina. Among these are the three species of
the genus Molothrus which I describe. These three,
in their shape and hard conical bills, outwardly
resemble Tanagers and Finches rather than Starlings.
I was familiar with all of them from childhood, and
as I spent a good deal of time in watching them and
succeeded in discovering some interesting facts about
their singular breeding habits, I have devoted more
space to this group than to any other one in this
volume.
The species here described, the commonest in
southern Argentina, is the Tordo comun of A^ara,
and is usually called Tordo or Pdjaro negro (black-
bird) by the natives, and Blackbird by the English-
speaking Argentines. A more suitable name is
Argentine Cow-bird, given to it by some ornitho-
logical writers. Cow-bird being the vernacular name
of the closely allied North American species, Molo-
thrus pecoris.
This Cow-bird is widely distributed in South
America, and is common throughout the Argentine
country, including Patagonia, as far south as Chupat.
In Buenos Ayres it is very numerous, especially in
cultivated districts where there are plantations of
trees. The male is clothed in a glossy plumage of
ARGENTINE COW-BIRD 71
deep violaceous purple^ the wings and tail being
dark metallic green ; but seen at a distance or in
the shade the bird looks black. The female is inferior
in size and has a dull mouse-coloured plumage^ and
black beak and legs. The males are much more
numerous than the females. Azara says that nine
birds in ten are males ; but I am not sure that the
disparity is so great as that. It seems strange and
contrary to Nature's usual rule that the smaller,
shyer, inconspicuous individuals should be in such
a minority ; but the reason is perhaps that the male
eggs of the Cow-bird are harder-shelled than the
female eggs^ and escape destruction oftener, when the
parent bird exercises its disorderly and destructive
habit of pecking holes in all the eggs it finds in the
nests into which it intrudes.
The Cow-birds are sociable to a greater degree
than most species, their companies not breaking up
during the laying-season ; for, as they are parasitical,
the female merely steals away to drop her egg in any
nest she can find, after which she returns to the
flock. They feed on the ground, where, in their
movements and in the habit the male has of craning
out its neck when disturbed, they resemble Starlings.
The male has also a curious habit of carrying his
tail raised vertically while feeding. They follow the
domestic cattle about the pastures, and frequently a
dozen or more birds may be seen perched along the
back of a cow or horse. When the animal is grazing
they group themselves close to its mouth, like chickens
round a hen when she scratches up the ground, eager
73 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
to snatch up the small insects exposed where the
grass is cropped close. In spring they also follow
the plough to pick up worms and grubs.
The song of the male, particularly when making
love, is accompanied with gestures and actions some-
what Hke those of the domestic Pigeon. He swells
himself out, beating the ground with his wings, and
uttering a series of deep internal notes, followed by
others loud and clear ; and occasionally, when utter-
ing them, he suddenly takes wing and flies directly
away from the female to a distance of fifty yards,
and performs a wide circuit about her in the air,
singing all the time. The homely object of his short-
lived passibn always appears utterly indifferent to
this curious and pretty performance ; yet she must
be even more impressionable than most female birds,
since she continues scattering about her parasitical
and often wasted eggs during four months in every
year. Her language consists of a long note with a
spluttering sound, to express alarm or curiosity, and
she occasionally chatters in a low tone as if trying to
sing. In the evening, when the birds congregate on
the trees to roost, they often continue singing in
concert until it is quite dark ; and when disturbed
at night the males frequently utter their song while
taking flight. On rainy days, when they are driven
to the shelter of trees, they will often sing together
for hours without intermission, the blending of in-
numerable voices producing a rushing sound as of a
high wind. At the end of summer they congregate
in flocks of tens of thousands, so that the ground
ARGENTINE COW-BIRD 73
where they are feeding seems carpeted with black,
and the trees when they alight appear to have a black
foliage. At such times one wonders that many small
species on which they are parasites do not become
extinct by means of their pernicious habit. In
Buenos Ayres, where they are most numerous, they
have a migration, which is only partial however. It
is noticeable chiefly in the autumn, and varies greatly
in different years. In some seasons it is very marked,
when for many days in February and March the
birds are seen travelling northwards, flock succeeding
flock all day long, passing by with a swift, low, un-
dulating flight, their wings producing a soft musical
sound; and this humming flight of the migrating
Cow-birds is as familiar to everyone acquainted with
nature in Buenos Ayres as the whistling of the wind
or the distant lowing of cattle.
The procreant instinct of this Molothms has always
seemed so important to me for many reasons that I
have paid a great deal of attention to it ; and the
facts, or at all events the most salient of them, which
I have collected during several years of observation,
I propose to append here, classified under different
headings so as to avoid confusion and to make it
easy for other observers to see at a glance just how
much I have learnt.
Though I have been familiar with this species from
childhood, when I used to hunt every day for their
wasted eggs on the broad, clean walks of the planta-
tion, and removed them in pity from the nests of
little birds where I found them, I have never ceased
74 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
to wonder at their strange instinct, which in its
wasteful destructive character, so unlike the para-
sitical habit in other species, seems to strike a dis-
cordant note in the midst of the general harmony
of nature.
Mistakes and Imperfections of the Procreant
Instinct of Molothrus bonariensis
1, The Cow-birds, as we have seen, frequently
waste their eggs by dropping them on the ground,
2. They also occasionally lay in old forsaken nests.
This I have often observed, and to make very sure I
took several old nests and placed them in trees and
bushes, and found that eggs were laid in them.
3* They also frequently lay in nests where incu-
Ad.J^'^^-] bation has actually begun. When this happens the
j j • f^ '' Cow-bird's egg is lost if incubation is far advanced ;
but if the eggs have been sat on three or four days
only, then it has a good chance of being hatched and
the young bird reared along with its foster-brothers.
4* One female often lays several eggs in the same
nest, instead of laying only one, as does, according to
Wilson, the Molothrus pecoris of North America. I
conclude that this is so from the fact that in cases
where the eggs of a species vary considerably in
form, size, and markings, each individual of the
species lays eggs precisely or nearly alike. So when
I find two, three, or four eggs of the Cow-bird in
one nest all alike in colour and other particulars,
and yet in half a hundred eggs from other nests
ARGENTINE COW-BIRD 75
cannot find one to match with them, it is impossible
not to believe that the eggs found together, and
possessing a family likeness, were laid by the same
bird.
5. Several females often lay in one nest, so that
the number of eggs in it frequently makes incubation
impossible. One December I collected ten nests of
the Scissor-tail (Milvulus tyrannus) from my trees ;
they contained a total of forty-seven eggs, twelve of
the Scissor-tails and thirty-five of the Cow-birds. It
is worthy of remark that the Milvulus breeds in
October or early in November, rearing only one
brood ; so that these ten nests found late in Decem-
ber were of birds that had lost their first nests.
Probably three-fourths of the lost nests of Milvulus
are abandoned in consequence of the confusion
caused in them by the Cow-birds.
6. The Cow-birds, male and female, destroy many
of the eggs in the nests they visit, by pecking holes
in the shells, breaking, devouring, and stealing them.
This is the most destructive habit of the bird, and is
probably possessed by individuals in different degrees.
I have often carefully examined all the parasitical
eggs in a nest, and after three or four days found that
these eggs had disappeared, others, newly laid, being
in their places. I have seen the female Cow-bird
strike her beak into an egg and fly away with it ;
and I have often watched the male bird perched
close by while the female was on the nest, and when
she quitted it have seen him drop down and begin
pecking holes in the eggs. In some nests found full
76 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
of parasitical eggs every egg has holes pecked in the
shelly for the bird destroys indiscriminately eggs of
its own and of other species.
Advantages possessed by M. honariensis over
ITS dupes
After reading the preceding notes one might ask :
If there is so much that is defective and irregular in
the reproductive instinct of M. honariensis, how does
the species maintain its existence, and even increase
to such an amazing extent $* for it certainly is very
much more numerous, over an equal area, than any
other parasitical species. For its greater abundance
there may be many reasons unknown to us. The
rarer species may be less hardy, have more enemies,
be exposed to more perils in their long migrations,
etc. That it is able to maintain its existence in spite
of irregularities in its instinct is no doubt due to the
fact that its eggs and young possess many advantages
over the eggs and young of the species upon which it
is parasitical. Some of these advantages are due to
those very habits of the parent bird which at first
sight appear most defective ; others to the character
of the egg and embryo, time of evolution, etc.
I. The egg of the Cow-bird is usually larger, and
almost invariably harder-shelled than are the eggs it
is placed with ; those of the Yellowbreast {Pseu-
doleistes virescens) being the one exception I am
acquainted with. The harder shell of its own egg,
ARGENTINE COW-BIRD 77
considered in relation to the destructive egg-breaking
habit of the bird, gives it the best chance of being
preserved ; for though the Cow-bird never distin-
guishes its own egg, of which indeed it destroys a
great many, a larger proportion escape in a nest
where many eggs are indiscriminately broken,
2* The vitality or tenacity of life appears greater
in the embryo Cow-bird than in other species ; this
circumstance also, in relation to the egg-breaking
habit and to the habit of laying many eggs in a nest,
gives it a further advantage. I have examined nests
of the Scissor-tail, containing many eggs, after incu-
bation had begun, and have been surprised at finding
those of the Scissor-tail addled, even when placed
most advantageously in the nest for receiving heat
from the parent bird, while those of the Cow-bird
contained living embryos, even when under all the
other eggs, and, as frequently happens, glued immov-
ably to the nest by the matter from broken eggs spilt
over them.
The following instance of extraordinary vitality in
an embryo Molothrus seems to show incidentally that
in some species protective habits, which will act as
a check on the parasitical instinct, may be in the
course of formation.
Though birds do not, as a rule, seem able to
distinguish parasitical eggs from their own, however
different in size and colour they may be, they often
do seem to know that eggs dropped in their nest
before they themselves have begun to lay ought not
to be there ; and the nest, even after its completion,
78 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
is not infrequently abandoned on account of these
premature eggs. Some species, however, do not
forsake their nests ; and though they do not throw
the parasitical eggs out, which would seem the
simplest plan, they have discovered how to get rid
of them, and so save themselves the labour of making
a fresh nest. Their method is to add a new deep
lining, under which the strange eggs are buried out
of sight and give no more trouble. The Sisopygis
icterophrys — a common Tyrant-bird in Buenos Ayres
— frequently has recourse to this expedient ; and
the nest it makes being rather shallow, the layer of
fresh material, under which the strange eggs are
buried, is built upwards above the rim of the original
nest ; so that this supplementary nest is like one
saucer placed within another, and the observer is
generally able to tell from the thickness of the whole
structure whether any parasitical eggs have been
entombed in it or not. Finding a very thick nest one
day, containing two half-fledged young birds besides
three addled eggs, I opened it, removing the upper
portion or additional nest intact, and discovered
beneath it three buried Molothrus eggs, their shells
encrusted with dirt and glued together with broken-
egg matter spilt over them. In trying to get them out
without pulling the nest to pieces I broke them all ;
two were quite rotten, but the third contained a
living embryo, ready to be hatched, and very lively
and hungry when I took it in my hand. The young
Tyrant-birds were about a fortnight old, and as they
hatch out only about twenty days after the parent-
ARGENTINE COW-BIRD 79
bird begins layings this parasitical egg with a living
chick in it must have been deeply buried in the nest
for not less than five weeks. Probably after the young
Tyrant-birds came out of their shells and began to
grow, the little heat from their bodies, penetrating
to the buried egg, served to bring the embryo in it
to maturity ; but when I saw it I felt (like a person
who sees a ghost) strongly inclined to doubt the
evidence of my own senses.
3. The comparatively short time the embryo takes
to hatch gives it another and a great advantage ; for
whereas the eggs of other small birds require from
fourteen to sixteen days to mature, that of the Cow-
bird hatches in eleven days and a half from the
moment incubation commences ; so that when the
female Cow-bird makes so great a mistake as to drop
an egg with others that have already been sat on,
unless incubation be far advanced, it still has a
chance of being hatched before or contemporaneously
with the others ; and even if the others hatch first,
the extreme hardiness of the embryo serves to keep
it alive with the modicum of heat it receives.
4. Whenever the Molothrus is hatched together
with the young of its foster-parents, if these are
smaller than the parasite, as usually is the case, soon
after exclusion from the shell they disappear, and
the young Cow-bird remains sole occupant of the
nest. How it succeeds in expelling or destroying
them, if it indeed does destroy them, I have not
been able to discover.
5. To all these circumstances favourable to the
8o BIRDS OF LA PLATA
Molothrus may be added another of equal or even
greater importance. It is never engaged with the
dilatory and exhaustive process of rearing its own
young ; and for this reason continues in better con-
dition than other species, and moreover, being
gregarious and practising promiscuous sexual inter-
course, must lay a much greater number of eggs than
other species. In our domestic fowls we see that
hens that never become broody lay a great deal more
than others. Some of our small birds rear two, others
only one brood in a season — building, incubation,
and tending the young taking up much time, so that
they are usually from two to three months and a
half employed. But the Cow-bird is like the fowl
that never incubates, and continues dropping eggs
during four months and a half. From the beginning
of September until the end of January the males
are seen incessantly wooing the females, and during
most of this time eggs are found. I find that small
birds will, if deprived repeatedly of their nests, lay
and even hatch four times in the season, thus laying,
if the full complement be four, sixteen eggs. No
doubt the Cow-bird lays a much larger number than
that ; my belief is that every female lays from sixty
to a hundred eggs every season, though I have
nothing but the extraordinary number of wasted
eggs one finds to judge from.
Before dismissing the subject of the advantages
the Molothrus possesses over its dupes, and of the
real or apparent defects of its instinct, some attention
should be given to another circumstance, viZv the
ARGENTINE COW-BIRD 8i
new conditions introduced by land-cultivation and
their effect on the species. The altered conditions
have^ in various ways^ served to remove many
extraneous checks on the parasitical instinct, and the
more the birds multiply, the more irregular and
disordered does the instinct necessarily become.
In wild districts where it was formed, and where
birds building accessible nests are proportionately
fewer, the instinct seems different from what it does
in cultivated districts. Parasitical eggs are not
common in the desert, and even the most exposed
nests there are probably never overburdened with
them. But in cultivated places, where their food
abounds, the birds congregate in the orchards and
plantations in great numbers, and avail themselves
of all the nests, ill-concealed as they must always
be in the clean, open-foliaged shade and fruit trees
planted by man.
Diversity in Colour of Eggs
There is an extraordinary diversity in the colour,
form, and disposition of markings, etc., of the eggs
of M. bonariensis ; and I doubt whether any other
species exists laying eggs so varied. About half the
eggs one finds, or nearly half, are pure unspotted
white, like the eggs of birds that breed in dark holes.
Others are sparsely sprinkled with such exceedingly
minute specks of pale pink or grey, as to appear quite
spotless until closely examined. After the pure white,
the most common variety is an egg with a white
F I
82 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
ground^ densely and uniformly spotted or blotched
with red. Another not uncommon variety has a very
pale^ flesh-coloured ground, uniformly marked with
fine characters, that look as if inscribed on the shell
with a pen. A much rarer variety has a pure white
shell with a few large or variously sized brown and
chocolate spots. Perhaps the rarest variety is an egg
entirely of a fine deep red ; but between this lovely
marbled egg and the white one with almost imper-
ceptible specks, there are varieties without number ;
for there is no such thing as characteristic markings
in the eggs of this species, although, as I have said
before, the eggs of the same individual show a family
resemblance.
Habits of the Young M. bonariensis
Small birds of all species, when first hatched,
closely resemble each other ; after they are fledged
the resemblance is less, but still comparatively great ;
grey, interspersed with brown, is the colour of most
of them, or at least of the upper exposed plumage.
There is also a great similarity in their cries of
hunger and fear — shrill, querulous, prolonged, and
usually tremulous notes. It is not then to be wondered
at that the foster-parents of the young Molothrus
so readily respond to its cries, understanding the
various expressions denoting hunger, fear, pain, as
well as when uttered by their own offspring. But
the young Molothrus never understands the language
of its foster-parents as other young birds understand
ARGENTINE COW-BIRD 83
the language of their real parents, rising to receive
food when summoned, and concealing themselves
or trying to escape when the warning note is given*
How does the young Molothms learn to distinguish,
even by sight, its foster-parent from any other bird
approaching the nest ^ It generally manifests no fear
even at a large object. On thrusting my fingers into
any nest I find the young birds, if still blind or but
recently hatched, will hold up and open their mouths
expecting food ; but in a very few days they learn
to distinguish between their parents and other objects
approaching them, and to show alarm even when
not warned of danger. Consider the different be-
haviour of three species that seldom or never warn
their offspring of danger. The young of Synallaxis
spixif though in a deep domed nest, will throw itself
to the ground, attempting thus to make its escape.
The young of Mimus patagonicus sits close and
motionless, with closed eyes, mimicking death. The
young of our common Zenaidaf even before it is
fledged, will swell itself up and strike angrily at the
intruder with beak and wings ; and by making so
brave a show of its inefficient weapons it probably
often saves itself from destruction. But anything
approaching the young Molothrus is welcomed with
fluttering wings and clamorous cries, as if all creatures
were expected to minister to its necessities.
I found a young Molothrus in the nest of a
Screaming Finch, Spermophila caerulescens ; he cried
for food on seeing my hand approach the nest ; I
took him out and dropped him down, when, finding
84 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
himself on the ground^ he immediately made off, half
flying. After a hard chase I succeeded in re-capturing
him, and began to twirl him about, making him
scream, so as to inform his foster-parents of his
situation, for they were not by at the moment. I
then put him back in, or rather upon, the little cradle
of a nest, and plucked half a dozen large measure-
worms from an adjacent twig. The caterpillars were
handed to the bird as I drew them from the cases,
and with great greediness he devoured them all,
notwithstanding the ill-treatment he had just re-
ceived, and utterly disregarding the wild excited
cries of his foster-parents, just arrived and hovering
within three or four feet of the nest.
Last summer I noticed a young Cow-bird in a
stubble-field, perched on the top of a slender dry
stalk ; as it was clamouring at short intervals, I
waited to see what bird would come to it. It proved
to be the diminutive Flycatcher, Hapalocercus flavi-
ventris ; and I was much amused to see the little
thing fly directly to its large foster-offspring and,
alighting on its back, drop a worm into the upturned
open mouth. After remaining a moment on its
singular perch, the Flycatcher flew away, but in less
than half a minute returned and perched again on
the young bird^s back. I continued watching them
until the Molothrus flew off, but not before I had
seen him fed seven or eight times in the same manner.
In the two foregoing anecdotes may be seen the
peculiar habits of the young Molothrus, As the nests
in which it is hatched, from those of the little Serpo-
ARGENTINE COW-BIRD 85
phaga and Wren to those of the Mocking-bird, vary
so much in size and materials, and are placed in such
different situations, the young Molothms must have
in most of them a somewhat incongruous appearance*
But in the habits of the young bird is the greatest
incongruity or inadaptation. When the nest is in a
close thicket or forest, though much too small for
the bird, and although the bird itself cannot under-
stand its foster-parents, and welcomes all things that,
whether with good or evil design, come near it, the
unfitness is not so apparent as when the nest is in
open fields and plains.
The young Molothms differs from the true off-
spring of its foster-parents in its habit of quitting
the nest as soon as it is able, trying to follow the old
bird, and placing itself in the most conspicuous place
it can find, such as the summit of a stalk or bush,
and there demanding food with frequent and impor-
tunate cries. Thus the little Flycatcher had acquired
the habit of perching on the back of its charge to
feed it, because parent birds invariably perch above
their young to feed them, and the young Cow-bird
prevented this by always sitting on the summit of
the stalk it perched on» The habit is most fatal on
the open and closely cropped pampas inhabited by
the Pipit (Anthus correndera). In December when
the Cachila Pipit rears its second brood, the common
and abundant Carrion Hawk also has young, and
feeds them almost exclusively on the young of various
species of small birds. At this season the Chimango
destroys great numbers of the young of the Pipit
86 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
and of the Spine-tail, Synallaxis hudsoni. Yet these
birds are beautifully adapted in structure, coloration,
and habits to their station* It thus happens that in
districts where the Molothrus is abundant, their eggs
are found in a majority of the Pipits* nests ; and
yet to find a young Cow-bird out of the nest is a
rare thing here, for as soon as the young birds are
able to quit the nest and expose themselves they are
mostly carried off by the Hawk,
Conjectures as to the Origin of the Parasitic
Instinct in M. bonariensis
Darwin's opinion that the ** immediate and final
cause of the Cuckoo's instinct is that she lays her
eggs not daily, but at intervals of two or three days '*
(Origin of Species) carries no great appearance of
probability with it ; for might it not just as reasonably
be said that the parasitic instinct is the immediate
and final cause of her laying her eggs at long inter-
vals i* If it is favourable to a species with the instinct
of the Cuckoo (and it probably is favourable) to lay
eggs at longer intervals than other species, then
natural selection would avail itself of every modifi-
cation in the reproductive organs that tended to
produce such a result, and make the improved
structure permanent. It is said (Origin of Species,
chapter viL) that the American Cuckoo lays also at
long intervals, and has eggs and young at the same
time in its nest, a circumstance manifestly disadvan-
ARGENTINE COW-BIRD 87
tageous* Of the Coccyzus melanocoryphus, the only
one of our three Coccyzi whose nesting habits I am
acquainted with, I can say that it never begins to
incubate till the full complement of eggs are laid —
that its young are hatched simultaneously* But if
it is sought to trace the origin of the European
Cuckoo's instinct in the nesting-habits of American
Coccyzi^ it might be attributed not to the aberrant
habit of perhaps a single species, but to another and
more disadvantageous habit common to the entire
genus, viz*f their habit of building exceedingly frail
platform-nests from which the eggs and young very
frequently falL By occasionally dropping an egg in
the deep, secure nest of some other bird, an advantage
would be possessed by the birds hatched in it, and
in them the habit would perhaps become hereditary*
Be this as it may (and the one guess is perhaps as
wide of the truth as the other) there are many genera
intermediate between Cuculus and Molothrus in which
no trace of a parasitic habit appears ; they belong to
different orders, and it seems more probable that
the analogous instincts originated independently in
the two genera* As regards the origin of the instinct
in MolothruSf it will perhaps seem premature to
found speculations on the few facts here recorded,
and before we are acquainted with the habits of
other members of the genus. That a species should
totally lose so universal an instinct as the maternal
one, and yet avail itself of that affection in other
species to propagate itself, seems a great mystery.
Nevertheless I cannot refrain from all conjecture
88 BIRDS OF L^ PLATA
on the subject, and will go so far as to suggest what
may have been at least one of the many concurrent
causes that have produced the parasitic instinct.
The apparently transitional nesting-habits of several
species, and one remarkable habit of M. honariensis,
seem to me to throw some light on a point bearing
intimately on the subject, \iz*t the loss of the nest-
making instinct in this species.
Habits vary greatly ; were it not so they would
never seem so well adapted to the conditions of life
as we find them, since the conditions themselves are
not unchangeable. Thus it happens that, while a
species seems well adapted to its state in its habits,
it frequently seems not so well adapted in its rela-
tively immutable structure. For example, without
going away from the pampas, we find a Tringa with
the habits of an upland Plover, a Tyrant-bird {Pi-
tangus bellicosus) preying on mice and snakes, another
Tyrant-bird {Myiotheretes rufiventris) Plover-like in
its habits, and finally a Woodpecker {Colaptes cam-
pestris) that seeks its food on the ground like a
Starling ; yet in none of these — and the list might
be greatly lengthened — has there been anything like
a modification of structure to keep pace with the
altered manner of life. But however much the
original or generic habits of a species may have
become altered — the habits of a species being widely
different from those of its congeners, also a want of
correspondence between structure and habits (the
last being always more suited to conditions than the
first) being taken as evidence of such alteration —
ARGENTINE COW-BIRD 89
traces of ancient and disused habits frequently
reappear. Seemingly capricious actions too numer-
ous^ too vague, or too insignificant to be recorded,
improvised definite actions that are not habitual,
apparent imitations of the actions of other species,
a perpetual inclination to attempt something that is
never attempted, and attempts to do that which is
never done — these and other like motions are, I
believe, in many cases to be attributed to the faint
promptings of obsolete instincts. To the same cause
many of the occasional aberrant habits of individuals
may possibly be due — such as of a bird that builds
in trees occasionally laying on the ground. If recur-
rence to an ancestral type be traceable in structure,
coloration, language, it is reasonable to expect some-
thing analogous to occur in instincts. But even if
such casual and often aimless motions as I have
mentioned should guide us unerringly to the know-
ledge of the old and disused instincts of a species,
this knowledge of itself would not enable us to
discover the origin of present ones. But assuming
it as a fact that the conditions of existence, and the
changes going on in them, are in every case the
fundamental cause of alterations in habits, I believe
that in many cases a knowledge of the disused in-
stincts will assist us very materially in the enquiry. I
will illustrate my meaning with a supposititious case.
Should all or many species of Columhidde manifest
an inclination for haunting rocks and banks, and for
entering or peering into holes in them, such vague
and purposeless actions, connected with the fact
90 BIRDS OF I^ PLATA
that all Doves that build simple platform-nests (like
Columha livia and others that build on a flat surface)
also lay white eggs (the rule being that eggs laid in
dark holes are white, exposed eggs coloured), also
that one species, C* liviat does lay in holes in rocks,
would lead us to believe that the habit of this species
was once common to the genus. We should conclude
that an insufficiency of proper breeding-places, i.e.,
new external conditions, first induced Doves to build
in trees. Thus C. livia also builds in trees where
there are no rocks ; but, when able, returns to its
ancestral habits. In the other species we should
believe the primitive habit to be totally lost from disuse,
or only to manifest itself in a faint uncertain manner.
Now in Molothrus honariensis we see just such a
vague, purposeless habit as the imaginary one I have
described. Before and during the breeding-season
the females, sometimes accompanied by the males,
are seen continually haunting and examining the
domed nests of some of the Dendrocolaptidse. This
does not seem like a mere freak of curiosity, but their
persistence in their investigations is precisely like
that of birds that habitually make choice of such
breeding-places. It is surprising that they never do
actually lay in such nests, except when the side or
dome has been accidentally broken enough to admit
the light into the interior. Whenever I set boxes up
in my trees, the female Cow-birds were the first to
visit them. Sometimes one will spend half a day
loitering about and inspecting a box, repeatedly
climbing round and over it, and always ending at
ARGENTINE COW-BIRD 91
the entrance, into which she peers curiously, and
when about to enter starting back, as if scared at
the obscurity within. But after retiring a little space
she will return again and again, as if fascinated with
the comfort and security of such an abode. It is
amusing to see how pertinaciously they hang about
the ovens of the Oven-birds, apparently determined
to take possession of them, flying back after a hundred
repulses, and yet not entering them even when they
have the opportunity. Sometimes one is seen follow-
ing a Wren or a Swallow to its nest beneath the eaves,
and then clinging to the wall beneath the hole into
which it disappeared.
I could fill many pages with instances of this habit
of M. honariensiSf which, useless though it be, is as
strong an affection as the bird possesses. That it is
a recurrence to a long disused habit I can scarcely
doubt ; at least to no other cause that I can imagine
can it be attributed ; and besides it seems to me
that if M. honariensis, when once a nest-builder, had
acquired the semi-parasitical habit of breeding in
domed nests of other birds, such a habit might
conduce to the formation of the instinct which
it now possesses. I may mention that twice I
have seen birds of this species attempting to
build nests, and that on both occasions they failed
to complete the work. So universal is the nest-
making instinct that one might safely say that the
M. bonariensis once possessed it, and that in the
cases I have mentioned it was a recurrence, too
weak to be efficient, to the ancestral habit*
92 BIRDS OF L^PLATA
Another interesting circumstance may be adduced
as strong presumptive evidence that M. honariensis
once made itself an open exposed nest, as M, badius
occasionally does — vi2;., the difference in colour of
the male and female ; for whilst the former is rich
purple, the latter possesses an adaptive resemblance
in colour to nests and to the shaded interior twigs and
branches on which nests are usually built. How
could such an instinct have been lost $* To say that
the Cow-bird occasionally dropped an egg in another
bird's nest, and that the young hatched from these
accidental eggs possessed some (hypothetical) advan-
tage over those hatched in the usual way, and that
the parasitical habit thus became hereditary, sup-
planting the original one, is all conjecture, and seems
to exclude the agency of external conditions. Again,
the want of correspondence in the habits of the young
parasite and its foster-parents would in reality be a
disadvantage to the former ; the unfitness would be
as great in the eggs and other circumstances ; for all
the advantages the parasite actually possesses in the
comparative hardness of the egg-shell, rapid evolution
of the young, etc, already mentioned, must have
been acquired little by little through the slowly
accumulating process of natural selection, subse-
quently to the formation of the original parasitical
inclination and habit* I am inclined to believe that
M. bonariensis lost the nest-making instinct by ac-
quiring that semi-parasitical habit, common to so
many South American birds, of breeding in the
large covered nests of the Dendrocolaptidas. We
ARGENTINE COW-BIRD 93
have evidence that this semi-parasitical habit does
tend to eradicate the nest-making one. The Synal-
laxes build great elaborate domed nests, yet we have
one species (S. degithaloides) that never builds for
itself, but breeds in the nests of other birds of the
same genus. In some species the nesting-habit is in
a transitional state. The Tyrant-bird, Machetornis
rixosUf sometimes makes an elaborate nest in the angle
formed by twigs and the bough of a tree, but prefers,
and almost invariably makes choice of, the covered
nest of some other species or of a hole in the tree. It
is precisely the same with our Wren, Troglodytes
furvus. The Yellow House-Sparrow {Sycalis pelzelni)
invariably breeds in a dark hole or covered nest. The
fact that these three species lay coloured eggs, and
the first and last very deeply coloured, inclines one to
believe that they once invariably built exposed nests,
as M, rixosa still occasionally does. It may be added
that those species that lay coloured eggs in dark
places construct and line their nests far more neatly
than do the species that breed in such places but lay
white eggs. As with M, rixosa and the Wren, so it is
with the Bay-winged Molothrus ; it lays mottled eggs,
and occasionally builds a neat exposed nest ; yet so
great is the partiality it has acquired for large domed
nests that whenever it can possess itself of one by
dint of fighting it will not build one for itself. Let
us suppose that the Cow-bird also once acquired the
habit of breeding in domed nests, and that through
this habit its original nest-making instinct was com-
pletely eradicated, it is not difficult to imagine how
94 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
in its turn this instinct was also lost. A diminution
in the number of birds that build domed nests or an
increase in the number of species and individuals
that breed in such nestS; would involve M. honari-
ensis in a struggle for nests^ in which it would probably
be defeated. In Buenos Ayres the Common Swallow,
the Wren, and the Yellow Seed- Finch prefer the
ovens of the Furnarius to any other breeding place,
but to obtain them are obliged to struggle with the
Tree-Swallow, Progne tapera ; for this species has
acquired the habit of breeding exclusively in the
ovens. They cannot, however, compete with the
Progne ; and thus the increase of one species has, to
a great extent, deprived three other species of their
favourite building-place. Again, Machetornis rixosa
prefers the great nest of the Anumbius ; and when
other species compete with it for the nest they
are invariably defeated. I have seen a pair of
Machetornis after they had seized a nest attacked
in their turn by a flock of six or eight Bay-wings ;
but in spite of the superior numbers the fury of
the Machetornis compelled them to raise the
siege.
Thus some events in the history of our common
Molothrus have perhaps been accounted for, if not
the most essential one — the loss of the nest-making
instinct from the acquisition of the habit of breeding
in the covered nests of other birds, a habit that has
left a strong trace in the manners of the species,
and perhaps in the pure white unmarked eggs of
so many individuals ; finally, we have seen how
ARGENTINE GOW-BIRD 95
this habit may also have been lost. But the parasi-
tical habit of the M. bonariensis may have originated
when the bird was still a nest-builder» The origin
of the instinct may have been in the occasional habit^
common to so many species^ of two or more females
laying together ; the progenitors of all the species of
Molothrus may have been early infected with this
habit, which eventually led to the acquisition of the
present one. M. pecoris and M. bonariensis^ though
their instincts differ, are both parasitic on a great
number of species ; M. rufoaxillaria on M. badius ;
and in this last species two or more females fre-
quently lay together. If we suppose that the M.
bonariensiSf when it was a nest-builder or reared its
own young in the nests it sei2;ed, possessed this
habit of two or more females frequently laying
together, the young of those birds that oftenest
abandoned their eggs to the care of another would
probably inherit a weakened maternal instinct. The
continual intercrossing of individuals with weaker
and stronger instincts would prevent the formation
of two races differing in habit ; but the whole race
would degenerate, and would only be saved from
final extinction by some individuals occasionally
dropping their eggs in the nests of other species,
perhaps of a Molothrus^ as M. rufoaxillaris still does,
rather than of birds of other genera. Gertainly in
this way the parasitic instinct may have originated
in M. bonariensis without that species ever having
acquired the habit of breeding in the covered dark
nests of other birds. I have supposed that they once
96 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
possessed it only to account for the strange attraction
such nests have for them, which seems hke a recur-
rence to an ancestral habit*
SCREAMING COW-BIRD
Molothrus rufoaxillaris
Silky black glossed with purple ; wings and tail with a slight
greenish gloss ; bill and feet black ; length 8 inches. Female the
same ; slightly smaller.
This bird has no vulgar name, not being distin-
guished from the Common Cow-bird by the country
people. The English name of Screaming Cow-bird,
which I have bestowed on it, will I think commend
itself as appropriate to those who observe it, for they
will always and at any distance be able to distinguish
it from the species it resembles so nearly by listening
to its impetuous screaming notes, so unlike anything
in the language of the Common Cow-bird.
The Screaming Cow-bird is larger than the allied
species. The female is less than the male in size, but
in colour they are alike, the entire plumage being
deep blue-black, glossy, with purple reflections, and
under the wing at the joint there is a small rufous
spot. The beak is very stout, the plumage loose,
with a strong musky smell ; the oesophagus re-
markably wide.
It is far less common than the other species of
Molothrus, but not rare, and ranges south to the
Upper — Bay-Winijki) Co\v-]5iui)
Molollnus IniiHus (\'lcill.)
Lower — Scrkam ini ; Cow-J li r i >
Molothrus rujoii.xilliin's, Cassiii.
SCREAMING COW-BIRD 97
Buenos-Ayrean pampas, where a few individuals
are usually found in every large plantation ; and,
like the Bay-winged Cow-bird, it remains with us
the whole year. It is not strictly gregarious, but in
winter goes in parties, seldom exceeding half a dozen
individuals, and in the breeding-season in pairs. One
of its most noteworthy traits is an exaggerated hurry
and bustle thrown into all its movements. When
passing from one branch to another, it goes by a
series of violent jerks, smiting its wings loudly
together ; and when a party of them return from
the fields they rush wildly and loudly screaming to
the trees, as if pursued by a bird of prey. They are
not singing-birds ; but the male sometimes, though
rarely, attempts a song, and utters, with considerable
effort, a series of chattering unmelodious notes.
The chirp with which he invites his mate to fly has
the sound of a loud and smartly given kiss. His
warning or alarm note when approached in the
breeding-season has a soft and pleasing sound ; it
is, curiously enough, his only mellow expression.
But his most common and remarkable vocal per-
formance is a cry beginning with a hollow-sounding
internal note, and swelling into a sharp metallic
ring ; this is uttered with tail and wings spread and
depressed, the whole plumage raised like that of a
strutting turkey-cock, whilst the bird hops briskly
up and down on its perch as if dancing. From its
puffed-out appearance, and from the peculiar char-
acter of the sound it emits, I believe that, like the
Pigeon and some other species, it has the faculty of
gS BIRDS OF LA PLATA
filling its crop with air, to use it as a ** chamber of
resonance/' The note I have described is quickly
and invariably followed by a scream, harsh and
impetuous, uttered by the female, though both
notes always sound as if proceeding from one bird.
When on the wing the birds all scream together in
concert.
The food of this species is chiefly minute seeds
and tender buds ; they also swallow large cater-
pillars and spiders, but do not, like their congeners,
eat hard insects.
I became familiar, even as a small boy, with the
habits of the Screaming Cow-bird, and before this
species was known to naturalists, but could never
find its nest though I sought diligently for it. I could
never see the birds collecting materials for a nest,
or feeding their grown-up young like other species,
and this might have made me suspect that they did
not hatch their own eggs ; but it never occurred to
me that the bird was parasitical, I suppose because
in summer they are always seen in pairs, the male
and female being inseparable. Probably this is the
only parasitical species in which there is conjugal
fidelity. I also noticed that when approached in the
breeding-season the pair always displayed great
excitement and anxiety, like birds that have a nest,
or that have selected a site on which to build one.
But year after year the end of the summer would
arrive, the birds re-unite in parties of half a dozen,
and the mystery remain unsolved. At length, after
many years, fortune favoured me, and while ob-
SCREAMING COW-BIRD 99
serving the habits of another species (Molothrus
badius) I discovered by chance the procreant habits
of the Screaming Cow-birds ; and as these obser-
vations throw some light on the habits of M* badius
I think it best to transcribe my notes here in fulL
A pair of Lefiateros {Anumbius acuticaudatus)^ or
Firewood-Gatherers, have been nearly all the winter
building a nest on an acacia tree sixty yards from the
house ; it is about 27 inches deep, and 16 or 18 in
circumference, and appears now nearly finished. I
am sure that this nest will be attacked before long,
and I have resolved to watch it closely*
September 28. — To-day I saw a Bay-wing (M.
badius) on the nest ; it climbed over it, deliberately
inspecting every part with the critical air of a pro-
prietor who had ordered its construction, taking up
and re-arranging some sticks and throwing others
away from the nest* While thus engaged, two
Common Cow-birds (M* bonariensis), male and female,
came to the tree ; the female dropped on to the
nest, and began also to examine it, peering curiously
into the entrance and quarrelling with the first bird.
After a few minutes she flew away, followed by her
glossy consort. The Bay- wing continued its strange
futile work until the owners of the nest appeared,
whereupon it hopped aside in its usual slow leisurely
manner, sang for a few moments, then flew away.
The similarity in the behaviour of the two birds
struck me very forcibly ; in the great interest they
take in the nests of other birds, especially large
100 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
covered nests^ the two species are identical. But
when the breeding-season comes their habits begin
to diverge ; then the Common Cow-bird lays in nests
of other species, abandoning its eggs to their care ;
while the Bay-wings usually sei2;e on the nests of
other birds and rear their own young. Yet, as they
do occasionally build a neat elaborate nest for them-
selves, the habit of taking possession of the nests of
other birds is most likely a recently acquired one,
and probably its tendency is to eradicate the original
building instinct,
October 8. — This morning, while reading under a
tree, my attention was aroused by a shrill note, as
of a bird in distress, issuing from the neighbourhood
of the Firewood-Gatherer's nest ; after hearing it
repeated at intervals for over twenty minutes, I went
to ascertain the cause. Two Bay-wings flew up from
the ground under the nest, and on searching in the
rank clover growing under the tree, I discovered the
female Lenatero, with plumage wet and draggled,
trembling and appearing half dead with the rough
treatment she had experienced. I put her in the sun,
and after half an hour, hearing her mate calling,
she managed to flutter feebly away to join him. The
persecutors had dragged her out of the nest, and
would, no doubt, have killed her had I not come so
opportunely to the rescue.
Since writing the above I have continued to watch
the nest. Both the Bay-wings and their victims left
it for some days. Six days after I had picked up the
ill-treated female, the builders of the nest came back
SCREAMING COW-BIRD loi
and resumed possession. Four days later the Bay-
wings also came back ; but on finding the nest still
occupied they took possession of an unfinished oven
of an Oven-bird on another tree within twenty yards
of the first, and immediately began carrying in
materials with which to line it. When they had fin-
ished laying I took their five eggs, at the same time
throwing down the oven, and waited to see what their
next move would be. They remained on the spot,
singing incessantly, and still manifesting anxiety
when approached. I observed them four days, and
then was absent from home as many more ; on
returning I found that the Lenateros had once more
disappeared, and that the nest was now held by the
Bay-wings. I also noticed that they had opened an
entrance very low down at the side of the nest which
they were using ; no doubt they had killed and
thrown out the young birds.
It was now early in November, the height of the
breeding-season, and numbers of Common Cow-
birds constantly visited the nest ; but I was parti-
cularly interested in a pair of Screaming Cow-birds
that had also begun to grow fond of it, and I resolved
to watch them closely. As they spent so much of
their time near the nest, showing great solicitude
when I approached it, I strongly hoped to see
them breed in it, if the Bay-wings could only
be got rid of. The Screaming Cow-birds would
not, or dare not, attack them. I therefore re-
solved to take the Bay-wings' eggs, hoping that
that would cause them to leave in disgust.
102 BIRDS OF L^PLATA
When I was satisfied from their movements that
they had finished layings I got up to the nest, and
was astonished to find ten eggs instead of five as I
had confidently expected ; for though the Common
Cow-birds had paid a great deal of attention to the
nest, I knew the Bay-wings would not allow them to
lay in it.
The ten eggs in the nest were all unmistakably
Bay-wings* eggs ; and having observed before that
several females do occasionally lay together, I con-
cluded that in this case two females had laid in the
nest, though I had only seen two birds — male and
female. After taking the ten eggs the Bay- wings
still remained, and in a very short time they appeared
to be laying again. When I had reason to think that
the full complement was laid, I visited the nest and
found five eggs in it ; these I also took, and con-
cluded that the second female had probably gone
away, after having been deprived of her first clutch.
During all this time the Screaming Cow-birds
remained in the neighbourhood and occasionally
visited the tree ; but to my very great surprise the
Bay-wings still stubbornly remained, and by-and-by
I found that they were going to lay again — the fourth
time ! When I next visited the nest there were two
eggs in it ; I left them and returned three days
later, expecting to find five eggs, but found seven I
certainly more than one female had laid in the nest on
this occasion. After I had taken these last seven eggs
the Bay-wings left ; and though the Screaming
Cow-birds continued to make occasional visits to
SCREAMING COW-BIRD 103
the nest, to my great disappointment they did not
lay in iu
April 12* — To-day I have made a discovery, and
am as pleased as if I had found a new planet in the
sky. The mystery of the Bay-wings' nest twice
found containing over the usual complement of eggs
is cleared up, and I have now suddenly become
acquainted with the procreant instinct of the Scream-
ing Cow-bird. I look on this as a great piece of good
fortune ; for I had thought that the season for
making any such discovery was already over, as we
are so near to winter.
The Bay-wings are so social in their habits that
they always appear reluctant to break up their com-
panies in the breeding-season ; no sooner is this
over, and while the young birds are still fed by the
parents, all the families about a plantation unite into
one flock. About a month ago all the birds about
my home had associated in this way together, and
went in a scattered flock, frequenting one favourite
feeding-spot very much, a meadow about fifteen
minutes' walk from the house. The flock was com-
posed, I believe, of three families, sixteen or eighteen
birds in all : the young birds are indistinguishable
from the adults ; but I knew that most of these birds
were young, hatched late in the season, from their
incessant strident hunger notes. I first observed
them about the middle of March. A week ago, while
riding past the meadow where they were feeding, I
noticed among them three individuals with purple
spots on their plumage. They were at a distance
104 BIRDS OF L^ PLATA
from me, and I naturally concluded that they were
young Common Cow-birds (M. honariensis), casually
associating with the Bay-wings. I was surprised to
see them, for the young male M, honariensis always
acquires the purple plumage before March, so that
these individuals were changing colour five weeks
after the usual time.
To-day, while out with my gun, I came upon the
flock, and noticed four of the birds assuming the
purple plumage, two of them being almost entirely
that colour ; but I also noticed with astonishment
that they had bay- or chestnut-coloured wings, also
that those with least purple on them were marvel-
lously like the Bay-wings in the mouse-coloured
plumage of the body and the dark tail. I had seen
these birds before the purple plumage was acquired,
and there was then not the slightest difference amongst
them, the adults and their supposed offspring being
alike ; now some of them appeared to be under-
going the process of a transmutation into another
species ! I at once shot the four spotted birds, along
with two genuine Bay-wings, and was delighted to
find that the first were young Screaming Cow-birds.
I must now believe that the extra eggs twice
found in the nest of the Bay-wings were those of
the Screaming Cow -bird, that the latter species
lays chiefly in the nests of the former, that
the eggs of the two species are identical in form,
si2;e, and colour, each bird also laying five, and
that, stranger still, the similarity is as perfect in
the young birds as it is in the eggs.
SCREAMING COW-BIRD 105
April 15. — This morning I started in quest of
the Bay-wings, and observed one individual, that
had somehow escaped detection the day before,
assuming the purple dress* This bird I shot ; and
after the flock had re-settled a short distance off, I
crept close up to them, under the shelter of a hedge,
to observe them more narrowly* One of the adults
was closely attended by three young birds ; and
these all, while I watched them, fluttered their wings
and clamoured for food every time the old bird
stirred on its perch. The three young birds seemed
precisely alike ; but presently I noticed that one of
them had a few minute purple spots, and on shooting
this one I found it to be a young M. rufoaxillaris,
while the other two were true young Bay- wings.
The hunger-cry of the young M. hadius (Bay-
wing) is quite different from that of the young M.
honariensis : the cry of the latter is a long, shrill,
two-syllabled note, the last syllable being prolonged
into a continuous squeal when the foster-parent
approaches with food ; the cry of the young M.
badius is short, reedy, tremulous, and uninflected.
The resemblance of the young M. rufoaxillaris to
its foster-brothers in language and plumage is the
more remarkable when we reflect that the adult bird
in its habits, gestures, guttural notes, also in its deep
purple plumage, comes much nearer to M. honariensis
than to M. hadius. It seems impossible for mimicry
to go further than this. A slight difference in si2;e
is quite imperceptible when the birds are flying
about ; while in language and plumage the keenest
io6 BIRDS OF "Lk V'LkHk
ornithologist would not be able to detect a difference*
It may, however, be questioned whether this is really
a case of an external resemblance of one species to
another acquired by natural selection for its better
preservation. Possibly the young M. rufoaxillaris,
in the first stage of its plumage, exhibits the ancestral
type — that of the progenitor of both species. If M.
hadius belonged to some other group — Sturnella or
Pseudoleistes for instance — it would scarcely be pos-
sible to doubt that the resemblance of the young M»
rufoaxillaris to its foster-brothers resulted from
mimicry ; but as both species belong to the limited
well-defined group Molothrus^ the resemblance may
be ascribed to community of descent.
Formerly I believed that though M. badius is
constantly seen rearing its own young, they also
occasionally dropped their eggs in the nests of other
birds. I could not doubt that this was the case after
having witnessed a couple of their young following
a Yellow-breast, Pseudoleistes virescenSf and being fed
by it. I must now alter my opinion, for what then
appeared to be proof positive is now no proof at all,
for those two birds were probably the young of M,
rufoaxillaris. There are, however, good reasons for
believing that M. rufoaxillaris is parasitical almost
exclusively on M. badius. I have spoken of the many
varieties of eggs M. bonariensis lays. Those of M.
badius are a trifle less in si^e, in form elliptical, densely
and uniformly marked with small spots and blotches
of dark reddish colour, varying to dusky brown ; the
ground-colour is white, but sometimes, though
SCREAMING COW-BIRD 107
rarely, pale blue* It is not possible to confound the
eggs of the two species* Now ever since I saw, many
years ago, the Yellow-breast feeding the supposed
young Bay-wings, I have looked out for the eggs of
the latter in other birds^ nests* I have found hundreds
of nests containing eggs of M* bonariensiSf but never
one with an egg of M* badiuSf and, I may now add,
never one with an egg of M* rufoaxillaris. It
is wonderful that M. rufoaxillaris should lay only
in the nests of M. hadius ; but the most mysterious
thing is that M* honariensist indiscriminately para-
sitical on a host of species, never, to my knowledge,
drops an egg in the nest of M* hadius^ unless it be
in a forsaken nest ! Perhaps it will be difficult for
naturalists to believe this ; for if the M. hadius is so
excessively vigilant and jealous of other birds ap-
proaching its nest as to succeed in keeping out the
subtle, silent, grey-plumaged, omnipresent female
M. honariensiSf why does it not also keep off the far
rarer, noisy, bustling, conspicuously coloured M*
rufoaxillaris^ 1 cannot say* The only explanation
that has occurred to me is that M* badius is sagacious
enough to distinguish the eggs of the common parasite
and throws them out of its nest* But this is scarcely
probable, for I have hunted in vain under the trees
for the ejected eggs ; and I have never found the
eggs of M* badius with holes pecked in the shells,
which would have been the case had a M. bonariensis
intruded into the nest*
With the results just recorded I felt more than
satisfied, though much still remained to be known;
io8 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
and I looked forward to the next summer to work
out the rich mine on which I had stumbled by chance.
Unhappily when spring came round again ill-health
kept me a prisoner in the city, and finding no im-
provement in my condition, I eventually left Buenos
Ayres at the close of the warm season to try whether
change of climate would benefit me. Before leaving,
however, I spent a few days at home, and saw enough
then to satisfy me that my conclusions were correct.
Most of the birds had finished breeding, but while
examining some nests of Anumhius I found one
which Bay-wings had tenanted, and which for some
reason they had forsaken, leaving ten unincubated
eggs. They were all like Bay-wings* eggs, but I have
no doubt that five of them were eggs of M. rufo-
axillaris. During my rides in the neighbourhood I
also found two flocks of Bay-wings, each composed
of several families, and amongst the young birds I
noticed several individuals beginning to assume the
purple plumage, like those of the previous autumn.
I did not think it necessary to shoot more specimens.
The question why M. hadius permits M. rufo-
axillaris to use its nest, while excluding the allied
parasite M. honariensis, must be answered by future
observers ; but before passing from this very inter-
esting group (Molothrus) I wish to make some general
remarks on their habits and their anomalous relations
to other species.
It is with a considerable degree of repugnance
that we regard the parasitical instinct in birds ; the
reason it excites such a feeling is manifestly that it
SCREAMING COW-BIRD 109
presents itself to the mind as — to use the words of a
naturalist of the eighteenth century, who was also a
theologian and believed the Cuckoo had been created
with such a habit — '* a monstrous outrage on the
maternal affection, one of the first great dictates of
nature/' An outrage^ since each creature has been
endowed with this all-powerful affection for the
preservation of its own, and not another, species ;
and here we see it, by a subtle process, an uncon-
scious iniquity, turned from its purpose, perverted
and made subservient to the very opposing agency
against which it was intended as a safeguard I The
formation of such an instinct seems indeed like an
unforeseen contingency in the system of nature, a
malady strengthened, if not induced, by the very
laws established for the preservation of health, and
which the vis medicatrix of nature is incapable of
eliminating. Again, the egg of a parasitical species
is generally so much larger, differing also in coloration
from the eggs it is placed with, whilst there is such
an unvarying dissimilarity between the young bird
and its living or murdered foster-brothers that, un-
reasoning as we know instinct, and especially the
maternal instinct, to be, we are shocked at so glar-
ing and flagrant an instance of its blind stupidity.
In the competition for place, the struggle for
existence, said with reason to be most deadly between
such species as are most nearly allied, the operations
are imperceptible, and the changes are so gradual
that the diminution and final disappearance of one
species is never attributed to a corresponding in-
no BIRDS OF L^ PLATA
crease in another more favoured species over the
same region. It is not as if the regnant species had
invaded and seized on the province of another, but
appears rather as if they had quietly entered on the
possession of an inheritance that was theirs by right ♦
Mighty as are the results worked out by such a
process, it is only by a somewhat strained metaphor
that it can be called a struggle. But even when the
war is open and declared, as between a raptorial
species and its victims, the former is manifestly
driven by necessity, and in this case the species
preyed on are endowed with peculiar sagacity to
escape its persecutions ; so that the war is not one
of extermination, but, as in a border war, the invader
is satisfied with carrying off the weak and unwary
stragglers. Thus the open declared enmity is in
reality beneficial to a species ; for it is sure to cut
off all such individuals as might cause its degenera-
tion. But we can conceive no necessity for such a
fatal instinct as that of the Cuckoo and Cow-bird,
destructive to such myriads of lives in their begin-
ning. And inasmuch as their preservation is inimical
to the species on which they are parasitical, there
must also here be a struggle. But what kind of
struggle $* not as in other species, where one perishes
in the combat that gives greater strength to the
victor, but an anomalous struggle in which one of
the combatants has made his adversary turn his
weapons against himself, and so seems to have an
infinite advantage. It is impossible for him to suffer
defeat ; and yet, to follow out the metaphor, he has
SCREAMING COW-BIRD iii
so wormed about and interlaced himself with his
opponent that as soon as he succeeds in overcoming
him he also must inevitably perish. Such a result
is perhaps impossible, as there are so many causes
operating to check the undue increase of any one
species ; consequently the struggle, unequal as it
appears, must continue for ever. Thus, in whatever
way we view the parasitical habit, it appears cruel,
treacherous, and vicious in the highest degree. But
should we attempt mentally to create a perfect para-
sitical instinct (that is, one that would be thoroughly
efficient with the least possible prejudice to or in-
justice towards another species ; for the preservation
of the species on which the parasite is dependent
is necessary to its own) by combining in imagination
all known parasitical habits, eliminating every offen-
sive quality or circumstance, and attributing such
others in their place as we should think fit, our
conception would still probably fall short in sim-
plicity, beauty, and completeness of the actual
instinct of M. rufoaxillaris. Instead of laying its
eggs promiscuously in every receptacle that offers,
it selects the nest of a single species ; so that its
selective instinct is related to the adaptive resem-
blance in its eggs and young to those of the species
on which it is parasitical. Such an adaptive resem-
blance could not of course exist if it laid its eggs in
the nests of more than one species, and it is certainly
a circumstance eminently favourable to preservation.
Then, there not being any such incongruity and
unfitness as we find in nests into which other parasites
112 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
intrude^ there is no reason here to regard the foster-
parents* affection as blind and stupid ; the similarity
being close enough to baffle the keenest sagacity.
Nor can the instinct here appear in the light of an
outrage on the maternal affection ; for the young
M. rufoaxillaris possesses no advantage over its
foster-brothers. It is not endowed with greater
strength and voracity to monopolise the attentions
of the foster-parent or to eject the real offspring ;
but being in every particular precisely like them,
it has only an equal chance of being preserved. To
this wonderful parasitical instinct we may well apply
Darwin's words, when speaking of the architecture
of the hive-bee : *' Beyond this stage of perfection
natural selection could not lead."
BAY-WINGED COW-BIRD
Molothrus badins
Dull grey, or mouse-colour, slightly tinged with olive ; wings
chestnut ; tail blackish ; bill and feet black ; length 7.6 inches.
Female similar.
In this species the sexes are alike ; the plumage of
the body is grey-drab colour, with a black spot
between the eye and beak ; tail dark, the quills
cinnamon-colour ; beak and legs black. Azara,
describing it under the name of Tordo pardo roxisOf
says it is a rare bird, so that it has probably greatly
BAY-WINGED COW-BIRD 113
increased since his time, as it is now quite common
in the Plata district*
The Bay-wings usually go in small flocks, num-
bering from ten to thirty individuals, and are not
migratory, but in winter they travel about a great
deal from place to place without extending their
journeys more than a few miles in any direction.
They are fond of coming about houses, and are
frequently seen pecking at the fresh meat hanging
out of doors; and, like other birds of the same
tribe, feed chiefly on the ground. They spend a
great portion of their time on trees, are familiar with
man and inactive, and in their motions singularly
slow and deliberate. Their language is varied.
Curiosity or alarm is expressed by trilling notes,
and before quitting a tree all the birds of a flock
ceremoniously invite each other to fly, with long
clear notes, powerful enough to be heard a quarter
of a mile away.
They also sing a great deal in all seasons, the song
being composed of soft, clear, rather sweet notes,
variously modulated, uttered in a leisurely manner,
and seeming to express a composed frame of mind,
all the birds in a flock singing in concert. During
the cold season the flock always finds some sheltered
sunny spot on the north side of a wood-pile or hedge,
where they spend several hours every day, sitting
still and singing in their usual quiet, soft style.
Their extreme sociability affects their breeding
habits, for sometimes the flock does not break up in
spring, and several females lay in one nest together ;
H
114 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
but whether in such cases the birds are paired or
practise a promiscuous intercourse I have not been
able to discover. They have a great partiality for the
large domed nests made by the Anumbius acuti-
caudatus, called Firewood-Gatherer in the vernacular*
One summer a flock of about ten Bay-wings took
possession of a nest on one of my trees, and after a
few days I took fourteen eggs from it. Though the
birds hopped chirping around me, manifesting great
solicitude, the eggs were quite cold, and had I left
them many more would have been laid, no doubt ;
but as they were piled up three or four deep in the
nest they could never have been hatched.
As a rule, however, the flock breaks up into pairs ;
and then a neat, well-made nest is built in the fork
of a branch, lined with horsehair ; or, oftener still,
a domed nest is seized, the Bay- wings fighting with
great spirit to get possession, and in it, or on it, their
own nest is made. Like their relation, the Common
Cow-bird, they seem strongly attracted by domed
nests, and yet shrink from laying in the dark interior ;
as a rule when they have captured a large domed
nest they break a hole in the side and so admit the
light and form an easy entrance.
The eggs of the Bay-wing are five in number,
nearly round, and densely marked with dusky reddish
brown.
MARSH-BIRD 115
YELLOW-SHOULDERED MARSH-BIRD
Agelsus thilius
Black; lesser upper and under wing-coverts yellow; bill and feet
black ; length 5.5 inches. Female pale brown, striated with black ;
eye-mark white ; paler beneath ; smaller.
This bird is abundant everywhere on the pampas,
and does not migrate, but inhabits marshy situations
in summer, building its nest amongst the rushes,
and in winter ranges over the country. The male is
entirely of an intense black, except the shoulders,
which are pure yellow ; the female is dull grey with
fuscous markings, and, as was long ago remarked
by Azara, the grey-plumaged are very much more
numerous than the black individuals. The young
birds are like the females, and possibly do not acquire
the full black plumage until the second year, which
would account for the great number of grey birds.
These birds are extremely sociable, being seen in
flocks all the year round, even during the breeding-
season ; in winter a great many males separate them-
selves from the females, and are found associating
together in flocks of from thirty to forty individuals.
They feed on the ground, keeping to the moist
borders of marshes during summer; they avoid
woods, but occasionally aHght on trees, where they
all sing in concert. The song, when an individual is
heard singing alone, is, though limited in its range,
very sweet, some of the notes being remarkable for
their purity and expression. The bird sits on a rush
ii6 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
or stalk while singing, and makes a long pause after
every note or two, as if to make the most of its
limited repertory. There is in the song one rich full
note which, to my mind, is unequalled for plaintive
sweetness, and I am therefore surprised that Azara
says only of this species that it sings passably well —
'' canta ra^onablemente/'
The nest is neatly made of dry grasses, and attached
to the rushes growing in the water. The eggs are
four, pointed, and spotted at the larger end with dull
brown and black on a white ground.
I wish my dull brains had been able to find some
shorter, more descriptive English name for this
species, which of all this group of Troupials, the
Marsh-birds or Bobolinks of South America, endeared
itself most to me on account of its grace and lovely
black and yellow livery, its pretty social habits, and,
above all, its unforgettable song, or rather that one
full, beautiful, passionate note on which it ends.
YELLOW-HEADED MARSH-BIRD
Agelxus flavus
Black ; head, rump, bend of wing and under surface brilliant
yellow ; bill and feet black ; length 6.7 inches. Female brown, slightly
striated ; eyebrows, rump, and under parts yellowish.
AZARA called this bird Cabeza amarillat or Yellow-
head, and I retain the name, though it is an unsatis-
factory one as the bird has so much yellow on its
YELLOW-HEADED MARSH-BIRD 117
other parts; the colour scheme being much as in
the Golden Oriole*
The duU-plumaged birds are always very much
more numerous than the bright-coloured males,
though Azara strangely asserts that the sexes are
alike* In Buenos Ayres, where it is called Naranjo
(orange-coloured) by the country people in allusion
to its orange tints, it is very well known on account
of its yellow plumage, which looks so wonderfully
brilliant in the sunshine, and its partiality for culti-
vated districts, where it follows the plough to pick
up worms, and frequents the orchard to sing, asso-
ciating with the Common Cow-bird and Yellow-
breast. It remains all the year, and is very sociable,
going in flocks of from twenty to thirty individuals,
which when they settle on the trees all sing in con-
cert, pouring out their few peculiar notes with great
power and emphasis.
Even in the breeding season these companies do
not always break up, and frequently several pairs
have nests near together. The nest is usually built
in a cardoon thistle, two or three feet above the
ground, and is made of dry grass. The eggs are four,
pointed, white or with bluish tinge, and speckled
irregularly with deep brown, the spots being closer
and sometimes confluent at the broad end.
Concerning the plumage of this species Mr.
Barrows, an American ornithologist, writes : ** Late
in March 1 881, we found this species in large flocks
on the Pigue, and it was a beautiful sight to see a
hundred or more fluttering about among the snowy
ii8 BIRDS OF yV PLATA
plumes of the pampas grass, and displaying their
rich black and yellow dress* Unlike most other
birds obtained at that time, their plumage seemed
nearly as bright as in summer/^
SCARLET-HEADED MARSH-BIRD
Amblyrhamphus holosericens
Black ; head and neck and upper breast and thighs intense scarlet ;
feet and bill black ; length 9.5 inches. Female the same^ young all
black.
AzARA named this species Tordo negro cabeza roxa ;
it is also called Boyero (ox-herd) by country people,
from its note resembling the long whistle of a drover ;
and sometimes ** Chisel-bill/' from the peculiar con-
formation of the beak, which is long, straight, and
broad at the end like a chiseL In both sexes the
plumage of the head and neck is scarlet, of an exceed-
ingly brilliant tint, all other parts intense black*
These birds are lively, active, and sociable, going in
flocks of from half-a-dozen to thirty individuals ;
they remain all the year, and inhabit the marshes,
from which they seldom wander very far but seek
their insect food in the soft decaying rushes. They
are common on the swampy shores of the Plata,
and when seen at a distance, perched in their usual
manner on the summits of the tall rushes, their
flame-coloured heads shine with a strange glory
above the sere, sombre vegetation of the marshes*
RUFOUS-HEADED MARSH-BIRD 119
The long whistling note above mentioned is their
only song, but it varies considerably, and often
sounds as mellow and sweet as the whistle of the
European Blackbird.
The nest is an ingenious structure of dry grasses,
fastened to the upright stems of an aquatic plant,
three or four feet above the water. The eggs are
four, in size and form like those of the English Song-
Thrush, spotted somewhat sparsely with black on a
light blue ground.
The young birds are entirely black at first, and
afterwards assume on the head and neck a pale terra-
cotta red, which gradually deepens to vivid scarlet.
RUFOUS-HEADED MARSH-BIRD
Agelseus ruficapillus
Glossy blue-black ; crown and middle of throat deep chestnut-red ;
bill and legs black ; length 7.5 inches.
The sexes are alike in this species : the crown of
the head is rufous, and with this exception the whole
plumage is a rich glossy blue-black. The beauty of
the bird and its delicate plaintive voice would no
doubt make it a favourite with man if he saw more
of it, only it lives and breeds in marshes and does
not come near his habitations. The Rufous-heads
are gregarious and migratory. The flock can scarcely
be said to break up in the breeding-season, as the
120 BIRDS OF L^ PLATA
birds all make their nests near together in the reeds.
The nest is placed about one or two feet above the
water, is about six inches in depth, and made of
leaves and aquatic grasses woven together* The eggs
are four, pointed, with a white or pale bluish ground,
and spotted with black at the larger end.
The song of the Red-head is quite unique in
character. It begins with a low, hollow-sounding
note, then the voice changes to a clear, plaintive
tone, rising in a rapid succession of short notes,
then falling again at the end.
After the breeding-season the birds fly about in
flocks of two or three hundred individuals, and sing
in concert on the trees.
Their chirp has a peculiar metallic sound, and can
be imitated by tapping on the edge of a copper bell
with the finger-nail.
RED-BREASTED MARSH-BIRD
Leistes superciliaris
Brownish black ; superciliaries pale brown ; bend of the wing and
body beneath from chin to middle of the belly deep scarlet ; bill and
legs black ; length 7 inches. Female pale brown, variegated with black,
faintly touched with red on the breast.
The most interesting point concerning this species
is the very great difference in habits, as well as
appearance, existing between the sexes. In form it
resembles the Starling of Europe, but is a trifle
RED-BREASTED MARSH-BIRD 121
smaller and has a shorter tail. The male is black,
the upper parts faintly mottled with yellowish grey;
there is a straw-coloured stripe over the eye; the
throat and breast bright crimson. The female is a
smaller bird, and in colour dull fulvous grey, mottled
with fuscous ; the red tint on the breast scarcely
perceptible. ,
These birds are migratory, and appear everywhere
in the eastern part of the Argentine country early m
October, arriving singly, after which each male takes
up a position in a field or open space aboundmg
with coarse grass and herbage, where he spends most
of the time perched on the summit of a tall stalk
or weed, his glowing crimson bosom showing at a
distance like some splendid flower above the herbage.
At intervals of two or three minutes he soars verti-
cally up to a height of twenty or twenty-five y^ds
to utter his song, composed of a single long, powerful,
and rather musical note, ending with an attempt at
a flourish, during which the bird flutters and turns
about in the air ; then, as if discouraged at his failure,
he drops down, emitting harsh guttural chirps, to
resume his stand. Meanwhile the female is invisible,
keeping closely concealed under the long grass. But
at length, attracted perhaps by the bright bosom and
aerial music of the male, she occasionally exhibits
herself for a few moments, starting up with a wild
zigzag flight, like a Snipe flushed from its marsh,
and, darting this way and that, presently drops into
the grass once more. The moment she appears above
the grass the male gives chase, and they vamsh from
122 BIRDS OF L^ PLATA
sight together. Thus, while in colour, habits, lan-
guage, and even in its manner of soaring up like a
rocket to let off its curious melody, the male is the
most conspicuous of small birds, the female, acted
on in an opposite direction by natural selection, has
been, so to speak, effaced. While flying they do
not look like birds of the same species : the male
moves with wings rapidly fluttered, Hke a StarHng,
but with a slower, more laborious flight, and without
deviating ; the female, in her eccentric movements in
the air, reminds one of a large moth, driven from its
hiding-place and flying about confused with the glare
of noon.
The nest is made of dry grass on the ground, so
cunningly concealed that it is difficult to find. The
eggs are four, white, spotted with reddish brown.
When they have young I have never been able to
detect the female flying about in search of food.
All through the summer these birds are solitary,
but when migrating in the autumn, though many
are seen travelling singly and appear very conspicuous
as they fly laboriously in a straight line, at an altitude
of about twenty yards from the surface, others are
seen making their journey in small flocks or parties
composed of six to a do2;en individuals. These are
the males. The females travel separately, in twos
or threes or singly, flying nearer to the earth, with
frequent pauses when the wings cease beating, and
intervals of gliding, also darting occasionally to one
side, as if the bird had suddenly taken fright.
YELLOW-BREASTED MARSH-BIRD 123
YELLOW-BREASTED MARSH-BIRD
Pseudoleistes virescens
Olive-brown and glossy ; shoulders and breast bright yellow ; length
9,5 inches. Female similar.
In both sexes in this species the plumage is deep
olivaceous brown, the breast pure yellow. It is
active, strong on the wing, sociable and noisy ; and
being, moreover, a pretty and elegant bird, very
common in settled districts, and with a preference
for man*s neighbourhood, it is familiar to every one,
and has won amongst many competitors the verna-
cular name of Pecho-amarillo (Yellow-breast), for with
us yellow-breasted species are somewhat numerous.
It remains all the year, invariably going about in
flocks of from twenty to thirty birds, and feeds on
the ground in the fields or on the open plain. While
they are feeding, one bird takes up a position on a
stalk or thistle-top to keep guard ; when he flies
down another bird takes his place ; if a person
approaches, the sentinel gives the alarm, and all the
birds fly off in a very close flock, making the air
resound with their loud ringing notes. After feeding
they repair to the trees, where they join their robust
voices in a spirited concert, without any set form
of melody such as other song-birds possess, but all
together, flinging out their notes at random, as if
mad with joy. In this delightful hubbub there are
some soft silvery sounds. Where they are never
persecuted they have little fear of man, but they
124 BIRDS OF L^PLATA
invariably greet his approach with a loud vigorous
remonstrance.
In October the birds break up their companies to
pair. Sometimes they breed on the open plain in a
large cardoon thistle, but a thick bush or low tree is
preferred. The nest is like that of a Thrush, being
deep, compactly made of dry grass and slender sticks,
plastered inside with mud, and lined with hair or
soft, dry grass. It is, however, deeper and more
symmetrical than the Thrush's nest, and it is some-
times plastered with cow-dung instead of with mud.
The eggs are four, very long, white, and abundantly
spotted with deep red, the spots becoming confluent
at the large end.
The Yellow-breast is never seen to quarrel with its
fellows or with other birds, and it is possibly due to
its peaceful disposition that it is more victimised by
the parasitical Molothrus than any other bird. I have
frequently found their nests full of parasitical eggs,
as many as fourteen and in one case sixteen in one
nest. In some seasons all the nests I found and
watched were eventually abandoned by the birds on
account of the number of parasitical eggs dropped
in them. I have also so frequently found parasitical
eggs on the ground under the nest that I believe the
Yellow-breast throws out some of these foreign eggs,
and in one instance I was quite sure that this had
happened. The nest was in a cardoon bush and
contained five eggs — two of the Yellow-breast and
three parasitical. These three were of the variety
most thickly mottled with red, and consequently
YELLOW-BREASTED MARSH-BIRD 125
closely resembling the eggs of the Yellow-breast. I
was surprised to find five more eggs of the Cow-bird
on the ground^ close together, and about three feet
from the bush ; and these five eggs were all pure
white and unspotted. Naturally I asked : How came
these eggs in such a position i They had not fallen
from the nest, which was very deep, contained few
eggs, and was scarcely thirty inches above the ground.
Then they were all white, while those in the nest
were mottled. That the eggs had been laid in the
nest I felt certain ; and the only way I can account
for their being in the place where I found them is
that the Yellow-breast itself removed them, taking
them up in its bill and flying with them to the ground.
If I am right, we must believe that this individual
Yellow-breast had developed an instinct unusual in
the species, which enabled it to distinguish, and cast
out of its nest, eggs very different from its own — an
instinct, in fact, the object of which would be to
counteract the parasitical habit of Molothrus. What
would be the effect of such an instinct should the
species acquire it i Doubtless it would be highly
prejudicial to the parasitical birds laying white eggs,
but favourable to those laying mottled eggs. This
would be natural selection operating in a very unusual
manner ; for the Yellow-breast, or other species,
would improve another to its own detriment, since
the more the parasitical eggs assimilated to its own,
the greater would be the likelihood of their being
preserved. The perfect similarity of the eggs of
M. rufoaxillaris to those of M. hadim was possibly
126 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
brought about in this way. But, it may be added, if
besides the Yellow-breast some one other species
laying very different eggs (a Zonotrichia or Tyrannus,
for instance) should also acquire this distinguishing
habit and eject all eggs unlike its own from its nest,
the habit in the two or more species would ultimately
cause the extinction of the parasite.
It might throw some light on this obscure subject
to examine, for several successive summers, a large
number of nests, to ascertain whether the nests of
the Yellow-breast are often found without any white
unspotted eggs, or if the same proportional number
of white (parasitical) eggs are found in the nests of
the Yellow-breast, Scissor-tail, Song-Sparrow, Pipit,
and other species.
PATAGONIAN MARSH-STARLING
Trupialis militaris
Brown/ variegated with black ; superciliaries in front of eye red,
behind the eye white ; throat, middle of neck, and breast scarlet ;
under wing-coverts white ; bend of wing red ; length lo inches.
Female similar.
Two species of Trupialis inhabit the southernmost
part of the Argentine Republic, the present being
confined to Patagonia and South Chili, while its
northern representative inhabits the pampas of
Buenos Ayres and Uruguay. Probably the Colorado
river, which separates two districts differing in soil
PATAGONIAN MARSH-STARLING 127
and vegetation, is the boundary-line dividing their
habitats. So nearly alike are these two birds in
colour, language, and habits, that they seem rather
like races than species ; and they were so regarded
by naturalists until recently, when the pampas bird
was raised to the rank of a distinct species, with the
name of Trupialis defilippii. Unfortunately the old
name militaris fits the Pampas, and not the Pata-
gonian. Starling best ; but of this I shall speak when
I describe the former species.
In its form T. militaris resembles the Common
Starling of Europe, but differs from it in habits,
flight, language, si^e, and colouring ; its upper
plumage being fuscous mottled with yellowish grey ;
the throat and bosom scarlet inclining to crimson.
This hue varies greatly, the breast-feathers being
often tipped with white, which subdues the intense
red, and gives it a rosy tint in some individuals. The
female is paler-plumaged than the male, and has
less red on the breast.
It inhabits the whole of Patagonia to the Strait of
Magellan, but is confined to the valleys or to the
neighbourhood of water ; and Durnford remarks
that it is a useful bird to the traveller in that thirsty
country, as its presence is a sure indication of water.
It is resident, and is seen in small parties of four or
five, or in small flocks seldom exceeding twenty or
thirty in number. It feeds and lives on the ground,
and only occasionally is it seen to perch on a low
bush. Its flight is strong, and it flies about a great
deal, and usually utters its song when on the wing.
128 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
The song is continued all the year, and is heard
even on the coldest days in winter ; the notes are
few and not highly melodious, but are cheerful and
vigorous.
The nest is made of dry grass and rootlets attached
to the rushes in moist ground, and placed close to
or resting on the surface. The eggs are five, the
ground-colour white spotted or blotched with red-
dish brown.
MILITARY STARLING
Trupialis defilippii
Slightly smaller than last ; plumage the same except the under
wing-coverts^ which are black.
Throughout the country where this species abounds
it is called Pecho Colorado, which is certainly better
than A%ara*s barbarous, if picturesque, name of
Degollado ; but no happier name than militaris
could have been invented for it, by which it was
formerly known to naturalists ; and though it was
given to the bird merely on account of the red breast,
and was therefore equally applicable to all the red-
breasted species on the globe, in this case it acciden-
tally seemed to describe a peculiar habit of the bird,
as well as its bright livery.
In size, form, gait, flight, language, and colour the
present bird very closely resembles the Patagonian
Starling ; but the crimson on the breast is brighter
-"■djuf'
id •*' Ifc /?
,-flWs,
■.';' W k.
-4
fr-
Military Starling
7'rupia/i's mililafis (Linn.)
MILITARY STARLING 129
and the upper parts are darker* Its nesting habits
are also like those of the southern bird ; the number
and colour of the eggs being the same in both species.
One trivial difference in habit is that De Filippi's
Starling occasionally soars up a few yards into the
air when uttering its song. It inhabits the moist
grassy pampas in the southern part of the Buenos
Ayrean province, and is there abundant and unites
in large flocks. At the approach of the cold season
there is a general movement northwards of the birds,
which does not, however, extend far, as the birds,
although strong fliers, travel slowly and in a peculiar
manner ; it is in this season when the birds are seen
moving in large flocks, that the name of Military
Starling strikes one as being peculiarly appropriate.
They do not journey through the air like other
migrants, but move over the ground, when the flock,
composed of four or five hundred to a thousand or
more individuals, is extended so as to present a
very long front, and at intervals the hindmost birds
fly over the others and alight just in front of them :
the long front, the precision of their movements,
and their scarlet bosoms all turned one way, suggest
the idea of a disciplined army on its march.
They never perch on trees, but frequently alight
on the roof of a rancho or other elevation affording
a secure footing. They are tame birds and fly re-
luctantly ; when approached they usually crouch
down, hiding their crimson bosoms, and remain
motionless in order to escape observation. In dis-
position they are peaceful, and so fond of society
130 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
that when one becomes separated from his fellows
he will unite with birds of another kind^ even with
Plovers or Tyrant-birds.
On the great monotonous plains^ where most of
the small birds are grey- or brown-plumaged^ and
in winter when there are no flowers to satisfy the
desire of the eye for bright colour, it is delightful
while travelling to meet with an army of these
Starlings : their crimson bosoms, less bright than
the hues of some tropical species, seem then to glow
with a strange splendour on the sombre green of
earth, and the sight produces an exhilarating effect
on the mind.
CHESTNUT-SHOULDERED HANG-NEST
Icterus pyrrhopterus
Uniform black ; upper lesser wing-coverts chestnut ; length 7.7
inches. Female similar but smaller.
This interesting bird, the one member of the genus
Icterus found in the Argentine, ranges south to
Buenos Ayres, where it is migratory, and appears in
small flocks of six or eight individuals in Septem-
ber; but soon after arriving these little companies
break up, and the birds are subsequently found singly
or in pairs in the woods along the Plata River.
The sexes are alike in colour, but the male is
considerably larger ; the whole plumage is an in-
tense black, excepting a rufous spot on the shoulder
HANG-NEST 131
seen only when the bird is on the wing ; the bill is
black and curved, the body slender, and the tail long.
It is a loquacious bird, most of its tones being low
and pleasing ; exceedingly restless^ in disposition,
incessantly passing from tree to tree, jerking its long
tail and clinging to the branches in various attitudes,
while searching for insects in the decayed bark.
While thus engaged it utters a great variety of chir-
ping and guttural sounds, interspersed with short
agreeable notes. It also has a song of considerable
merit, low and varied in tone, with a peculiar ventri-
loquism in many of the notes which produce a con-
fusing idea on the listener that the bird approaches
and recedes alternately whilst uttering them. While
singing the bird continues moving, but always con-
cealed in the thick foliage, and it is probably this
constant turning about of the singer, and the notes
coming through leafy screens of varying density,
which makes the ventriloquism and gives so much
light and shade to its mysterious melody.
The first bird of this species I shot was wounded
very slightly in one wing and fell into a stream ; to
my very great surprise it began singing its usual
song while floating about on the surface, making no
attempt to swim. After I had fished it out it con-
tinued to sing at intervals in my hand ; how strange
it was to hear this bleeding captive bird warbling
out soft sweet notes which seemed to express only
agreeable emotions 1 Yet it was evident that the bird
was fully alive to its danger, for it struggled violently to
escape and bit my finger savagely with its sharp beak.
132 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
I subsequently found a nest ; it was about seven
inches deep^ composed entirely of lichens gathered
from the boles of trees^ ingeniously woven together
and suspended from the small twigs and leaves at
the extremity of a branch. There were no eggs in
it, but the birds fluttered in great trouble about me,
and, what greatly surprised me, uttered a variety of
singing notes, unlike their usual song, but closely
resembling the notes of other songsters, which made
me think that the Icterus possesses the mimicking
faculty to some extent. This, however, is a question
it would be difficult to decide. It seems certain,
however, that this species is incapable of expressing
any distressing feeling, such as pain, fear, or parental
anxiety, with loud harsh notes like other birds. It
is much to be regretted that Azara, who found this
species common in Paraguay, did not pay more
attention to its habits and language, which make it
specially interesting even in a family so rich in
strange habits as the Icteridee.
CHOPI
Aphobus chopi
Uniform black ; bill and feet black, lower mandible sulcated ;
length 9.2 inches. Female similar but smaller and duller black.
The Chopi, which is said to be quite common in
Paraguay, is only found in the north-eastern part
of the Argentine Republic, consequently I have
CHOPI 133
never seen it, except as a cage-bird ; nor is there
anything about it in the notes of recent collectors
and travellers who have visited the upper waters of
the Plata. This however is not greatly to be regretted,
since Azara gave a full and spirited account of this
species in his Birds of Paraguay ^ although it does
seem strange that the Chopi should have had two
careful observers of its habits over a century ago,
namely A^ara and his friend and fellow naturalist,
the priest Noseda, and not one since. It is to give
my English readers a specimen of Azara's writing
that I have introduced the Chopi, the only bird
described in this book which was not known to me
from my own observation.
Evidently Azara was very familiar with it, for he
described it lovingly and at great length, his history
of it being one of the most charming things in his
work. According to him the Chopi is a highly
sagacious bird, and although a frequent visitor to
courtyards and verandas of houses in Paraguay, too
shy and suspicious to be caught with snares. It
has a strong and easy flight, and readily attacks any
large bird passing near, following it persistently in
the air, or, pouncing down, fastens itself on its
enemy's back. If the Caracara Eagle (Polyborus)
alights in order to shake off its persecutor, the Chopi
perches at a distance of a few feet, where it assumes
an indifferent manner ; but no sooner does the
Caracara allow its attention to wander from its
adversary than it is again subjected to fresh insult.
These attacks on so large and powerful a species
134 BIRDS OF J^ PLATA
may be regarded as mere impertinences^ but by
practising them the Chopi is soon able to rid himself
of the presence of any unwelcome bird. From a
long distance he recognises an enemy, by its figure
or even its shadow, and warns all birds of the coming
danger with a loud whistle, which at once sends
them into hiding, while the Chopi goes bravely out
to the encounter ; and the result is invariably a
victorious song on his part, beginning with the sound
of his own name, and running through a variety of
whistled notes. He also sings well in captivity and
when his mate is incubating ; and his voice is first
heard welcoming the dawn from the eaves and tiled
roofs of houses where he roosts. The pairing-season
is in November ; and, Noseda adds, the breeding-
place is a hole in a bank or tree-trunk, or in a wall
under the eaves, and occasionally the nest is made
in the small branches of an orange or other close-
leafed tree, and is built of sticks and straws carelessly
disposed, with a few feathers for lining. The eggs
are four, and white.
It may be added that between Asmara and his friend
Noseda there was a great controversy respecting
the parasitical habits of the Common Cow-bird
(Molothrus)f which were first discovered by the
former and disbelieved in by Noseda, who accounted
for the fact that the Cow-bird is never seen to make
a nest by supposing that species to be the year-old
young of the Chopi, which, he further imagined,
took three years to acquire the adult form and
plumage. Such an idea might seem to discredit
Chocolate Tyrant
Myiotheretes rufirentris (\'ieill.)
CHOCOLATE TYRANT 135
Noseda as a naturalist, if we did not remember that
Gilbert White at the same period was trying to
prove the hibernation of Swallows in England, The
whole of the discussion appears in the Birds of
Paraguay f under the description of the Chopi ; and
Noseda is there allowed to state his own case ; after
which the better observer, A2;ara, gives five ob-
jections to the theory, any one of which would be
sufficient to demolish it.
CHOCOLATE TYRANT
Myiotheretes rufiventris
Above and below smoky grey, clearer on the head and breast ;
belly, crissum, and under wing-coverts bright rufous ; wings black,
innet secondaries bright chestnut terminated with white, outer
secondaries black, tipped with white; wing-coverts grey, margined
with white ; tail black, outer margins of external pair of rectrices
and tips of all whitish ; two outer primaries emarginated ; bill and
feet black ; length 9.5 inches. Female similar, but outer primaries
not emarginated.
The Tyrant Birds (Tyrannidse) are a family of in-
sectivorous birds peculiar to America. They are the
Flycatchers of the New World, and in very many
of the smaller species are curiously like the Old
World Flycatchers in appearance and habits. But
structurally they are not nearly related to them.
They belong to the sub-order OlygomyodaSy the
Passerine birds which are (or ought to be) songless.
136 BIRDS OF "Lk PLATA
The songsters, all included in the sub-order Osdnes,
rank higher in the scale as having a developed vocal
organ, and the Old World Flycatchers rank with
Thrushes and Nightingales in this division. The
fact remains, however, that many species in this
highest sub-order are songless or are mere croakers
or chatterers, whereas some of the Tyrant Birds
have set songs and are sweet singers. The Tyrants
in South America number over 360 known species —
probably 400 would be nearer the right number now.
There is a great variety in the size, form, and habits
of different genera. There are among them birds
with strong legs which seek their food on the ground,
like Thrushes and Chats, which they resemble ;
and there are others, also ground feeders, that perch
on bushes and trees and watch the ground below
until they spy an insect, then drop upon and capture
it and return to the same perch. Others watch for
flying insects and capture them in the manner of
our European Flycatchers, and many others have
the food-seeking habits of our Leaf- Warblers.
Of the sixty or seventy species found in the Argen-
tine country, I am acquainted with twenty-seven,
and the largest of them is the Chocolate Tyrant first
described.
There is a striking resemblance to a Thrush in
this species, when one sees it running on the ground
with its beak somewhat elevated ; but when it stands
or perches, opening and closing its broad tail with a
graceful fan-like motion, the resemblance to the stiff
automatic Turdus grows less, and when it flies
CHOCOLATE TYRANT 137
vanishes altogether — ^its long wings being as sharply-
pointed as those of the Peregrine Falcon, while
its motions in the air have a Gull-like grace and
buoyancy.
It is a very pretty bird ; the upper plumage is
grey tinged with rufous, the throat pure dark grey,
breast and belly rufous, wing-coverts light silvery
grey, remiges and rectrices dark, A2;ara classed it
under the name of Pepoaza (banded-wing) with
the Teeniopterse, to which it comes very near in
form, flight, language, and habits, though it has
longer legs and runs more on the ground. Its summer
home is in Southern Patagonia, but its breeding-
habits are not known ; in winter it migrates north,
and in May is found scattered over the pampas,
where it is usually called by the country people
Chorlo, a name for all Plovers ; for while running
swiftly about on the ground, often associating with
flocks of Plover, it has a certain resemblance to
them. From the hue of its plumage it is also
called El Chocolatef a name I have thought it best
to preserve.
These birds are very sociable, going in small flocks,
usually of from half a dozen to twenty individuals ;
they are restless and active, and quick and graceful
in all their movements, and seek their food on the
ground, chiefly coleopterous insects, on the great
level plains they inhabit. While on the wing they
pursue each other playfully in the air, and also attack
and chase passing birds of other kinds, apparently
in a sportive spirit. Occasionally they perch on a
138 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
thistle-top or low bush^ but never on trees. Their
only language is a long, low, plaintive whistle, heard
usually on warm, still days in winter.
PEPOAZA TYRANT
Teenioptera nengetd
Above cinereous ; lores white ; wings black, coverts cinereous ; a
well-marked speculum at the base of the primaries and the edgings of
the outer secondaries white ; tail black, tipped with whitish cinereous,
basal one-third of tail white ; below pale cinereous, middle of throat
white, with blackish stripe on each side ; middle of belly, flanks,
crissum, and under tail-coverts white ; bill horn-colour ; feet black ;
length 9 inches. Female smaller.
To this species A^ara gives the name of Pepoaza^
the Guarani for Barred-wing ; and Pepoaza was used
by him as a generic name for the small, well-defined
group now placed in the genus Teenioptera, com-
prising eight known species. Most of these birds
have some conspicuous wing-mark. They inhabit
the southern portion of the South American con-
tinent, from South Brazil and Bolivia to the Straits
of Magellan, and are most numerous on the open
pampas and in Patagonia. In size they do not vary
greatly, the largest being about nine inches long,
the smallest about seven. In colour they are grey, or,
more frequently, white relieved with black or grey,
one species (T. ruhetra) being rufous. Their legs
are long, and they run on the ground like Myiotheretes
Tufiventris, feeding to some extent in the same
PEPOAZA TYRANT 139
manner ; but they also occasionally pursue and
capture insects on the wing, like the typical Tyrant-
birds that seldom or never alight on the ground*
They have likewise another and a unique preying
habit, intermediate between the Plover-like habits
of Agriornis, MyiothereteSf and Muscisaxicola, and
the Swallow- or Flycatcher-like habits of the true
Tyrants, The bird perches itself on an elevation —
the summit of a stalk or bush, or even of a low tree
— to watch like a Flycatcher for its insect prey ; only
instead of looking about for passing insects, it ga^es
intently down at the ground, just as a Kingfisher
does at the water, and when it spies a beetle or grass-
hopper darts down upon it, not, however, to snatch
it up with the bill as other Tyrants do, but it first
grasps it with its feet, then proceeds to despatch it,
swaying about and opening its wings to keep its own
balance, just as an Owl is seen to do when it grasps
a mouse or other small animal in its claws. After
devouring the insect on the spot, it flies back to its
perch to resume its watch. They are very restless,
active, playful birds, and seldom remain long on one
spot, apparently finding it irksome to do so ; but
I have seen the T. irupero occupy the same perch
for hours every day while looking out for insects.
As an English generic name for this small inter-
esting group might be useful, I would suggest
Ground-gazers or Ground-watchers ^ which describes
the peculiar preying habit of these birds.
The Pepoa2;a is a swift, active, graceful bird, with
a strong straight beak, hooked at the point, and a
140 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
broad tail four inches long, the total length of the
bird being nine inches. The throat and space between
the beak and eye are white ; all the rest of the body,
also the wing and tail coverts, light grey ; tail and
wing-quills black, with a pure white band across
the base of the primaries* The tertiaries and rectrices
are tipped with pale rufous grey.
It inhabits Brazil south of the equator, Bolivia,
and Paraguay, also the northern provinces of the
Argentine Republic. Mr. Barrows gives the following
account of its lively habits in Entrerios : '' They
are commonly seen perched on fences or the tops of
bushes or trees in open ground, frequently making
sallies for winged insects, or dropping to the ground
to catch a grasshopper or worm. When shot at while
perched and watching you, they almost invariably
leave the perch at the flash, pitching forward and
downward, and usually evading the shot, even at
short range. Several times I have secured them by
shooting about a foot below and two feet in front of
them as they sat, but they do not always fly in this
direction. The rapidity of their flight when fright-
ened, or when quarrelling, is simply astonishing. I
have seen one chase another for three or four min-
utes, doubling, turning, twisting, and shooting, now
brushing the grass, and now rising to a height of
at least two or three hundred feet, and all the
movements so rapid that the eye could scarcely
follow them ; and at the end of it each would
go back to the top of his own chosen weed-stalk,
apparently without a feather ruffled.*'
BLACK-CROWNED TYRANT 141
Azara found this species breeding in a hole in a
bank; and Mr. Dalgleish has described a nest,
taken from a tree in Uruguay, as a somewhat slight
structure, four inches in diameter, formed of sticks
and fibres, lined with fine grass and a few feathers.
It contained three eggs, pear-shaped, white, with
large well-defined spots of reddish brown.
BLACK-CROWNED TYRANT
Txnioptera coronata
Above cinereous ; rounded summit of head black, broad front and
band encircling the black of the head white ; wings blackish, upper
coverts cinereous, edgings of middle and greater coverts and of outer
secondaries whitish ; tail blackish, margins of outer webs of external
tail feathers white ; beneath white ; under wing-coverts and a large
portion of the inner webs of the remiges, except of the two outer
primaries, white ; bill and feet black ; length 7.8 inches.
In this species the sexes are alike. The crown is
black and composed of loose feathers ; the forehead,
and a broad line over the eye which extends nearly
round the head, also all the under plumage, pure
white ; neck and back clear grey ; quills black.
This Tyrant is a solitary bird, though often many
individuals are found within call of each other, and
they sometimes even unite in a loose flock. It is
found throughout the Argentine country, ranging
south to the Rio Negro, in Patagonia, but abounds
most on the Buenos-Ayrean pampas, where it per-
forms a partial migration. Most of the Txnioptera
142 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
seek their food by preference on the bare level ground,
or where the vegetation is most scanty. This species
varies somewhat in habits, and seldom runs on the
ground, and chiefly inhabits the desert plains, where
the large grasses flourish. On one occasion when I
was with an expedition on the pampas for several
weeks, every day a number of these birds would
gather and follow us ; perched here and there on
the tall grasses with their bosoms towards us, they
often looked at a distance like large white flowers.
Old gauchos have told me that fifty years ago they
were abundant all over the pampas, but have disap-
peared wherever the giant grasses have been eaten
down and have given place to a different vegetation.
Their note is a long, low whistle, the usual lan-
guage of the Tcenioptera ; but in this species it is
very like a human whistle, on account of which the
bird is named Boyero (ox-driver) on the pampas.
One severe winter great numbers of them appeared
in the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres, and it was
amusing to see the dogs thrown into a great state of
excitement by the low whistling notes heard per-
petually from all sides. Every few moments they
would start up and stare about them to ascertam
where the deceptive call came from, and in spite of
many disappointments they would occasionally all
rush away, loudly barking, into the plantation,
convinced that some person there was whistling to
call them.
The Black-Crown makes a somewhat shallow nest
in a bush or large clump of grass, and lays four
BLACK-CROWNED TYRANT 143
white eggs^ with large dark red spots, chiefly at
the big end*
I cannot refrain from quoting a passage from Mr.
Barrows' paper, descriptive of the Hvely temper and
habits of this bird :
** This species often persecutes smaller birds in a
way which seems to imply pure love of mischief*
One afternoon in July, when the river had fallen
some feet after an unusual rise, I was walking along
the lines of drift left by the faUing water, and watch-
ing the different birds which were picking up insects
or other food from the wind-rows. A score or two
of the little chestnut-backed Centrites were running
about, and here and there a Tsenioptera was looking
quietly on. Suddenly I heard a chirp of distress, and
looking up saw one of these small birds apparently
making every effort to escape from a Tesnioptera^
which was following in full chase. The two birds
were hardly a length apart and both going at full
speed, doubling and dodging in a way that would
have done credit to a bat. The chase lasted perhaps
for half a minute, when the smaller bird alighted,
and at once the other also alighted and began running
about unconcernedly and picking up food. But the
instant the smaller one made a start his enemy was
at his heels (or more properly his tail) again, and he
was forced to alight. This was repeated so often that
I was on the point of shooting the pursuer, when,
without any notice, he flew quietly off, and resumed
his usual demeanour. It looked like a case of simple
spite, for even if there were twenty other birds
144 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
about, one seemed to be followed without regard to
the rest/'
I have often watched Teeniopterx of different
species, also Myiotheretes rufiventris, behaving in a
similar way, and agree with Mr. Barrows that it is
** an amusement in which the larger bird indulges
simply for the pleasure derived from the exercise of
his power/'
DOMINICAN TYRANT
Taenioptera dominicana
Above pure white ; wings black, with a broad whitish sub-apical
band across the first six primaries, beyond which the tips are blackish ;
tail black ; beneath pure white ; length 8 inches. Female similar, but
head above and back cinereous.
This bird ranges from South Brazil and Paraguay
to the southernmost pampas of Buenos Ayres. Its
total length is eight inches. The wings and tail are
black, the former barred with white ; all the rest of
the plumage in the male is pure white ; in the female
the upper parts are grey.
It is to some extent migratory, and usually goes
in flocks of a dozen or twenty birds, and frequents
open situations where there are bushes and trees,
also plains covered with giant grasses. They are
more social in their habits than T, coronata, but in
other respects closely resemble it, and are exceedingly
active, lively birds, and when the flock is on the wing
continually pursue each other in a playful manner.
LITTLE WIDOW TYRANT 145
Mr. Barrows observed them in autumn on the
Pigue (southern pampas) preparing for their migra-
tion. '' Late in March/' he says, '' we found them in
large scattered flocks, which collected in one place
toward evening, and went through a series of aerial
evolutions accompanied with vocal exercises of a
varied and entertaining kind, lasting half an hour
or more*
** I presume this was in preparation for their
northward (or westward S*) migration, as we did not
see them again after leaving this spot/'
LITTLE WIDOW TYRANT
Teenioptera irupero
Above and beneath pure white ; wings with the primaries black
except the innermost, which are white at their bases and tipped
with black, and secondaries which have narrow black shafts ; broad
end of the tail black ; bill and feet black ; two outer primaries
acuminated ; length 7 inches. Female similar.
This pretty species is found throughout the Argen-
tine country, and is well known to the natives, and
usually called Viudita (Little Widow) on account of
its mourning colours. It is also sometimes curiously
named Anjelito de las dnimas, from a superstitious
notion due to the intense whiteness of its plu-
mage and to its supposed habit of frequenting
graveyards.
I have on a few occasions found the Little Widow
146 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
in a village graveyard^ and supposed that it had
chosen the spot on account of its quietude. The
superstitious notion about it varies : thus^ some
think the bird is a re-incarnation in bird form of a
child buried there ; others that it is a little angel in
disguise, whose mission it is to keep watch and guard
over the sleeping souls of little buried children.
In both sexes the entire plumage is snowy white,
except the primaries and the tip of the tail, which
are black. In habits it is more sedentary than other
TdeniopterXf and obtains its food chiefly by patiently
watching the surface of the ground for its insect
prey. Its marvellously white plumage, and the habit
of sitting motionless on the summit of a bush or tree,
make it a most conspicuous object, so that it is strange
to find such a bird existing in districts which abound
in raptorial species ; for Hawks, I have frequently
noticed, will always single out a white or conspicu-
ously coloured bird for pursuit, and though the
Little Widow, like the other members of its genus,
is swift and strong of wing, the feeble and the young
must often fall victims to their shining white plumage.
The Little Widow is a solitary bird, and not
nearly so lively and playful in manner as T. coronata
and r. dominicanaf its surpassing whiteness being
its most interesting feature. Its nesting habits are
unlike those of other TceniopterSf for it breeds only
in holes, usually in the bole or branch of a tree ; but
sometimes it takes possession of the oven of Furnarius
to lay in. The nest is composed chiefly of feathers
and contains four eggs, creamy white, with a few
MOUSE-COLOURED TYRANT 147
very minute red spots, irregularly distributed, Mr.
Dalgleish says, '' Some eggs have only two or three
spots, none have more than eight or ten/'
Mr. Barrows says, '* The adults have several of
the primaries remarkably attenuated. Young birds
appear to acquire these attenuate primaries only
after a complete moult. But I took one specimen
which showed one or more primaries with tips of
ordinary shape but with a line apparently worn into
the vane of the inner web, so as to mark out distinctly
the attenuate tip, and it seemed as if a little more
wearing would cut out a piece which would leave
the primary as in the old bird.''
MOUSE-COLOURED TYRANT
Tsnioptera murina
Above sandy cinereous, v/hitish round the eyes ; wings and tail
blackish with whitish edgings; below much paler, throat whitish
with slight black striations ; belly and crissum tinged with ochraceous ;
under wing-coverts and flanks pale ochraceous ; bill horn-colour ; feet
black ; two outer primaries acuminated ; length 7 inches. Female
similar, but outer primaries normal.
This species inhabits the Mendoza district, and
migrates south in spring. I met with it on the Rio
Negro, in Patagonia, where it made its appearance
in October. The sexes are alike. The entire upper
plumage is dull grey with a pale rufous tinge ; throat,
breast, and belly pale buff tinged with grey. It is
a solitary bird, restless in manner, has a swift flight,
148 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
and sits on a stalk or other slight elevation, from
which it darts down to seize any insect it spies on
the ground. Its only language is a very low whistling
note.
CHAT-LIKE TYRANT
Tasnioptera rubetra
Above sandy brown, lores and superciliaries white ; v/ings black,
greater coverts and outer secondaries edged with whitish, lesser
coverts hke the back, tail black, outer web of the outer tail-feathers
and tips of others white ; below white, with black striations on the
sides of the throat and on the breast ; flanks, under wing-coverts,
and inner webs of the primaries deep rufous ; two outer pri-
maries acuminated ; length 7.5 inches. Female rather paler,
throat and breast washed with ochraceous, and outer primaries not
acuminated.
I HAVE met with this bird at all seasons of the year
in Patagonia on the Rio Negro, and think it probable
that it has no migration. It is seen in flocks of twenty
or thirty individuals, and in its lively actions when
on the wing, and in its habit of perching on a bush
or elevation of some kind, from which it pounces
down on an insect seen on the ground, it resembles
other Tseniopterx ; but it runs about on the ground
a great deal, and in this respect is more like a
Myiotheretes or Muscisaxicola, In its colour it also
diverges widely from the typical Teeniopterx in their
black and white Dominican plumage. The whole
upper parts are light chestnut, with a white mark on
the side of the head ; wings and tail dark, tipped
with pale rufous ; throat, breast, and belly whitish
SWALLOW-LIKE TYRANT 149
rufous, with dark lines on throat and bosom. The
chestnut hue in the female is paler and mixed with
grey.
SWALLOW-LIKE TYRANT
Fluvicola albiventris
Above black ; front half of head, narrow band across the rump,
and slight edgings to wing-coverts and outer secondaries white ;
below white ; bill and feet black ; length 5.5 inches.
This small black-and-white Tyrant is not uncommon
in the marshes and on the river-margins in the Plata
district, its spring migration extending south to
Buenos Ayres. Like the Kingfisher, it haunts the
waterside and is found nowhere else. It has a shy,
retiring disposition, concealing itself in the close
thickets overhanging a stream, so that one does not
often see it, notwithstanding its conspicuous white
plumage. When disturbed it emits a series of low
ticking notes, or darts swiftly out from the thicket,
showing itself for a moment over the water before
disappearing once more into a hiding-place. When
thus seen darting above the surface it has a strikingly
Swallow-like appearance.
D'Orbigny says it makes a purse-shaped nest, of
slender twigs, moss, and feathers neatly interlaced,
and lays four white eggs, spotted at the large end with
brown.
150 BIRDS OF yV PLATA
COCK-TAILED TYRANT
Alectrurus tricolor
Above black, rump greyish ; sides of the head, scapularics, lesser
wing-coverts, and outer margins of secondaries white ; tail black,
outer rectrix on each side produced, expanded, fan-shaped ; below
white, patch on each side of the breast (forming an incomplete
collar) black ; bill horn-colour ; feet black ; length 7.2 inches.
Female : above brown, rump and lesser wing-coverts pale ; beneath
dirty white, sides of breast brown.
This species generally resembles the one next de-
scribed, and has, like it, a black, white, and grey
plumage. But the tail, although strange, is constructed
on a different pattern. The total length of the bird
is five and a half inches, the tail being only two and
a half. The two outer tail-feathers have remarkably
stout shafts, with broad coarse webs, and look like
stumps of two large feathers originally intended for
a bigger bird, and finally cut off near their base and
given to a very small one. In the male these two
feathers are carried vertically and at right angles to
the plane of the body, giving the bird a resemblance
to a diminutive cock ; hence the vernacular name
Gallito, or Little Cock, by which it is known.
I have not observed this species myself, but Azara
has the following paragraph about its habits : *' The
male sometimes rises slowly and almost vertically,
with tail raised, and rapidly beating its wings, and
looking while ascending in this way more like a
butterfly than a bird ; and when it has reached a
height of ten or twelve yards, it drops obliquely to
STRANGE-TAILED TYRANT 151
the earth, and perches on a stalk/' He adds that
the males are solitary, but several females are some-
times seen near together, and that the females are
greatly in excess of the males*
STRANGE-TAILED TYRANT
Alectrurus risorius
Above black, rump grey; front varied with white; wings black,
scapularies, outer margins of wing-feathers and coverts wlute ; tail
black, two outer rectrices much elongated, denuded at the base,
with a broad inner and no outer vane ; below white, broad band
across the breast black ; throat in the breeding season bare of feathers
and of a bright orange ; bill yellowish ; feet black ; length ii inches.
Female : above brown, wings varied with white ; beneath white ;
breast-band pale brown; tail with the two outer rectrices shghtly
elongated and denuded, terminated with spatulations on the mner
vane.
AZARA named this species Cola estraha (Strange-tail)
but mentions incidentally that its Guarani name is
Guira-yetapd (Scissor-tail), a term which the Indians
apply indiscriminately to several species having the
same sort of tail.
The Guira-yetapa is a very curious little bird, with
a black, white, and grey plumage and the beak of a
true Tyrant ; but it differs from all its congeners in
having the skin of the chin, throat, and sides of the
head bare of feathers, and these parts in the breeding-
season are a bright. orange colour. It is a feeble flier,
its wings being very short, while the two outer tail-
153 BIRDS OF L^ PLATA
feathers are abnormally long and peculiar in form.
Mr. Barrows says : ** The remarkable condition of
the outer pair of tail-feathers is interesting. In the
male these two feathers reach a length of nearly ten
inches, the rest of the tail being about three inches
in length. The vane on the inner side of each is
wanting for the first two inches, and then suddenly
develops to a width of nearly two inches, which it
maintains almost to the tip, when it gradually
narrows. The vane on the outer side of the shaft is
only about one quarter of an inch wide, and is folded
so tightly against the shaft that it is quite incon-
spicuous. In the only two males of this species
which I have seen flying, these long feathers seemed
to be carried folded together beneath the rest of
the tail, and stretches out behind like a rudder or
steering-oar, their vanes at right angles to the plane
of the rest of the tail."
Mr. Gibson gives a different account, and says
the flight is singularly feeble, resembling the flutter-
ing passage of a butterfly through the air, while the
tail streams out behind.
It inhabits Paraguay, Uruguay, and the eastern
portion of the Argentine Republic, ranging as far
south as the pampas in the neighbourhood of Pata-
gonia. It is usually seen singly or in pairs ; Azara
says he saw a flock of thirty individuals, but as they
were all females, it may be that in this species, as in
Lichenops perspicillata, the females are sometimes
gregarious, and the males always solitary. It frequents
open places, such as the borders of marshes, or plains
YELLOW-BROWED TYRANT 153
covered with tall grasses, and perches in a conspic-
uous place, from which it darts at passing insects
like a Flycatcher,
Mr, Gibson found its nest on the ground amongst
herbage, and describes it as a neat structure of dried
grass, containing three white eggs with a faint cream-
coloured tinge.
YELLOW-BROWED TYRANT
Sisopygis icterophrys
Above bright olive-green, head rather greyish, lores and super-
ciliary stripes yellow ; wings blackish, broad ends of coverts and
outer edges of secondaries dirty white ; tail blackish ; beneath
bright yellow, sides of breast and flanks olivaceous ; under wing-
coverts whitish ; bill dark hom-colour ; feet black ; length 6.1
inches.
This small and pretty Tyrant-bird is quite common
in the woods along the Plata, and is also seen a great
deal in orchards and groves in the cultivated dis-
tricts. In Buenos Ayres it is a summer visitor,
appearing there in October, and is a shy, solitary
bird, which catches insects on the wing, and rarely
visits the ground.
The nest is placed in a tree, ill-concealed, and
very shallow ; it is built of fine sticks, and hned with
fine grass, horsehair, and feathers. The eggs are
four, pointed, pale cream-colour, with large dark
red spots, chiefly at the larger end.
154 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
The only language of this species is a very low
plaintive whistle, uttered as a faint protest when
the nest is approached*
The upper plumage is olive-green ; the entire
under surface and a stripe on the side of the head
pure yellow ; wing and tail-quills dark.
ASHY-BLACK TYRANT
Cnipolegus anthracinus
Above dull black, a broad bar across the vanes of the inner webs
of the wing-feathers white ; bill plumbeous ; feet black ; length 6.3
inches. Female ashy brown ; rump, upper tail-coverts, and basal
portions of tail bright fulvous ; wings blackish, with two white
transverse stripes ; beneath pale fulvous, white on the belly ; bill and
feet black.
Unfortunately very little is yet known about the
habits of these interesting little Tyrant-birds, for
which I should like to suggest the common name
** Spectacular/' for reasons I shall say more about
when I come to describe the Lichenops perspicillatus,
a species which undoubtedly belongs to this peculiar
well-defined group. The plumage of the male is,
in most cases, intensely black, and there is a pure
white bar on the remiges, hidden when the bird is
perched, and when it flies made doubly conspicuous
by the peculiar motion of the wings. In all the known
species the female has a dull brown plumage, lined
or mottled with dusky tints, and with some portion
BLACK TYRANT 155
of the wing-quills marked with rufous or chestnut
colour.
The Ashy-black Tyrant inhabits the Mendoza
district, and is also a summer visitor in Patagonia,
where it was obtained by Dr. Doring. Speaking of
its habits he says the male is solitary, perches on the
summit of a bush or dry twig, emits at intervals a
song or call composed of two syllables, plaintive
and flute-like in character, and uttered while the
bird rises up a few feet into the air. During this
performance the white bands on the wings are dis-
played conspicuously and a humming sound is
produced.
BLACK TYRANT
Cnipolegus hudsoni
Uniform dull black ; a broad bar across the bases of the inner
webs of the wing-feathers white ; two outer primaries much pointed
at their extremities ; bill plumbeous ; feet black ; length 6 inches.
At once distinguishable from the preceding species (C. anthracinus)
by its smaller size and the peculiar narrowed outer remiges.
This species is found in the western provinces of
the Argentine Republic, and, like C. anthr acinus ,
which it closely resembles, is a summer visitor to
Patagonia, where it makes its appearance in October.
The plumage is intense black, with the inner webs
of the remiges at their base white, but the wing-
band, which is over an inch in breadth, shows only
156 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
when the bird flies. There is also a small white spot
on the flank, scarcely visible, and excepting for this
speck the bird at rest appears entirely black. When
it flies the white band appears suddenly, producing
a curious effect, for the wings are opened and shut
successively and with great rapidity, making the
white band appear like a succession of flashes. All
the movements of the bird are eccentric to a degree*
It selects a dead twig on the summit of a bush, and
this perch it occupies during many hours every day.
Occasionally it darts after a passing insect, but I
believe it feeds principally on the ground, like
Lichenops perspicillatus. At intervals it quits its perch
very suddenly and revolves round it with the rapidity
of a moth whirling round the flame of a candle, the
wings producing a loud humming sound, and the
bird uttering a series of sharp clicking notes. During
this performance the white wing-band appears like
a pale mist surrounding the bird. This fantastical
dance over, it resumes its perch, and, until moved
to a second display, sits as motionless as a bird
carved out of jet.
Three more species of this curious genus have
been found in Argentina, but unfortunately their
discoverers have told us nothing of their habits.
SILVERBILL 157
SILVERBILL
Lichenops perspicillatus
Black ; primaries white with black tips and bases ; fleshy ring
round eye and bill palest yellow ; length 5.6 inches. Female :
above dark brown with light edging to feathers ; remiges chestnut,
with dark brown tips ; wing-coverts dark brown with fulvous tips ;
beneath fulvous white, breast with dark striations ; bill yellowish.
Naturalists have said a great deal about the well-
known Silverbill (the most important member of
my '' Spectacular " group), the question as to
whether the black and red birds are sexes or two
distinct species having long remained unsettled.
Azara, writing in the last century, under the heading
Pico de Plata, rightly described the red bird as the
female of the black ; but unfortunately, in another
part of his work he described the female again as a
different species, naming it Suiriri chorreado. Darwin
also separated the sexes, and gave the name of
Lichenops erythroptems to the red-plumaged bird.
He made a minute examination of both, and proved
to his own satisfaction that it was impossible to
believe that two birds with so many structural
differences could be one species.
When one considers the habits of the two birds,
even where they are most abundant and seen continu-
ally, it is indeed difficult to believe that they are one
and the same species. They are never seen associating
together, even in the love season, and when I have
watched a pair actually engaged in constructing their
nest, they appeared to keep as far apart as possible.
158 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
More than that^ the male, while unfriendly towards
all other species, appears to cherish a special anti-
pathy against the red bird ; and when one comes
near him never fails to pursue it with the greatest
violence from the neighbourhood. He is also
strictly solitary, but the red birds frequently unite
in small parties, especially in autumn, when I have
often seen as many as a dozen together* Evidently
they have a more social temper than their black mates.
The native boys have discovered a strange weak-
ness in the Silverbill. When the bird is running
about seeking food on the ground, the boy approaches
it and hurls a stick or clod and at the same time
rushes at it, whereupon the bird as if paralysed
remains motionless, and may be taken by the hand.
Altogether the Silverbill has been a puzzle in
the past, and it would appear, from some obser-
vations made by Mr. Barrows, that we have not
yet got to the end of all the curious points in its
habits. Without doubt it is migratory. Its range
extends from Paraguay to Patagonia, where it is not
common. In Paraguay and the hotter parts of the
Argentine country it is probably stationary ; in
Buenos Ayres, where it is most abundant, many
individuals remain all the year in sheltered places,
and the migration appears to become more definite
the further south we get. Mr. Barrows travelled
south across the pampas in the autumn, and says :
** The species was met with at all points visited, but
south of the Azul not a single male in the black
plumage was seen, though the brown birds (pre-
SILVERBILL 159
sumably females or young) were met with almost
every day for nine weeks^ and frequently in large
numbers. Of course I began to suspect that the
males must moult into a brown suit after nestings as
do our Bobolinks and many other birds, but I shot
specimens at various times, and all proved to be
either females or young males, and as I was confident
that at Concepcion black males were to be found
through the year, I was at a loss for an explanation,
and am so still/'
The male Silverbill is entirely black, there is
nothing in nature blacker than its plumage ; and, to
enhance the effect, the beak is of a very delicate
primrose-yellow, which at a little distance appears
white, hence the vernacular name. The eye, and
broad free skin surrounding it, which is ruffed like
an Elizabethan collar, are of the same faint primrose
hue. The secondary wing-quills are pure white, but
the white is only displayed when the bird flies. The
female has the naked skin encircling the eye, but its
colour, as also that of the beak, is much darker than
in the male. Entire upper plumage dark brown ;
secondaries chestnut ; lower parts fawn-colour,
marked with brown. The young males are at first
like the females in colour, and do not acquire the
black plumage until the end of the summer.
The bird ranges over the whole of the Argentine
Republic, and, according to Gay, is also common
throughout Chili, where it is known as the Colegial
(Collegian or learned person), on account of its stiff
grave manner, black dress, and spectacled appearance.
i6o BIRDS OF LA PLATA
The male is a solitary bird^ and feeds chiefly on
the ground, running rapidly about in open places
like a Muscisaxicola, It is also frequently seen
perched conspicuously on the summit of a tall stalk
or bush, and occasionally making a dart into the air
after passing insects, showing in this habit his rela-
tionship with the Tyrant-birds, But he perches on
an elevation less to watch for insects than for the
purpose of his curious spectacular performance. This
highly eccentric habit is strikingly like that of Cnipo-
legus hudsoni ; and I have no doubt that all the
Cnipolegi possess similar habits. Both birds perch
on a conspicuous place, upright, motionless, and
looking more like grotesque little automata than
living things ; they both also leave the perch sud-
denly, as if shot from it by means of a steel spring.
This singularly sudden movement, and the motion
of the wings, rapid as in the Humming-bird, or
shut and opened alternately and exhibiting the white
wing-colour in a series of flashes, seems related to
the conspicuous white mark. In both species also,
the wings make a humming sound during flight.
The motions of the Silverbill are, however, in some
respects different from those of the Cnipolegm.
Springing from its perch at intervals, it darts verti-
cally to a height of about fifteen yards, then turns a
somersault, uttering at the same moment a shrill-
sounding little cry, after which it drops down again
and ahghts on its perch suddenly, as if jerked back
to it, and there remains stiff, erect, and motionless
as before.
SHORT-WINGED TYRANT i6i
The nest is made of dry grass in a thistle-bush or
clump of reeds^ and is rather deep and cup-shaped.
The eggs are four in number^ white, and spotted at
the larger end with dark red.
SHORT-WINGED TYRANT
Machetornis rixosa
Above brownish olive ; wings and tail brown^ the latter terminated
by a yellowish band ; middle of cap occupied by a scarlet crest ;
beneath bright yellow^ paler on the throat; bill and feet black;
length 7.2 inches. Young without the scarlet crest.
This species, found in the open districts throughout
South America, from Venezuela to Buenos Ayres,
where it is quite common, has very interesting habits.
It is seven inches and a half long, has a plump body,
short wings, and long legs. The upper plumage is
light brown, the throat, breast, and belly yellow,
and the male has a concealed crest of a bright orange-
red colour.
It resembles the true Tyrants in disposition, in
its shrill piercing language, and in the habit of
perching and breeding in trees. On the other hand,
like the long-legged Myiotheretes, that lives on the
open plains, it feeds exclusively on the ground, over
which it runs with a speed possessed by few perching
species. The general impression one forms is that
in manners and appearance the Short-winged Tyrant
is quite unlike any other species, though all its habits
i62 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
are to be found in one or other of the various groups
comprising the Tyrannidas*
These birds have no migration, but pair for life,
and always remain on the same spot, and will con-
tinue to breed in the same hole for many years, even
where they are frequently deprived of their eggs»
A^ara saw them sometimes uniting in small flocks in
Paraguay ; in Buenos Ayres they are always seen in
pairs, or, after the young have left the nest, in
families. They prefer to live near a human habitation,
where there are trees : even one tree, in which they
can breed and find shelter at night, will be sufficient
to attach them to a dwelling, so great is their par-
tiality for the clean-trodden ground where they can
freely run about and catch insects. They haunt the
cattle-pens, and become extremely familiar with
the cows, horses, and sheep, following them to the
pasture-grounds, where they are often seen perched
on the back of a horse or other domestic animal,
or stationed close to its nose on the ground, watching
for insects. On the bare ground they run about with
wonderful swiftness, and are able to overtake and
capture flying insects without rising. The male and
female invariably hunt together, and at intervals fly
to some favourite perch to indulge in a duet composed
of loud, rapid, shrill notes, somewhat metallic in
sound. Though able to fly swiftly when in pursuit
of a passing Hawk or other bird, at other times their
flight is strangely slow ; the round body, short blunt
wings and tail giving the bird a somewhat curious
appearance as it progresses laboriously through the
CHIN-SPOTTED TYRANT 163
air, I have frequently seen them make the most
unprovoked assaults on birds of an inoffensive kind ;
possibly they are in these attacks moved by a playful
rather than by a vindictive spirit, I once saw one
drop like a stone from a height of fifty yards on to a
Pigeon perched on a leafless tree. The Pigeon fell
as if shot to the earth ; the Tyrant-bird then released
his hold ; the Pigeon rushed away terrified through
the trees, while its persecutor rose up high in the
air and resumed its journey,
I have elsewhere spoken of the wars waged by
this bird against other species, all seeking to gain
possession of the large nest of Ammbius acuticau-
datus, A hole in the trunk of a tree is also a favourite
breeding-place. The nest is neatly built of slender
twigs and leaves, and lined with horsehair. The eggs
are slightly oval, and densely marked with dark
brown spots or stripes on a white or brownish-white
ground.
CHIN-SPOTTED TYRANT
Muscisaxicola macloviana
Above cinereous^ lores blackish, cap brown; tail-coverts and tail
black, outer margins of outer tail-feathers white ; below pale cinereous,
passing into white on lower belly, crissum, and under wing-coverts ;
chin-spot brown ; bill and feet black ; length 6.1 inches. Female
similar, but chin-spot not so well marked.
This South Patagonian species is one of a small
group of Tyrant-birds which resemble in their habits
and appearance the Saxicolse of Europe. They
i64 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
inhabit Patagonia, the Falkland Islands, and Chili,
and on the Pacific side extend their range north to
Peru and Bolivia. The plumage is generally grey,
with more or less rufous colour on the crown ; they
have long legs, and run swiftly on the ground, fre-
quent open sterile situations, and perch only occa-
sionally on trees.
The present bird is about seven inches long ; the
upper parts are dull grey, except the crown, which
is dark chestnut ; under surface light grey, and tail
nearly black. In the month of June I met with these
birds on the Rio Negro, on their arrival there from
the south. They went in flocks of a dozen or twenty
birds ; they had a swift easy flight, were shy and
restless in their manner, and uttered low plaintive
whistling notes. When a flock alights on the ground
the birds all instantly scatter, running rapidly about
in all directions over the bare ground. Occasionally
one was seen to perch on some slight elevation, and
dart like a Flycatcher after passing insects.
Darwin saw this bird as far north on the Atlantic
coast as Bahia Blanca. He also found it at Tierra del
Fuego, where it lives entirely on the sea-beaches ;
and in the sterile upper valleys of the Chilian Andes,
at a height of ten thousand feet, where the last traces
of vegetation occur and where no other bird lives.
LITTLE BLACK RED-BACK 165
LITTLE BLACK RED-BACK
Centrites niger
Intense black ; back, except the rump and scapularies, bright chest-
nut-red ; length 5 inches. Female, above brown ; back fulvous red ;
tail black ; beneath ashy brown.
The little Red-backed Tyrant comes nearest to
Muscisaxicola mentalis in habits, but does not perch
on bushes and trees, and is less gregarious than that
bird* It is the smallest of all those varied members
of the TyrannidsB family which have abandoned
forests and marshes and the pursuit of insects on
the wing, to live on the wintry uplands of Pata-
gonia, and on the sterile plains bordering on the
Andes.
The male is only five and a quarter inches long.
The entire plumage of the male is intensely black,
except the back, which is bright chestnut. The
inside of the mouth and tongue are vivid orange-
yellow. The chestnut colour on the female is pale,
the rest of the plumage grey, except the quills, which
are dark.
Its summer home is in the southern portion of
Patagonia, but its nesting-habits are not known. In
March it migrates north, and is very common every-
where on the pampas throughout the winter. They
arrive in small parties of three or four, or in little
loose flocks of about a dozen individuals, travelling
with a swift, low flight. Males, females, and young.
i66 BIRDS OF :^ PLATA
grey like the last, arrive together ; shortly after
arriving the young males become mottled with black,
and before leaving acquire the adult plumage. They
appear to leave in spring all together, but from a note
by Durnford it would appear that the males travel
in advance of the females. He says : ** Males of
this species were common at Chupat throughout
September and during the first few days of October.
On the 5th of the latter month I observed the first
females, which gradually increased in number.*^
The Little Red-backs inhabit open unsheltered
plains, and have so great a predilection for bare
ground on which they can run freely about, that on
their arrival on the pampas, where the earth is
thickly carpeted with grass, they are seen attaching
themselves to roads, sheep-pens, borders of streams,
Vizcacha villages, and similar places. They are
exceedingly restless, running swiftly over the ground,
occasionally darting into the air in pursuit of small
flies, and all the flock so scattered that there will be
a dozen yards between every two birds. Mr. Barrows
describes their lively habits very well : ** I think
this is one of the most restless birds I ever saw. You
cannot depend upon him to be in the same place
two consecutive half-seconds. He runs like a San-
derling, and whenever he keeps his feet still by
accident, his wings are flirted in a way that shows
his anxiety to be off. Several are usually found
together, and sometimes a loose flock of a hundred or
more is seen. They are very strong on the wing,
sometimes mounting rapidly for several hundred
REED TYRANT 167
feet, if suddenly startled, and after a few moments
spent in circling like a Snipe, they drop again almost
as suddenly as a shot, and as if from the very clouds/'
REED TYRANT
Hapalocercus flaviventris
Above mouse-brown ; wings and tail rather darker, with edgings
hke the back ; vertex more or less tinged with rufous ; beneath yellow ;
under wing-coverts pale yellow ; bill and feet black ; length 4 mches.
This little bird is rarely met with in the desert
pampas, but throughout the settled portion of the
Buenos- Ayrean province it is one of the most common
species of the Tyrannidse. It arrives from the north
in September, and is very regular in its migrations,
although apparently a very feeble flier* It frequents
open grounds abounding in thistles, tall weeds, or
bushes, and is consequently most abundant about
houses. It is extremely active, and occasionally darts
after a passing insect, and captures it on the wing,
especially soft insects, like moths and butterflies, to
which it is most partial. It subsists principally, how-
ever, on small caterpillars and spiders, for which
it searches diligently among the leaves, after the
manner of the Wren, Although belonging to the
songless division of the Passeres, this small Tyrant-
bird possesses a formal song, which the male utters
with great frequency, the only other member of the
Tyrant family that I am acquainted with which
i68 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
really sings being the Scarlet Tyrant (Pyrocephalus
ruhineus). The music of the Reed Tyrant is weak
but curious ; it is composed of five brief percussive
notes, distinctly metallic in sound, which may be
imitated by gently and slowly striking fa la mi sol fa
on the highest keys of the piano. To utter this quaint
little song the bird perches itself on the summit of
a reed or bush, where it solicits attention with a
little chipping prelude, and then jerks its head
vigorously with each note, delivering its few drops
of sound with all the assurance of a master in the art
of melody.
In October it builds a deep elaborate nest of fine
dry grass, thistledown, webs, feathers, and other
soft materials, usually in the fork of a weed or thistle
three or four feet from the ground. It lays four
cream-coloured eggs, the colour deepening to grey
at the larger end*
LITTLE LONG-TAILED TYRANT
Stigmatura flavo-cinerea
Above greyish olive, lores and superciliary stripe whitish ; wings
blackish, with whitish edgings to the coverts and outer secondaries ;
tail blackish ; outer web of the external rectrix and broad tips of
the four external pairs white ; beneath pale yellow ; bill and feet
black ; length 5.8 inches, tail 3 inches.
This little bird inhabits the Mendoza and Patagonian
districts, and does not appear to be migratory, for
on the Rio Negro I found it at all seasons. It is
LITTLE CRESTED GREY TYRANT 169
slender in form, with a long tail, its total length being
six inches ♦ The sexes are alike in colour ; the upper
parts are yellowish grey, breast and belly light yellow*
They are found living in pairs, all the year round,
in thorn bushes, and are scarcely ever seen to rest,
but hop incessantly from twig to twig, in a delicate
leisurely manner, seeking on the leaves for the
minute caterpillars and other insects on which they
live. While thus engaged they utter a variety of
little chirping and twittering notes, as if conversing
together, and occasionally the two birds unite their
voices in a shrill impetuous song.
LITTLE CRESTED GREY TYRANT
Serpophaga subcristata
Above cinereous, usually with a slight olivaceous tinge on the
rump ; crest-feathers white at their bases, tipped with cinereous, and
slightly varied with black ; wings blackish, wing-coverts tipped with
whitish, forming two handsome bands ; outer secondaries externally
margined with the same colour ; tail dark ashy ; beneath ashy white,
with more or less yellowish tinge on the belly and under wing-coverts ;
bill horn-colour ; feet black ; length 4.5 inches.
This species is one of the smallest members of
our TyrannidSf its total length being only four
and a half inches. The sexes are alike ; the upper
plumage is grey, with a greenish tinge on the
back; the breast paler grey, becoming pale yellow
on the belly. There is a white concealed spot
under the loose feathers of the crown.
lyo BIRDS OF LA PLATA
It is quite common in Buenos Ayres, and probably
has a partial migration, as it is most abundant in
summer. In its habits it closely resembles the species
last described, being always found in pairs, living
in thickets, where they hop incessantly about, ex-
ploring the leaves for small caterpillars, and always
conversing in low chirping and twittering notes.
They also sing together a little confused song. The
nest is fastened to the slender twigs of a low bush,
and is a deep cup-shaped and beautiful structure,
composed of a great variety of soft materials bound
together with spiders* webs, the interior lined with
feathers or vegetable down, and the outside covered
with lichen. The eggs are two, bluntly pointed, and
cream-colour*
LITTLE RIVER-SIDE GREY TYRANT
Serpophaga nigricans
Above dull brownish cinereous ; wings and tail blackish, the coverts
and outer secondaries with slight edgings like the back ; crest slight,
with a well-marked white basal spot ; beneath paler and rather purer
cinereous ; under wing-coverts pale cinereous ; bill and feet dark
horn-colour ; length 4.7 inches.
This species differs markedly in habits, language,
and appearance from the last. In both sexes the
colour is a uniform slatey grey ; the tail, which the
bird incessantly opens and flirts like a fan, is black ;
RIVER-SIDE GREY TYRANT 171
as in 5. subcristata, there is a hidden spot of white
under the loose feathers forming the crest.
It frequents the borders of running streams,
seldom being found far from a water-course ; and it
alights as often on stones or on the bare ground as
on plants. Male and female are always seen together,
as it pairs for life, and the migration, if it has any,
is only partial. It flits restlessly along the borders
of the stream it frequents, making repeated excur-
sions after small winged insects, taking them m the
air, or snatching them up from the surface of the
water, and frequently returning to the same stand.
While thus employed it perpetually utters a loud,
complaining chuck, and at intervals the two birds
meet, and, with crests erect and flirting their wings
and tails, utter a series of trills and hurried sharp
notes in concert.
The nest is generally placed beneath an over-
hanging bank, attached to hanging roots or grass, a
few inches above the water; but it is sometimes
placed in a bush growing on the borders of a stream.
It is a neat, cup-shaped, but rather shallow structure,
thickly lined inside with feathers. The eggs are four,
pointed, white or pale cream-colour, with black and
grey spots at the large end.
172 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
LITTLE TIT-LIKE GREY TYRANT
Anxretes parulus
Above cinereous, with an olivaceous tint on the lower back ; head
black, front varied with white, elongated vertical crest black, some-
times varied with white ; wings blackish, with slight whitish tips to
the coverts and whitish margins to the outer secondaries ; tail blackish,
outer webs of external rectrices whitish ; below pale straw-colour,
white on the throat; throat and breast with numerous and well-
marked black striations ; bill and feet black ; length 4 inches.
This small bird is only four and a half inches long ;
in both sexes the colour on the upper parts is dull
grey, on the throat and breast ash-coloured ; the
belly pale yellow. It has the distinction of a slender
curling Lapwing-like crest, composed of a few narrow,
long, black feathers. The eye is white. It is found
in the thorny thickets on the dry plains of Men-
doza, and is also common in Patagonia. In its habits
it closely resembles Serpophaga suhcristata ; lives
always in pairs, perpetually moves about in a singu-
larly deliberate manner while searching through
the bush for small insects, the two birds always
talking together in little chirping notes, and occasion-
ally bursting out into a little shrill duet. It builds
a deep nest of fine dry grass, lined with feathers,
in a low thorn, and lays two white eggs.
This diminutive Tyrant has a wide range on
the west side of the continent, extending from
Patagonia to the Ecuador Andes.
Many-Colourkd Knicht
Cy a not is azayw, Naum.
MANY-COLOURED TYRANT 173
MANY-COLOURED TYRANT
Cyanotis azarae
Above dark bronzy green ; head black ; superciliaries yellow ;
vertical spot crimson ; wings black ; broad tips of the lesser wing-
coverts and broad edgings of some of the secondaries white, forming
a large white bar on the wing ; tail black, greater part of outer pair
of rectrices and outer web and broad tip of next pair and narrow tips
of third pair white ; beneath bright ochreous yellow ; chin whitish ;
crissum crimson; incomplete band across the lower breast black;
under wing-coverts white ; length 4.8 inches.
This charming little bird is variously called by the
country people All -coloured or Seven - coloured.
A^ara calls it ** The King *'— a name which this
species deserves, he says, not only on account of
the crown of loose feathers on its head, but because
it is exceeded by few birds in beauty. It is the most
beautiful bird found in Chili, says Gay ; and Dar-
win, who is seldom moved to express admiration,
calls it '' an exquisitely beautiful little bird.'' There
are many species possessing a more brilliant plumage,
none with so great a variety of distinct colours ; for
on its minute body, which is less than that of the
House-Wren, are seen black, white, green, blue,
orange, yellow, and scarlet ; and all these hues are
disposed and contrasted in such a manner as to
produce a very pleasing effect — the olive-green and
delicate yellow predominating, while the vivid scarlet
is a mere spot, like the bright gem or ornament which
serves to set off and enhance the beauty of the dress.
The whole under plumage is pure lovely yellow.
174 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
while a broad mark of velvet-black extends belt-wise
from the bend of each wing, but without meeting
in the centre of the bosom. The sides of the head are
deep blue ; over the blue runs a bright yellow stripe,
surmounted with the loose, slender, almost hair-like
feathers of the crown, which stand partially erect,
and are blue mixed with black, with vivid scarlet
in the centre. Above, from the back of the head to
the tail, the colour is deep green. The wings are
black, crossed with a white band ; tail also black,
the two outer quills pure white, and the succeeding
two partially white, the white colour appearing only
when the bird flies. Moreover, as though this diver-
sity of colour were not enough, the soles of the black
feet are bright orange, the eye of the male delicate
sky-blue, while the female has white eyes.
While on the subject of the colouring of this
species, I will mention a curious phenomenon which
I have observed many times. When the bird is flying
away from the spectator in a strong sunlight, and is
at a distance of from twenty to thirty yards from
him, the upper plumage, which is dark green, some-
times appears bright blue. At first I thought that a
distinct species of CyanotiSf cerulean blue in colour,
existed, but finally became convinced that the green
feathers of the C. azarae appear blue in certain
lights. This is curious, as the feathers of the back
are not glossed.
The Many-coloured Tyrant is, apparently, a very
feeble flier, rising reluctantly when frightened from
the rushes, and fluttering away to a distance of a few
MANY-COLOURED TYRANT 175
yards^ when it again drops down* Yet it is strictly
migratory, Darwin met with it at Maldonado in the
month of June^ and therefore concluded that it does
not migrate ; but he mentions that it was very rare.
I have also occasionally seen one in winter on the
pampas, but many migratory species leave a few
stragglers behind in the same way. At the end of
September they suddenly appear all over the pampas,
in every swamp and stream where there are beds of
rushes ; for in such situations only is the bird
found : and this migration extends far into Pata-
gonia. They are always seen in pairs amongst the
dense rushes, where they perch on the smooth stems,
not near the summit, but close down to the surface
of the water, and perpetually hop from stem to stem,
deftly picking up small insects from the surface of
the water. They also occasionally leave the rushes
and search for insects in the grass and herbage along
the border. They are very inquisitive, and if a person
approach the rush-bed, they immediately come out
of their concealment, both birds uttering their
singular notes — a silvery, modulated sound, not
meant for a song apparently, and yet I do not know
any sweeter, purer sound in nature than this. All
through the close-growing dark rushes the pretty
little melodists may be heard calling to each other
in their delicate gurgling notes.
The nest is a marvel of skill and beauty. As a rule
it is attached to a single polished rush, two or three
feet above the water and about the middle of the
stem. It is cup-shaped inside, and about four inches
176 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
long, circular at the top, but compressed at the lower
extremity, and ending in a sharp point. It is com-
posed entirely of soft bits of dry yellow sedge, ce-
mented together with gum so smoothly that it looks
as if made in a mould* The eggs are two, oval, and
dull creamy white, sometimes with a ring of colour
at the large end.
BIENTEVEO TYRANT
Pitangus boUvianus
Above brown ; head black ; front, superciliaries, and line round
the nape white ; large vertical crest yellow, tipped with black ; wings
and tail brown with rufous margins ; beneath sulphur-yellow, inner
margins of wing- and tail-feathers pale rufous; bill and feet black;
length 9 inches.
The Bienteveo is in its habits the most interesting
member of the Tyrannine family. It would be
difficult to find two species more dissimilar in dis-
position than are the Silverbill, already described,
and the Bienteveo ; the former being like an auto-
maton, having only a few set motions, gestures, and
instincts, while the other is versatile in an extra-
ordinary degree, and seems to have studied to
advantage the various habits of the Kestrel, Fly-
catcher, Kingfisher, Vulture, and fruit-eating Thrush ;
and when its weapons prove weak it supplements
them with its cunning. How strange it is that these
two species, mentally as widely separated as the
T*1
BiENTEVEo Tyrant
Pitangtis bolivianus (Lafr.)
BIENTEVEO TYRANT 177
Humming-bird and Crow, should be members of
the same family !
The Bienteveo has a wide range in South America,
and inhabits the whole of the Argentine country
down to Buenos Ayres, where it is very common.
It is resident and lives in pairs, the sexes being always
faithfuL The body is stout, somewhat large for a
Tyrant-bird ; the length being nine and a half
inches, including the beak, which is a little over an
inch in length. The wings are blunt and compar-
atively short, measuring when spread fourteen inches.
The head is large, and a broad black band extends
from the beak its entire length, and above this is
a pure white stripe ; the crown is black, conceahng
in its loose abundant feathers a brilliant yellow crest,
which shows only when the bird is excited. The
upper plumage, including wings and tail, is pale
brown ; the entire under-surface sulphur yellow.
In both sexes the plumage is alike.
In Buenos Ayres the Bienteveo is found in every
orchard and plantation ; it is familiar with man and
invariably greets his approach with loud notes —
especially with a powerful three-syllabled cry, in
which people fancy there is a resemblance to the
words Bien-te-veo (** I see you well '') ; while its
big head and beak, and strongly contrasted colours,
especially the black and white head-stripes, seem to
give it a wonderfully knowing look, as it turns its
head from side to side to examine the intruder. It
is a loud-voiced garrulous bird, and has a great range
of sounds, from grating screams to long, clear, almost
M I
lyS BIRDS OFJ^A PLATA
mellow call-notes. It has one pretty habit, which
brings out an agreeable feature in its character.
Though the male and female are greatly attached,
they do not go afield to hunt in company, like the
Short-winged Tyrant, but separate to meet again
at intervals during the day. One of a couple (say
the female) returns to the trees where they are
accustomed to meet, and after a time, becoming im-
patient or anxious at the delay of her consort, utters
a very long, clear call-note. He is perhaps three or
four fields away, watching for a frog beside a pool,
or beating, harrier-like, over a thistle-bed, but
he hears the note and presently responds with one
of equal power. Then perhaps for half an hour, at
intervals of half a minute, the birds answer each
other, though the powerful call of the one must
interfere with his hunting. At length he returns ;
then the two birds, perched close together, with their
yellow bosoms almost touching, crests elevated, and
beating the branch with their wings, scream their
loudest notes in concert — a confused jubilant noise
that rings through the whole plantation. Their joy
at meeting is patent, and their action corresponds to
the warm embrace of a loving human couple.
I have frequently stood for the space of half an
hour concealed amongst the trees where a Bienteveo
was calling to her mate, cheered at intervals by the
far-off faint response, for the pleasure of witnessing
in the end the joyful reunion of the two birds.
Except when breeding the Bienteveo is a peaceful
bird, never going out of its way to make gratuitous
BIENTEVEO TYRANT 179
attacks on individuals of its own or of other species ;
but in the pursuit of its prey it is cunning, bold, and
fierce* Like the true Tyrant-birds it preys a great
deal on large insects when they are abundant in the
warm season, and is frequently seen catching its prey
in the air, A large beetle or grasshopper it invariably
beats against a branch before devouring it. But even
in summer, when insect prey is most abundant, it
prefers a more substantial diet whenever such is to
be had. It frequently carries off the fledglings of
the smaller birds from their nests, in the face of the
brave defence often made by the parents. It is also
fond of fishing, and may be seen perched by the hour
on a bank or overhanging branch beside a stream,
watching the water like a Kingfisher, and at intervals
dashing down to capture the small fry. In shallow
pools, where there are tadpoles and other prey, the
Bienteveo does not mind getting a little wet, but
alights in the water and stands belly-deep watching
for its prey, I have seen a Bienteveo standing in the
water in the midst of a flock of Glossy Ibises, They
are often seen, as Darwin remarks, hovering like a
Kestrel over the grass and then dashing down to
seize their prey. Small snakes, frogs, mice, and
li2;ards all minister to its appetite, and with a capture
of this kind it invariably flies to the nearest stone or
branch, against which it beats out the life of its
victim before devouring it, I once saw one fly out
of some weeds carrying a little wriggling glass-
snake about eight inches long in its beak. Alighting
on a gate it proceeded to kill its capture, and at the
i8o BIRDS OF LA PLATA
first blow on the wood the snake flew into two
pieces. A mouse gives it a great deal of trouble,
for after it has been killed it cannot be devoured
until reduced by repeated blows to a soft pulp,
after which it is with great labour pulled to pieces
and eaten. Snails and Ampullariae are also pounded
until the shell breaks. In spring they sometimes
join the train of Hooded Gulls, Guira Cuckoos,
Cow-birds, and various other kinds which follow
the plough to pick up worms and larvae ; but on the
ground the Bienteveo is awkward in its motions, for
it cannot run like the Tyrant-birds of terrestrial
habits, but only hops. At estancia houses, when a
cow is slaughtered, it comes in with the fowls,
Carrion Hawks, and dogs, for small pickings, being
very fond of fresh meat. It is a common thing to
see a Bienteveo following a rural butcher's cart, and
waiting for an opportunity to dash in and carry off
any small piece of meat or fat it is able to detach.
In the autumn they feed very much on ripe fruit,
preferring grapes, which they can swallow whole,
and figs, which are soft and easily devoured.
In its nidification the Bienteveo also departs widely
from the, so to speak, traditional habits of its con-
geners ; for whereas most Tyrants make shallow
nests, this species makes a very big elaborate domed
structure, and sometimes takes five or six weeks to
complete it. It is placed in a tree, without any
attempt at concealment, and is about a foot deep
and eight or nine inches broad, and composed of a
variety of soft materials, chiefly wool. The entrance
SCARLET TYRANT i8i
is placed near the top. Outside, the nest has a very
disorderly appearance, as there are always long straws
and sometimes rags hanging down ; the cavity is
deeply lined with feathers, and is the hottest nest I
know. The eggs are five, very long, pointed, cream-
coloured, and spotted, chiefly at the larger end, with
chocolate and purple.
They are bold in defence of their nest ; one pair
which bred annually in my orchard always attacked
me with the greatest fury whenever I ventured near
the peach-tree in which they had their big nest of
wool, darting down repeatedly and striking my head
with beak and wings.
SCARLET TYRANT
Pyrocephalus rubineus
Above very dark cinereous^ crested head and body below scarlet ;
bill and feet black ; length 5.3 inches. Female, above pale cinereous,
below white ; breast striated with crimson ; belly more or less rosy
red.
The Scarlet Tyrant is about five and a half inches
long ; the neck, back, wings, and tail are black ;
all the rest of the plumage the most vivid scarlet
imaginable. The loose feathers of the crown, which
form a crest, are especially brilliant, and seem to
glow like a live coal amidst the green foliage. Beside
this bright Tyrant-bird even the Rainbow Tanagers
look pale, and the ** Jewel Humming-birds,** seen
i82 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
in the shade^ decidedly sad-coloured* It is not
strange^ therefore, that in South America, where it
has a very wide range, it is a species well known to
the country people, and that they have bestowed on
it many pretty names, most of which have reference
to its splendid scarlet colour. In the Argentine
Republic it is usually called Churinche, from its note,
f(vv<3<^rwo JU^^U>oa.-v<r also Federal and Fuegero (Fireman); in other
(^D^o^^-v.^^ countries Sangre de toro (bull's blood), and, better
still, Sangre pura. Little Soldier and Coal of Fire
are also amongst its names. The Guarani tribes call
it Guira-pitd (red bird) ; but another Indian name,
mentioned by d'Orbigny, is the best — Quarhi-rahit
which means a child of the sun.
The Churinche appears in Buenos Ayres about the
end of September, and is usually first seen in locali-
ties to which Tyrant-birds are partial, such as low
grassy grounds, with here and there a stalk or bush,
and near a wood or plantation. Insects are most
abundant in such places ; and here the Churinche
is seen perched on a twig, darting at intervals to
snap at the flies after the fashion of the Flycatchers,
and frequently uttering its low, plaintive note. It is
very common in the woods along the Plata ; every
orchard on the pampas is visited by a few of them ;
and they are very abundant about Buenos Ayres city.
Going south they become rarer ; but, strange to
say, a few individuals find their way to the shores
of the Rio Negro, though before reaching it they
must cross a high, barren country quite unsuited to
them. The natives of the Carmen have no name
SCARLET TYRANT 183
for the Churinche, but speak of it as a bird wonderful
for its beauty and seldom seen. Amongst the dull-
plumaged Patagonian species it certainly has a very
brilliant appearance,
A very few days after their arrival the Churinches
pair ; and the male selects a spot for the nest — a fork
in a tree from six to twelve feet from the ground,
or sometimes a horizontal bough. This spot the male
visits about once a minute, sits on it with his splendid
crest elevated, tail spread out, and wings incessantly
fluttering, while he pours out a continuous stream of
silvery gurgling notes, so low they can scarcely be
heard twenty paces off, and somewhat resembling the
sound of water running from a narrow-necked flask,
but more musical and infinitely more rapid. Of the
little bird's homely, grey, silent mate the observer
will scarcely obtain a glimpse, she appearing as yet
to take little or no interest in the affairs that so much
occupy the attention of her consort, and keep him
in a state of such violent excitement. He is exceed-
ingly pugnacious, so that when not fluttering on the
site of his future nest, or snapping up some insect
on the wing, he is eagerly pursuing other male
Churinches, apparently bachelors, from tree to tree.
At intervals he repeats his remarkable little song,
composed of a succession of sweetly modulated
metallic trills uttered on the wing. The bird usually
mounts upwards from thirty to forty yards, and,
with wings very much raised and rapidly vibrating,
rises and drops almost perpendicularly half a yard's
space five or six times, appearing to keep time to
i84 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
his notes in these motions. This song he frequently
utters in the night, but without leaving his perch ;
and it then has a most pleasing effect, as it is less
hurried and the notes seem softer and more prolonged
than when uttered by day. About a week after the
birds have arrived, when the trees are only beginning
to display their tender leaves, the nest is commenced.
Strange to say, the female is the sole builder ; for
she now lays-by her indifferent mien, and the art
and industry she displays more than compensate for
the absence of those beauties and accomplishments
that make her mate so pleasing to the sight and ear.
The materials of which the nest is composed are
almost all gathered on trees ; they are lichens, webs,
and thistle-down : and the dexterity and rapidity
with which they are gathered, the skill with which
she disposes them, the tireless industry of the little
bird, who visits her nest a hundred times an hour
with invisible webs in her bill, are truly interesting
to the observer. The lichens firmly held together
with webs, and smoothly disposed with the tops
outside, give to the nest the colour of the bark it
is built on.
After the Churinche's nest is completed, the
Bienteveo (Pitangus bolivianus) and the Common
Cow-bird (Molothrus bonariensis) SLte the troublers
of its peace. The first of these sometimes carries off
the nest bodily to use it as material in building its
own ; the female Cow-bird is ever on the look-out
for a receptacle for her eggs. Seldom, however, does
she succeed in gaining admittance to the Churinche's
SCARLET TYRANT 185
nest, as he is extremely vigilant and violent in repel-
ling intruders. But his vigilance at times avails not ;
the subtle bird has watched and waited till, seizing
a moment when the little Scarlet Tyrant is off his
guard, she drops her surreptitious egg into his nest*
When this happens, the Churinches immediately for-
sake their nest. The nest is sometimes lined with
feathers, but usually with thistle-down ; the eggs
are four, pointed, and spotted at the broad end with
black ; usually each egg has also a few large grey
spots. The young are at first grey, marked with pale
rufous, but soon become entirely grey, like the
female. In about a month's time the belly of the
males begins to assume a pale mauve-red ; this
spreads upwards towards the breast and throat ;
and finally the crest also takes on this colour. The
Churinches raise two broods in a season — but if the
nest is destroyed, will lay as many as four times.
The Scarlet Tyrant is the first of our summer
visitors to leave us. As early as the end of January
and so soon as the young of the second brood are
able to feed themselves, the adults disappear. Their
going is not gradual, but they all vanish at once.
The departure of all other migratory species takes
place after a very sensible change in the temperature ;
but at the end of January the heat is unmitigated —
it is in fact often greater than during December.
When the adults have gone, the silent young birds
remain. Within a month's time the sexes of these
may be distinguished. After another month the males
begin to sing, and are frequently seen pursuing one
i86 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
another over the fields. It k only at the end of April,
three months after the old birds have disappeared,
that the young also take their departure. This is
one of the strangest facts I have encountered in the
migration of birds. The autumnal cold and wet
weather seems to be the immediate cause of the
young birds' departure ; but in the adults, migration
appears to be an instinct quite independent of atmos-
pheric change.
BLACK-AND-YELLOW CRESTED
TYRANT
Empidonomus aurantio-atro-cristatus
Above cinereous ; cap shortly crested, black, with a large vertical
spot of bright yellow ; wings and tail brownish black, wing-coverts
and secondaries slightly edged with whitish ; beneath as above but
rather paler, and with a very slight yellow tinge on the crissum ;
bill and feet black ; length 6.5 inches.
Alcide d'Orbigny met with this fine species in
Corrientes, and Dr. Burmeister in Entrerios, and
again near Mendoza. In the neighbourhood of
Concepcion Mr. Barrows speaks of it as a ** not very
abundant summer resident, but one not easily over-
looked, owing to its habit of perching on the topmost
twig of any tree on which it alights, making forays
from time to time, when tempted by its winged
prey.*'
In the vicinity of Buenos Ayres, which may be
BELLICOSE TYRANT 187
considered the southern limit of its range, it was
far from common, two or three pairs being the
greatest number I ever met with during a summer
season. Like other birds of its genus, it has an easy,
rapid flight, and perches on trees or other elevated
places, from which it occasionally makes a dash at
passing insects. The nest, as in T* melanchoUcus^ is
a very slight structure of slender sticks, and the eggs
are four, parchment colour, and spotted at the large
end with dark brown or chocolate. Mr. Barrows
found a Cow-bird's egg in a nest of this species,
which makes me think that it is less vigilant and war-
like than r. melancholicus.
This Tyrant is distinguished (in the books) by the
longest scientific name bestowed by ornithologists
on any South American species.
BELLICOSE TYRANT
Tyrannus melanchoKcm
Above grey with a slight greenish tinge ; head with a concealed
vertical crest of scarlet and yellow ; lores and ear-coverts blackish ;
wings and tail brownish black with more or less of paler margins ;
beneath yellow, throat greyish white, breast more or less greyish,
under wing-coverts pale yellow ; bill and feet black ; outer primaries
attenuated ; tail deeply forked ; length 8.5 inches.
The violent and bold temper exhibited by most
Tyrant-birds during the breeding-season, a quality
from which is derived the name of the family, is
perhaps carried to a greater degree in this species
i88 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
than in any other ; and when one spends many days
or weeks in the marshy, littoral forests, where the
bird is most abundant, and hears its incessant dis-
tressful screams, the specific name melancholicus does
not seem altogether inappropriate : that is the most
that can be said of any specific name invented by
science, which does not merely describe some peculi-
arity of form or colour*
Nevertheless it is not the right name : the bird's
temper rather than the effect produced by its voice
on the listener was probably in the French natur-
alist's mind when he bestowed it ; better than
melancholy would have been warring, violent, furious,
bellicose, or some such word. It therefore seems
best in this as in several other instances to alter the
English name I gave this bird in the Argentine
Ornithology (1888). It was there called '* Melan-
choly Tyrant,'' and I have now renamed it Bellicose
Tyrant, and hope that future Anglo- Argentine natur-
alists will find some better designation for this and
many other of the hundreds of species I have had
to invent names for.
This Tyrant is one of the largest of its kind, its
total length being nearly nine inches. The wings
are long and suited for an aerial life ; the legs are
exceedingly short, and the feet are used for perching
only, for this species never alights on the ground.
The throat and upper parts are grey, tinged with
olive on the back ; the wings and tail dark ; the
breast yellow tinged with green ; the belly pure
yellow. Under the loose grey feathers of the crown
BELLICOSE TYRANT 189
is a fiery orange crest, displayed in moments of
excitement*
In Buenos Ayres these birds arrive in September,
after which their shrill, angry cries are incessantly
heard, while the birds are seen pursuing each other
through the air or in and out amongst the trees —
perpetually driven about by the contending passions
of love, jealousy, and rage. As soon as their domestic
broils are over, a fresh war against the whole feathered
race begins, which does not cease until the business
of propagation is finished* I have frequently spent
hours watching the male, successively attacking,
with scarcely an interval of rest, every bird, big or
little, approaching the sacred tree where its nest was
placed. Its indignation at the sight of a cowardly
Carrion-Hawk (Milvago) skulking about in search
of small birds^ nests, and the boundless fury of its
onset, were wonderful to witness.
They are extremely active, and when not engaged
in their endless aerial battles, are pursuing large
insects on the wing, usually returning after each
capture to their stand, from which they keep a jealous
watch on the movements of all winged things about
them. They are fond of marshy places and water-
courses, where they perch on a tall stalk to watch
for insects, and also frequently skim over the water
like Swallows to drink and dip their feathers,
A tall tree is usually selected for the nest, which
is not infrequently placed on the very topmost
twigs, exposed to the sight of every creature passing
overhead, and as if in defiance of birds of prey. With
igo BIRDS OF LA PLATA
such an aggressive temper as this bird possesses it
is not strange perhaps that it builds in the most
exposed places, from which the female, in the absence
of her vigilant consort, can keep a sharp eye on the
movements of her feathered neighbours ; but I have
often thought it singular that they do not make a
deeper receptacle for their eggs, for the nest is merely
a slight platform of slender sticks, and very ill
adapted to retain its burden during high winds* The
parasitical Cow-bird never enters this nest, which
is not strange.
The eggs are four in number, small for the bird,
pointed, parchment-white, spotted with dark brown
at the larger end.
SCISSOR-TAIL TYRANT
Milvulus tyrannus
Above cinereous, rump blackish; cap jet-black, with a concealed
yellow vertical crest ; wings dark brown ; tail black, outer web of the
outer rectrix white ; bill and feet black ; three outer primaries excised
at the tips ; length 14 inches. Female similar, but outer tail-feathers
not so long.
The Tijereta (Scissor-tail) — a name derived from
the habit the bird has of opening and closing
the two outer long feathers of the tail when flying
— is found throughout South America, and in
the summer of the Southern Hemisphere ranges
as far south as Patagonia.
SCISSOR-TAIL TYRANT 191
The tail is forked, and the two outer feathers
exceed by over four inches in length the next two.
The total length of the adult male is fourteen inches,
the tail being ten inches long ; this species is there-
fore one of the longest-tailed we know of. The tail
of the female is about two inches shorter than that
of the male. The head is intense black ; the plum-
age of the crown is rather long and loose, and when
raised displays a vivid yellow crest. The neck and
upper surface is light, clear grey ; the under surface
pure white; the tail black. During flight the two
long feathers of the tail stream out behind like a pair
of black ribbons ; frequently the bird pauses sud-
denly in its flight, and then the two long feathers
open out in the form of the letter V.
The Scissor-tail is migratory, and arrives, already
mated, at Buenos Ayres at the end of September,
and takes its departure at the end of February in
families — old and young birds together. In dis-
position and general habits it resembles the true
Tyrant-birds, but differs from them in language,
its various chirping and twittering notes having a
hard percussive sound, which Azara well compares
to the snapping of castanets. It prefers open situa-
tions with scattered trees and bushes ; and is also
partial to marshy grounds, where it takes up a
position on an elevated stalk to watch for insects,
and seizes them in the air like the Flycatcher. It
also greedily devours elderberries and other small
fruits.
The nest is not deep, but is much more elaborately
192 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
constructed than is usual with the Tyrants. Soft
materials are preferred^ and in many cases the nests
are composed almost exclusively of wool. The inside
is cup-shaped, with a flat bottom, and is smooth
and hard, the thistle-down with which it is lined
being cemented with gum. The eggs are four,
sharply pointed, light cream-colour, and spotted,
chiefly at the large end, with chocolate. In the
breeding-time these Tyrants attack other birds
approaching the nest with great spirit, and have a
particular hat»ed to the Carrion Hawk, pursuing it
with the greatest violence through the air with angry
notes, resembling in sound the whetting of a scythe,
but uttered with great rapidity and emphasis. How
greatly this species is imposed upon by the Cow-
bird, notwithstanding its pugnacious temper, has
already been seen in my account of that bird.
The Scissor-tails have one remarkable habit ;
they are not gregarious, but once every day, just
before the sun sets, all the birds living near together
rise to the tops of the trees, calling to one another
with loud, excited chirps, and then mount upwards
like rockets to a great height in the air ; then, after
whirling about for a few moments, they precipitate
themselves downwards with the greatest violence,
opening and shutting their tails during their wild
zig-Z^g flight, and uttering a succession of sharp,
grinding notes. After this curious performance they
separate in pairs, and perching on the tree-tops each
couple utters together its rattling castanet notes,
after which the company breaks up.
PLANT-CUTTER 193
RED-BREASTED PLANT-CUTTER 9,^..,^<M^^^
Phytotoma rutila
Above plumbeotjs^ washed with olive ; front of head and whole
under parts bright red; wings and tail blackish, two well-marked
wing-bars and tips of lateral rectrices white ; length 7 inches. Female,
above grey, striated with black ; beneath light buff with dense black
striations.
There are four known species of this curious South
American group, the Plant-cutters, the only members
of the family Phytotomidee, The older naturalists
associated them with the Finches on account of their
toothed Fringilline bill, but they are now placed at
a great distance from that family, quite outside of
the Sub-Order Oscines or Songsters* The Red-
breasted Plant-cutter is the only species found in
the Argentine Republic.
I found it quite common in Patagonia, where the
natives call it Chingolo grande^ on account of the
superficial resemblance of the female to the common
Song- Sparrow (Zonotrichia pileata). The colouring
of the sexes differs considerably, the forehead and
under surface of the male being deep brick-red ;
the upper parts dull grey, with a bar on the wing
and the tips of the rectrices white ; while in the
female the upper parts are yellowish grey, obscurely
mottled, and the breast and belly buff, with dark
stripes ♦ In both sexes the eye is yellow, and the
feathers of the crown pileated to form a crest.
This bird is usually seen singly, but sometimes
N I
C^
194 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
associates in small flocks ; it is resident, and a very
weak flier, and feeds on tender buds and leaves,
berries and small seed. The male is frequently seen
perched on the summit of a bush, and, amidst the
dull-plumaged species that people the grey thickets
of Patagonia, the bright red bosom gives it almost a
gay appearance. When singing, or uttering its alarm
notes when the nest is approached, its voice re-
sembles the feeble bleatings of a small kid or lamb.
When approached it conceals itself in the bush, and
when flying progresses by a series of short jerky
undulations, the wings producing a loud humming
sound.
The nest is made in the interior of a thorny bush,
and built somewhat slightly of fine twigs and lined
with fibres. The eggs are four, bluish-green in
colour, with brownish flecks.
This species is found throughout the Argentine
country, in dry open situations abounding with a
scanty tree and bush vegetation.
The solitary Plant-cutter described comes, in this
book, between two numerous Passerine families, both
also peculiar to America, and both differing widely
from it in structure, appearance, habits, and lan-
guage — more widely in fact than a Greenfinch from
a Flycatcher on one side and a Treecreeper on the
other. The astonishing thing to the uninformed
person is how such a collocation is possible in any
system. With such questions we are not concerned
in this book. One can only say in passing, that in
LITTLE HOUSEKEEPER 195
our linear system of classification (and all systems
must be linear) a species or a family unrelated to
any other must be given a place somewhere in the
line. The Tyrant-birds^ which come nearest super-
ficially to the Old World Flycatchers^ although
structurally differing from them, number at least
350 species ; the Family we now come to, the Wood-
hewers or DendrocolaptiddBf count about 250, Thus,
these two South American families alone, both in
the songless sub-order of the Passeres, outnumber
all the species of birds in Europe from the Eagle to
the Wren.
In Argentina the Dendrocolaptidss number about
fifty species, and of these I have to describe twenty
known to me from personal observation ♦
LITTLE HOUSEKEEPER
Geositta cunicularia
Above nearly uniform earthy brown ; wing-feathers pale cinnamon-
red ; greater part of the outer webs^ excepting the inner secondaries,
blackish ; tail pale cinnamon-red, with a broad blackish band across
the terminal half; beneath pale fulvous white, breast more or less
variegated with blackish ; under wing-coverts pale cinnamon ; length
5.5 inches.
The country people have a variety of names for this
common and well-known species. In Buenos Ayres
it is usually called Manea-cola (Shake-tail), in Pata-
gonia Caserita (Little Housekeeper), and in other
196 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
places Miner a (Miner) ^ or Caminante (Traveller or
Pedestrian)^ from its habit of running rapidly along
a clean road or bridle-path before a person riding or
walking.
It is a stout little bird, with very short toes quite
unsuited for perching, and it does not, in fact, ever
perch on a tree, though it manages to cling to a
perpendicular bank very well when engaged in
tunnelling. It is resident and pairs for life, and
lives in sterile places, feeding on small insects and
spiders. In manner it is very lively, and runs swiftly
over the bare ground, stopping very abruptly, then
running on again, and at every pause slowly moving
its half-open tail up and down. It flies swiftly, close
to the ground, and always during its short flight
trills out its clear, ringing, rapidly reiterated cry,
which in sound resembles the laughter of a child.
On the grassy pampas the Mineras invariably attach
themselves to the Vizcacheras — ^as the groups of great
burrows made by the large rodent, the Vizcacha, are
called ; for there is always a space free from grass
surrounding the burrows where the birds can run
freely about. In the sides of the deep pit-like entrance
to one of these burrows the bird bores a cylindrical
hole, from three to six feet long, and terminating in
a circular chamber. This is lined with soft dry grass,
and five white eggs are laid.
Though the birds inhabit the Vi^cacha village all
the year, they seem always to make a fresh hole to
breed in every spring, the forsaken holes being given
up to the small Swallow, Atticora cyanoleuca.
Red Oven-Bird
Furnariits rufus (Ctm.)
OVEN-BIRD 197
OVEN-BIRD
Furnarius rufus
Above earthy brown^ with a slight rufescent tinge, wing-feathers
blackish, margined with pale brown ; whole of the outer secondaries
pale brown, like the back ; tail and upper tail-coverts bright ferruginous
brown ; below white, breast and flanks and under wing-coverts pale
sandy-brown ; under surface of the wing with a broad sandy bar
across the basal portion ; length 8 to 9 inches.
The Red Oven-bird is an extremely well-known
species in Argentina, and, where found, a great
favourite on account of its familiarity with man,
its loud, ringing, cheerful voice, and its wonderful
mud nest, which it prefers to build near a human
habitation, often on a cornice, a projecting beam,
or on the roof of the house itself.
It is a stout little bird, with a slender, slightly-
curved beak nearly an inch in length, and strong
legs suited to its terrestrial habits* The upper
plumage is uniform rufous-brown in colour, brightest
on the tail ; the under surface very light brown*
It ranges throughout the Argentine Republic to
Bahia Blanca in the south, and is usually named
Hornero or Casera (Oven-bird or Housekeeper) ; in
Bradl, Joao de los barrios (John of the Mud-puddles)
or John Clay, as Richard Burton translates it. In
Paraguay and Corrientes it is Alonzo Garcia or else
AlonzitOf the affectionate diminutive. A^ara, that
sensible naturalist, losing his mind for a moment,
solemnly says that he can give no reason for such a
name ! He might have found the reason in his own
198 BIRDS OF y^ PLATA
country in Europe, where as a boy he knew the wild
bird life and where a bird which inspires affectionate
admiration in the country people is sometimes called
by a human name* As a rule it is a Christian name,
as in the case of our Robin, in England, which in
Norway is called Peter, and our Jack — ^we have
several Jacks — and our Margaret or Mag, and our
Peggy and Kitty and Jenny. The Alonzo Garcia is
specially favoured in having both a Christian and
a surname. I have often been assured by natives that
the Hornero is a religious bird and always suspends
his labours on a Sunday and on all holy days.
It is resident, pairs for life, and finds its food,
which consists of larvae and worms, exclusively on
the ground. It delights in open places, where it can
move freely about on the ground ; and is partial
to court-yards, clean garden-walks, etc., where, with
head thrown back and bosom prominent, it struts
along with an air of great gravity, lifting its foot high
at each step, and holding it suspended for a moment
in the air before setting it firmly down. I once saw
one fly down on to a narrow plank about ten feet
long lying out on the wet grass ; it walked gravely
to the end of the plank, then turned, and deliberately
walked back to the other end, and so on for about
twenty times, appearing to take the greatest pleasure
in the mere act of promenading on a smooth, level
surface. When disturbed, the Oven-bird has a loud
monotonous note of alarm or curiosity, which never
fails to bring all its fellows within hearing distance
to the spot. The movements of a fox, weasel, or cat
OVEN-BIRD 199
in a plantation can always be known from the noisy
turmoil among the Oven-birds* At frequent intervals
during the day the male and female meet and express
their joy in clear, resonant notes sung in concert — a
habit common to a very large number of Dendroco-
laptine birds, including, I think, all those species
which pair for life* In a majority of species this
vocal performance merely consists of a succession
of confused notes or cries, uttered with great spirit
and emphasis ; in the Oven-bird it has developed
into a kind of harmonious singing. Thus, the first
bird, on the appearance of its mate flying to the place
of meeting, emits loud, measured notes, sometimes
a continuous trilling note with a somewhat hollow,
metallic sound ; but immediately on the other bird
joining, this introductory passage is changed to rapid
triplets, strongly accented on the first and last notes,
while the second bird utters a series of loud measured
notes perfectly according with the triplets of the
first. While thus singing they stand facing each
other, their necks outstretched, wings hanging, and
tails spread, the first bird trembling with its rapid
utterances, the second beating on the branch with
its wings. The finale consists of three or four notes
uttered by the second bird alone, and becoming
successively louder and more piercing until the end*
There is an infinite variety in the tone in which dif-
ferent couples sing, also in the order in which the
different notes are uttered, and even the same couple
do not repeat their duet in precisely the same way ;
but it is always a rhythmical and, to some extent,
300 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
an harmonious performance^ and as the voices have
a ringings joyous character, it produces a pleasing
effect on the mind.
In favourable seasons the Oven-birds begin build-
ing in the autumn, and the work is resumed during
the winter whenever there is a spell of mild, wet
weather. Some of their structures are finished early
in winter, others not until spring, everything de-
pending on the weather and the condition of the
birds. In cold, dry weather, and when food is scarce,
they do not work at all. The site chosen is a stout
horizontal branch, or the top of a post, and they also
frequently build on the roof of a house ; and some-
times, but rarely, on the ground. The material used
is mud, with the addition of horsehair or slender
fibrous rootlets, which make the structure harder
and prevent it from cracking. I have frequently
seen a bird, engaged in building, first pick up a
thread or hair, then repair to a puddle, where it was
worked into a pellet of mud about the size of a filbert,
then carried to the nest. When finished the structure
is shaped outwardly like a baker's oven, only with
a deeper and narrower entrance.
It is always placed very conspicuously, and with
the entrance facing a building, if one be near, or if
at a roadside it looks toward the road ; the reason
for this being, no doubt, that the bird keeps a cautious
eye on the movements of people near it while building,
and so leaves the nest opened and unfinished on that
side until the last, and there the entrance is neces-
sarily formed. When the structure has assumed the
OVEN-BIRD 201
globular form with only a narrow openings the wall
on one side is curved inwards, reaching from the
floor to the dome, and at the inner extremity an
aperture is left to admit the bird to the interior or
second chamber, in which the eggs are laid* A man*s
hand fits easily into the first or entrance chamber,
but cannot be twisted about so as to reach the eggs
in the interior cavity, the entrance being "so small
and high up. The 'interior is lined with dry, soft
grass, and five white pear-shaped eggs are laid. The
oven is a foot or more in diameter, and is sometimes
very massive, weighing eight or nine pounds, and
so strong that, unless loosened by the swaying of
the branch, it often remains unharmed for two or
three years. The birds incubate by turns, and when
one returns from the feeding-ground it sings its loud
notes, on which the sitting bird rushes forth to join
in the joyous chorus, and then flies away, the other
taking its place on the eggs. The young are exceed-
ingly garrulous, and when only half-fledged may be
heard practising trills and duets in their secure oven,
in shrill tremulous voices, which change to the usual
hunger-cry of young birds when the parent enters
with food. After leaving the nest, the old and young
birds live for two or three months together, only
one brood being raised in each year. A new oven is
built every year, and I have more than once seen a
second oven built on the top of the first, when this
has been placed very advantageously, as on a pro-
jection and against a wall.
A very curious thing occurred at the estancia house
202 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
of a neighbour of mine in Buenos Ayres one spring.
A pair of Oven-birds built their oven on a beam-end
projecting from the wall of a rancho. One morning
one of the birds was found caught in a steel trap
placed the evening before for rats, and both of its
legs were crushed above the knee. On being liberated
it flew up to and entered the oven, where it bled to
death, no doubt, for it did not come out again. Its
mate remained two days, calling incessantly, but there
were no other birds of its kind in the place, and it
eventually disappeared. Three days later it returned
with a new mate, and immediately the two birds
began carrying pellets of mud to the oven, with which
they plastered up the entrance. Afterwards they
built a second oven, using the sepulchre of the dead
bird for its foundation, and here they reared their
young. My neighbour, an old native, had watched
the birds from the time the first oven was begun,
feeling greatly interested in their diligent ways, and
thinking their presence at his house a good omen ;
and it was not strange that, after witnessing the
entombment of the one that died, he was more con-
vinced than ever that the little House-builders are
"" pious birds.''
EARTH-CREEPER 203
PATAGONIAN EARTH-CREEPER
Upucerthia dumetoria
Above earthy brown ; long superciliary stripe pale ochraceous ;
wings blackish, with a broad transverse cinnamon bar ; tail blackish,
lateral rectrices tipped with pale cinnamon ; beneath dirty white,
clear white on the throat and middle of the belly ; breast feathers
margined with blackish ; under wing-coverts pale cinnamon ; bill dark
hom-colour, pale at the base ; feet horn-colour ; length 9 inches.
These birds are common in Patagonia^ being resident
there ; some individuals, however, migrate north in
winter, and I once obtained a pair, male and female,
near Buenos Ayres city in the month of June.
Their legs are short, but on the ground their
movements are very rapid, and, like the Miner
(Geositta) already described, they fly reluctantly,
preferring to run rapidly from a person walking
or riding, and at such times they look curiously
like a pigmy Curlew with an extravagantly long
beak. They are active, lively birds, and live in pairs,
sometimes uniting in small, loose flocks ; they are
partial to places where scattered bushes grow on a
dry, sterile soil, and have a swift, low flight ; when
flying they frequently utter a shrill, trilling, or
rapidly reiterated note, in sound resembling laughter.
In manners, flight, language, and colouring this bird
closely resembles the smaller short-beaked Geositta
cuniculariaf and like that species it also breeds in
deep holes in banks ; but I am not able to say
whether it excavates the breeding-hole or takes
possession of one already made. Durnford found it
304 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
breeding in a hole four feet deep in the bank
of a dry lagoon. The nest was of dry grass and
lined with the fur of the cavy* It contained
three white eggs.
BROWN CINCLODES
Cinclodes fuscus
Above dark earthy brown, lores and superciliaries whitish ; wings
blackish, with a broad transverse cinnamon-coloured bar ; outer tail-
feathers blackish, broadly tipped with pale cinnamon white ; beneath
pale cinereous, with a cinnamon tinge ; throat white, slightly spotted
with blackish ; bill and feet horn-colour ; length 7.3 inches.
This homely little species differs considerably from
most Dendrocolaptine birds in colour and habits ;
and being of a uniform dull fuscous hue, its appear-
ance is not strikingly interesting. It inhabits Pata-
gonia, but is migratory, possessing, what is rare in
this family, a powerful flight. In winter it is common
all over the pampas and the Plata district, ranging
north to Paraguay. It is always found near water,
its favourite hunting-ground being the borders of a
stream. On the ground its motions are quick and
lively, but when perching on a tree it sits motionless
in one position, and when attempting to move appears
to lose its balance. These birds cannot be called
strictly gregarious, but where abundant they are fond
of gathering in loose flocks, sometimes numbering
one or two hundred individuals, and when thus
associating are very playful, frequently pursuing and
RUSH-LOVING SPINE-TAIL 205
wheeling about each other, and uttering a sharp,
trilling note. On a warm day in winter they are
occasionally heard attempting to sing, the bird dart-
ing up vertically into the air and pouring out with
great energy a confused torrent of unmusical sounds*
Their habits, so much less sedate and strikingly in
contrast with those of most of the birds in this
family, are no doubt due to the greater powers of
flight possessed by Cinclodes*
RUSH-LOVING SPINE-TAIL
Phloeocryptes melanops
Above^ forehead brown, crown blackish, broad superciliaries buffy
white ; upper half of back black ; marked with a few grey stripes ;
lower back and rump, also sides of back and neck, light brown ;
wings blackish, mottled with hght chestnut on the coverts; and a
broad band of the same colour occupying the basal half of the wing-
feathers ; tail blackish, the two middle feathers brownish grey, the
others slightly tipped with the same colour ; beneath white, more or
less tinged on the throat, flanks, and under tail-coverts with pale brown ;
under wing-coverts fulvous ; length 5.8 inches.
This is one of our few strictly migratory species in
the family Dendrocolaptidse. Probably it winters in
South Brazil, as in the northern parts of the Argentine
country it is said to be a summer visitor. On the
pampas it appears in September, and all at once
becomes very abundant in the rush-beds growing
in the water, where alone it is found. The migration
no doubt is very extensive, for in spring I found it
2o6 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
very abundant in the rusn-beds in the Rio Negro
valley, and Durnford met with it much further
south on the river Sanguelen, a tributary of the
Chupat. Migratory birds are, as a rule, very little
given to wandering ; that is to say, they do not go
much beyond the limits of the little coppice, reed-
bed, or spot of ground which they make their summer
home, and this species is no exception. It spends the
warm season secluded in its rush-bed : and when
disturbed flies with great reluctance, fluttering feebly
away to a distance of a few yards, and then dropping
into the rushes again, apparently quite incapable of
a sustained flight. How a bird so feeble on the wing,
and retiring in its habits, is able to perform a long
annual migration, when in traversing vast tracts of
open country it must be in great peril from rapacious
kinds, is a great mystery. No doubt many perish
while travelling ; but there is this circumstance in
their favour : an incredible number of birds of
various kinds, many as weak and exposed to attack
as the PhlceocrypteSf migrate simultaneously ; Hawks
are but thinly scattered along their route, and as a
rule these birds feed only once or twice a day, if the
meals are large enough to fill the stomach, so that
while the Hawk is inactive, digesting his meal,
thousands of migrants have sped by on their journey
and are beyond his reach for ever.
The Spine-tail seldom ventures out of its rush-
bed, but is occasionally seen feeding in the grass and
herbage a few yards removed from the water. Its
language is peculiar, this being a long cicada-like
RUSH-LOVING SPINE-TAIL 207
note^ followed by a series of sounds like smart taps
on a piece of dry wood. It frequents the same places
as the small Many-coloured Tyrant (Cyanotis azaree),
and these little neighbours, being equally inquisitive,
whenever a person approaches the rushes often
emerge together, one uttering wooden-sounding
creaks and raps, the other liquid gurgling notes —
a little brown bird and a little bird with many bright
colours, both, in very different tones, demanding to
know the reason of the intrusion.
The nest is a very wonderful structure, and is
usually attached to three upright stems ; it is domed,
oval-shaped, about nine inches deep, and the small
circular aperture which is close to the top is protected
by a sloping tile-like projection. It is built of tough
grass-leaves, which are apparently first daubed with
wet clay and then ingeniously woven in, with the
addition, I think, of some kind of mucilage : the
whole nest is, when finished, light but very strong,
and impervious to wet. Until the rushes die and
drop the nest remains securely fastened to them,
and in winter affords a safe and comfortable retreat
to the small, rush- or reed-frogs, of which sometimes
as many as three or four are found living in one nest.
The interior is very thickly lined with feathers ; the
eggs are three, pear-shaped, and a bright, beautiful
blue colour, sometimes with a slight greenish tinge.
The bird is so abundant in extensive marshes that
I have on several occasions, during a half-day's
ramble, found as many as forty or fifty nests, some-
times a dozen or more being placed close together,
2o8 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
but I have never taken more than three eggs from
one nest* I mention this because I have seen it stated
that four or five eggs are sometimes found,
I trust that no reader of this sketch imagines that
I robbed all the eggs contained in so many nests, I
did nothing so barbarous^ although it is perhaps
** prattling out of fashion ** to say so ; but with the
destructive, useless egg-collecting passion I have
no sympathy. By bending the pliant rushes down-
wards the eggs can be made to roll out into the hand ;
and all those which I thus took out to count were
put back in their wonderful cradles, I had a special
object in examining so many nests, A gaucho boy
once brought me a nest which had a small circular
stopper, made of the same texture as the body of the
nest, attached to the aperture at the side and when
swung round into it fitting it as perfectly as the lid
of the trap-door spider fits the burrow, I have no
doubt that it was used to close the nest when the
bird was away, perhaps to prevent the intrusion of
reed-frogs or of other small birds ; but I have never
found another nest like it, nor have I heard of one
being found by any one else ; and that one nest,
with its perfectly-fitting stopper, has been a puzzle
to my mind ever since I saw it*
TIT-LIKE SPINE-TAIL 209
TIT-LIKE SPINE-TAIL
Leptasthenura 3Egithaloides
Above pale earthy brown ; crown black, striped with clear brown ;
lores, sides of head, and throat white, with minute black spots ; wings
blackish, the edges of the outer webs of the primaries and the basal
part of the secondaries light rufescent brown ; tail black, lateral
rectrices tipped and margined with pale grey; beneath pale grey,
throat white ; length 6.8 inches.
This is a restless little bird, seen singly or in parties
of three or four. In manner and appearance it
resembles the Long-tailed Titmouse (Paras) ^ as it
diligently searches for small insects in the trees and
bushes, frequently hanging head downwards to
explore the under surface of a leaf or twig, and while
thus engaged continually uttering a little sharp
querulous note. They are not migratory, but in
winter seem to wander about from place to place a
great deal ; and in Patagonia, in the cold season, I
have frequently seen them uniting in flocks of thirty
or forty individuals, and associating with numbers
of Spine-tails of other species, chiefly with Synallaxis
sordida, and all together advancing through the
thicket, carefully exploring every bush in their way.
D'Orbigny says that it makes a nest of rootlets
and moss in a bush ; but where I have observed
this bird it invariably breeds in a hole in a tree, or
in the nest of some other bird, often in the clay
structure of the Oven-bird. But in Patagonia, where
the Oven-bird is not known, this Spine-tail almost
always selects the nest of the Synallaxis sordida. It
210 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
carries in a great deal of soft material — soft grass^
wool, and feathers — to re-line the cavity, and lays
five or six white, pointed eggs.
CHICLI SPINE-TAIL
Synallaxis spixi
Above^ crown chestnut ; lores and sides of head dark cinereous ;
hind neck, back, also wing- and tail-feathers olive-brown ; upper wing-
coverts chestnut; beneath dark cinereous, becoming whitish on the
belly, throat blackish ; under wing-coverts fulvous chestnut ; length
6.7 inches.
I LIKE Mara's name ChiclU which, to one acquainted
with the habits of this and of the following species,
seems very appropriate, suggesting, as I imagine it
does, a small creature possessing a sharp two-
syllabled note ; for although Hartlaub, in his Nomen-
clature of Azara, gives S. ruficapilla as the species
meant by Chiclif the account of its habits in the
Birds of Paraguay seems to point to S* spixi or to
S, albescens.
Azara says : '^ I give it this name because it
sings it plainly, in a loud sharp tone, which may be
heard at a distance, repeating it so frequently that
the pauses last no longer than the sound. It is
resident (in Paraguay), solitary and not abundant :
inhabits thickets of aloes and thorn, without rising
more than two yards above the surface, or showing
itself in open places. It moves about incessantly,
but does not leave its thicket to visit the woods or
WHITE-THROATED SPINE-TAIL 211
open ground, its flight being only from bush to bush ;
and though it is not timid, it is hard to detect it in
its stronghold, and to hear it one would imagine
that it was perched overhead on a tree, when it is
hidden all the time in the brushwood at the roots/'
This habit of concealing itself so closely inclines
me to think that this species, rather than S. albescenSf
was the bird described by A^ara, although in both
species the language is nearly the same. I have
nothing to add to the above account from Azara,
except that in the love-season this species has a low,
strange-sounding little song, utterly unlike its usual
strident cry. When singing, it sits motionless on
the summit of a low bush in a dejected attitude
with head drawn in, and whispers its mysterious
little melody at intervals of half a minute.
WHITE-THROATED SPINE-TAIL
Synallaxis albescens
Above, forehead grey, crown pale chestnut; sides of head and
neck, back, and tail pale earth-brown ; upper wing-coverts pale
chestnut, wing feathers olive-brown ; beneath white, faintly washed
with earthy brown, under wing-coverts fulvous ; length 5.3 inches.
This species, although by no means abundant in
Buenos Ayres, is met with much more frequently
than the 5. spixit v/hich it closely resembles in size,
colour, habits, and language. It is indeed an unusual
212 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
thing for two species so closely allied to be found
inhabiting the same district. In both birds the
colours are arranged in precisely the same way ; but
the chestnut tint on S. albescens is not nearly so
deep, the browns and greys are paler, and there is
less black on the throat.
I am pretty sure that in Buenos Ayres it is
migratory, and as soon as it appears in spring it
announces its arrival by its harsh, persistent, two-
syllabled call, wonderfully strong for so small a bird,
and which it repeats at intervals of two or three
seconds for half an hour without intermission. When
close at hand it is quite as distressing as the grating
song of a Cicada. This painful noise is uttered while
the bird sits concealed amid the foliage of a tree,
and is renewed at frequent intervals, and continues
every day until the Spine-tail finds a mate, when all
at once it becomes silent. The nest is placed in a
low thorn-bush, sometimes only two or three feet
above the ground, and is an oblong structure of
sticks, twelve or fourteen inches in depth, with the
entrance near the top, and reached by a tubular
passage made of slender sticks, and six or seven
inches long. From the top of the nest a crooked
passage leads to the cavity near the bottom ; this
is lined with a little fine grass, and nine eggs are
laid, pear-shaped and pale bluish-white in colour.
I have found several nests with nine eggs, and there-
fore set that down as the full number of the clutch,
though I confess it seems very surprising that this
bird should lay so many. When the nest is ap-
WHITE-THROATED SPINE-TAIL 213
preached, the parent birds remain silent and con-
cealed at some distance. When the nest is touched
or shaken, the young birds, if nearly fledged, have
the singular habit of running out and jumpmg to
the ground to conceal themselves in the grass.
I have no doubt that this species varies greatly
in its habits in different districts, and probably also
in the number of eggs it lays, Mr, Barrows, an ex-
cellent observer, says it lays three or four light blue
eggs. He met with it at Concepcion, in the northern
part of the Argentine Republic, and writes that it
is '* an abundant species in thorny hedges or among
the masses of dwarfed and spiny bushes, which chng
to each other so tenaciously amid the general desola-
tion of the sandy barrens," The nests which he
describes vary also in some particulars from those
I have seen, ** Entrance is gained by the bird," he
says, *' through a long tube, which is built on to the
nest at a point about half way up the side. This
tube is formed by the interlocking of thorny twigs,
and is supported by the branches and twigs about it.
It may be straight or curved ; its diameter exter-
nally varies from two to four inches, and its length
from one to two feet. The passage-way itself is but
just large enough to admit the birds one at a time,
and it has always been a mystery to me how a bird
the size of a Chipping-Sparrow could find its way
through one of these slender tubes, bristling with
thorns, and along which I found it difficult to pass
a smooth slender twig for more than five or six inches.
Yet they not only pass in and out easily, but so easily
214 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
that I was never yet able to surprise one in the nest,
or to see the slightest disturbance of it by the bird*s
hurried exit/*
The bird has a very wide range in South America,
and Mr, Salmon observed its breeding-habits in
Antioquia in Colombia. There also the bird varies
the form of its nest, making it as large as that of an
English Magpie, and roofing the top with a mass of
large leaves to protect it from the heavy rains. The
eggs, he says, are very pale greenish blue, nearly
white ; but he does not give the number.
BLACK-AND-YELLOW THROATED
SPINE-TAIL
Synallaxis phryganophila
Above, front brown, crown chestnut, superciliaries white ; sides of
head, neck, back and tail pale fulvous brown, with broad blackish
striations on the neck and back ; upper wing-coverts pale chestnut ;
wing feathers blackish, the outer webs edged with pale fulvous brown ;
beneath, upper half of throat sulphur-yellow, lower half black, with a
white patch on each side of the black ; breast and belly whitish, washed
with earthy brown, slightly fulvous on the breast and flanks ; under
wing-coverts fulvous white ; length 8.5 inches.
This pretty Spine-tail is nowhere common in the
Argentine country, and in Buenos Ayres it is exceed-
ingly scarce. It is rather large for a Synallaxis, the
total length being nine inches. The two middle
feathers of the acuminated tail greatly exceed the
others in length, measuring five inches. The plumage
STRIPED SPINE-TAIL 215
is pale brown, marked with fuscous ; the crown
and wing-coverts rufous. The beauty of the bird is
in the throat, which has three strongly contrasted
colours, distinguishing it from all other Synallaxes.
In the angle of the beak the colour is sulphur-yellow,
under this is a patch of velvet black, and on each
side of the yellow and black a pure white patch,
Mr, Barrows has the following interesting note
on its nesting-habits : '* A nest containing four
white eggs, faintly tinted with blue, was found in a
thorny tree, and some eight feet from the ground.
The nest was quite similar to the one just described
(of S. albescens), but the cavity in which the eggs
were laid was near the top of the body of the nest,
while the passage-way descended from it to the base
of the nest, and there becoming external, rose gradu-
ally to the level of the eggs at a distance of almost
three feet/*
STRIPED SPINE-TAIL
Synallaxis striaticeps
Above earthy brown, darker on the crown, which has slight greyish
striations ; broad superciliaries white ; upper wing-coverts pale chest-
nut ; wing feathers blackish, glossed with olive ; tail pale chestnut ;
beneath white ; under wing-coverts pale fulvous ; length 5.9 inches.
This species has a wide range south of the Equator,
being found in Bolivia, Uruguay, and throughout
the Argentine Republic, including Patagonia, In
its habits it differs widely from other Synallaxes,
2i6 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
and in structure and coloration is also unlike its
relatives*
The beak is longer and more curved, the claws
more crooked, and the tail stiffer than in other
SynallaxeSf and this difference in structure corre-
sponds to a different mode of life. The Striped Spine-
tail creeps on the trunk and larger branches of trees,
seeking its insect-food in the crevices of the bark,
and when seen clinging to the trunk, supported by
its tail in a vertical position, with head thrown far
back, and progressing upwards by short, quick hops,
it looks wonderfully like a small Picolaptes with
shortened beak. Or it might be taken for a very near
relation of Certhia familiaris by a visitor from Europe.
It is very restless, and while searching for insects
constantly utters a short, trilling, querulous-sounding
note.
It builds an open nest in the fork of a branch, of
soft grasses and hair, thickly lined with feathers,
and lays four or five pure white eggs.
MODEST SPINE-TAIL
Synallaxis modesta
This species so closely resembles the following in
size and dull earthy-brown colour, that when seen
in the thickets it is impossible to distinguish them.
In habits they also seem alike ; but this bird is, I
SORDID SPINE-TAIL 217
think, less retiring, for I have seen it associating
with other species of Synallaxis*
On comparing specimens together, however, it is
easy to separate the present bird from S* sordida by-
noticing the colour of the external rectrices, which
are black, externally edged with rufous, instead of
being wholly rufous.
SORDID SPINE-TAIL
Synallaxis sordida
Above earthy brown j wing feathers blackish brown, their basal
parts pale chestnut-brown, forming a transverse bar ; tail blackish,
the three outer rectrices and outer web of the fourth rectrix on each
side wholly pale chestnut-brown ; beneath pale earthy brown, clearer
on the belly, and with a bright fulvous spot on the throat ; under
wing-coverts pale cinnamon ; length 6.9 inches.
This species, which, on close comparison, is at once
distinguishable from S. modesta by the absence of
any black colour on the three exterior pairs of tail-
feathers, ranges from the extreme north of the
Argentine Republic to Patagonia, where it is quite
common, and is invariably found in dry situations
abounding in thorny vegetation.
It does not migrate, and lives with its mate in
thorny bushes, but does not attempt to conceal itself,
and sits much on the summit of a bush, where the
male in spring utters at intervals a clear, trilling call.
In its inactive disposition, slow deliberate move-
ments, also in its language, it strikingly resembles
2i8 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
the Phacellodomus ruber. In its nidification it also
comes nearest to that species. The nest is a large
structure of sticks, eighteen inches to two feet long,
placed upright among the twigs at the summit of a
bush. From the top where the entrance is placed,
a winding passage leads down to the chamber at
the bottom of the nest ; this is lined with soft dry
grass and feathers, and four pure white eggs are laid.
YELLOW-SPOT SPINE-TAIL
Synallaxis sulphurifera
Above brown, slightly olivaceous ; wings blackish ; lesser wing-
coverts, margins of the feathers of the greater wing-coverts, and
outer webs of the basal halves of the wing-feathers pale chestnut ;
tail-feathers chestnut-brown, ends much elongated and pointed ; be-
neath white, throat and breast mottled with grey, spot in middle of
throat sulphur-yellow ; flanks washed with brown ; bend of wing and
under tail-coverts fulvous ; length 6.5 inches.
I HAVE found this Synallaxis^ which was first de-
scribed by Prof. Burmeister from specimens obtained
near Buenos Ayres, in the swamps along the Plata
river ; also on the Rio Negro, in Patagonia, where,
however, it is rare. It inhabits the dense sedge- and
rush-beds growing in the water, where the Limnornis
curvirostris is also found. It closely resembles that
species in habits and language, and is also Hke it in
colour and in the rather long, curved beak, sharp
claws, stout body, and short, stiff tail. It is stationary,
pairs for life, and lives always closely concealed in
its chosen bed of close-growing sedge. When a
PATAGONIAN SPINE-TAIL 219
person approaches their hiding-place the two birds
creep up to the summit of the sedges, protesting in
peculiar, loud, angry, rattling notes. The LimnorniSf
which also pairs for life, has precisely the same habit.
Durnford describes the nest, found in a rush-bed,
as a circular or domed structure of grass, with the
aperture at the side ; the eggs white.
PATAGONIAN SPINE-TAIL
Synallaxis patagonica
Above greyish earthy brown ; wing-feathers blackish brown, basal
halves of secondaries very pale clear brown, forming a transverse
band ; tail blackish, edged with greyish brown ; outer web of outer
feather on each side pale brown ; beneath cinereous, with an obscure
blackish spot on the throat ; belly and flanks dull buff ; under wing-
coverts cinnamon ; length 6 inches.
This dull-coloured little bird, which is found in
Patagonia, and also near the Andes in the north-
western provinces of the Argentine Republic, is one
of those species which diverge greatly in habits from
the typical Spine-tails. The body is stout, the tail,
square and short, is carried vertically as in the House-
Wren.
The Patagonian Spine-tail is a resident in the Rio
Negro district. It is a silent, shy, solitary little bird,
which lives on the ground and seeks its food after
the manner of the Cachalote (Homorus), Being
small and feeble, however, it does not hunt about
the roots of trees and large bushes like the larger
220 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
and more powerful Homorus, but keeps under the
diminutive scrubby plants in open^ sterile situations.
About the roots of these wiry little bushes, only
twelve to eighteen inches high, the bird searches for
small insects, and when disturbed has a feeble jerky
flight, which carries it to a distance of about twenty
yards* It flies with great reluctance, and when
approached runs swiftly away, leaving a person in
doubt as to whether he has seen a mouse or a little
obscure bird. The only note I have heard it utter
is a faint creaking sound when alarmed or flying.
HUDSON'S SPINE-TAIL
Synallaxis hudsoni
Above fulvous brown, mottled with black, each feather being marked
with a large black spot ; on the upper part of the back the feathers
are faintly edged with whitish grey ; wings blackish, basal halves of
feathers pale clear brown, forming a transverse bar, the terminal part
of the feathers slightly edged on the outer webs and tips with ochraceous ;
tail blackish, the outer pair of rectrices and broad tips of the next
two pairs on each side very pale brown, the two middle feathers broadly
margined on both webs with pale greyish brown ; beneath pale ochra-
ceous brown, with a pale sulphur-yellowish gular spot ; flanks with a
few black marks ; under wing-coverts light cinnamon ; length 7.8 inches.
This Spine-tail, which Sclater named after me, is
the Argentine representative of 5. humicola of Chili.
It is common on the pampas, and is sometimes
called by the gauchos Tiru-riru del campOf on
account of its resemblance in the upper plumage
and in language to Anumbius acuticaudatus^ which
is named Tiru-riru in imitation of its call-note.
HUDSON'S SPINE-TAIL 221
The addition of del campo signifies that it is a bird
of the open country. It is, in fact, found exclusively
on the grassy pampas, never perching on trees, and
in habits is something like a Pipit, usually being
taken for one when first seen. It is quite common
everywhere on the pampas, and specimens have also
been obtained in Cordova, Uruguay, and Patagonia,
This Spine-tail is resident, solitary, and extremely
timid and stealthy in its movements, living always
on the ground among the long grass and cardoon-
thistles. At times its inquisitiveness overcomes its
timidity, and the bird then darts up three or four
yards into the air, and jerking its tail remains some
moments poised aloft with breast towards the in-
truder, emitting sharp little notes of alarm, after
which it darts down again and disappears in the grass.
This is a habit common to most Pipits. When driven
up it has a wild zigzag flight, and after reaching a
considerable height in the air darts down again with
astonishing swiftness, and comes back to the very
spot from which it rose. It is, however, incapable of
sustained flight, and after being flushed two or three
times refuses to rise again. In spring the male perches
on the summit of a cardoon-bush, or other slight
elevation, and at regular intervals utters a pleasing
and melancholy kind of song or call, which can be
heard distinctly at a distance of a thousand yards,
composed of four long clear plaintive notes, in-
creasing in strength, and succeeded by a falling trill.
When approached it becomes silent, and dropping
to the ground conceals itself in the grass. Under a
222 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
cardoon-bush or tussock it scoops out a slight hollow
in the ground, and builds over this a dome of fine
dry grass, leaving a small aperture arched like the
door of a baker's oven. The bed is lined with dry
povv^dered horse-dung, and the eggs are five, bluntly
pointed and of a very pale buff colour. The interior
of the nest is so small that when the five young birds
are fledged they appear to be packed together very
closely, so that it is difficult to conceive how the
parent bird passes in and out.
The nest is always very cunningly concealed, and
I have often spent days searching in a patch of
cardoon-bushes where the birds were breeding
without being able to find it. Something more will
be said about the nesting-habits of this species in
the account of the Carrion-hawk, Milvago chimango.
WREN-LIKE SPINE-TAIL
Synallaxis maluroides
Above, front and middle of crown chestnut ; hind head, neck, and
back pale fulvous brown, thickly marked with longitudinal black shaft-
spots ; lores white ; wings blackish, the feathers edged with pale
ochraceous, the basal part of secondaries very pale brown, forming a
transverse bar ; tail pale chestnut-brown, the two middle feathers with
a broad black mark on the inner web ; beneath white, breast and flanks
washed with pale brown, and freckled with very small dark brown
spots ; under wing-coverts white ; length 6.1 inches.
D'Orbigny discovered this small Spine-tail near
Buenos Ayres city, but did not record its habits.
Like the species just described it is abundant on the
FIREWOOD-GATHERER 223
pampas, but in its habits resembles a Wren of the
genus Cistothorus rather than a Pipit, being partial
to moist situations, where there is a rank growth of
grass and herbage. The wings are very short, and
the flight so feeble that the bird refuses to rise after
being pursued a distance of one or two hundred
yards. And yet I am not prepared to say that it does
not migrate, as I have found that in spring it all at
once becomes very abundant, while in the cold
season it is rarely seen. It is solitary, and in spring
sits on a thistle or stalk, uttering at short intervals
its small grasshopper-like song or call. The nest is
a slight open structure of grass, lined with a few
feathers, placed in a tuft of grass or reeds. The eggs
are pure white in colour.
FIREWOOD-GATHERER
Anumbius acuticaudatus
Above earthy brown, forehead chestnut, superciliaries white ; head,
neck, and back marked with black striations ; primaries blackish,
secondaries pale chestnut-brown ; tail black, all the feathers except
the middle pair broadly tipped with cream-colour ; beneath pale ochra-
ceous brown, white on the throat, the white bordered on each side by
numerous black spots ; length 8.5 inches.
This is a common and very well-known species
throughout the Argentine country and Patagonia,
also in Uruguay and Paraguay, and is variously
called Espinero (Thorn-bird), Tiru-riru^ in imitation
224 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
of its note^ and Ahumbi ^the Guarani name) ; but
its best -known name is Lehatero, or *' Firewood-
gatherer/' from the quantity of sticks which it collects
for building purposes.
The Firewood-gatherer is a resident in Argentina,
and pairs for life. Sometimes the young birds remain
with their parents for a period of three or four
months, all the family going about and feeding in
company, and roosting together in the old nest.
The nest and the tree where it is placed are a favourite
resort all the year round. Here the birds sit perched
a great deal, and repeat at intervals a song or call,
composed of four or five loud ticking chirps, followed
by a long trilling note. They feed exclusively on
the ground, where they creep about, carrying the
body horizontally and intently searching for insects.
When disturbed they hurry to their usual refuge,
rapidly beating their very feeble wings, and expanding
the broad acuminated tail like a fan. When the male
and female meet at their nest, after a brief separation,
they sing their notes in concert, as if rejoicing over
their safe reunion ; but they seldom separate, and
A^ara says that when one incubates, the other sits
at the entrance to the nest, and that when one
returns to the nest with food for the young the
other accompanies it, though it has found nothing
to carry.
To build, the Ahumhi makes choice of an isolated
tree in an open situation, and prefers a dwarf tree
with very scanty foliage ; for small projecting twigs
and leaves hinder the worker when carrying up
FIREWOOD-GATHERER 225
sticks* This is a most laborious operation, as the
sticks are large and the bird's flight is feeble. If
the tree is to its liking, it matters not how much
exposed to the winds it may be, or how close to a
human habitation, for the bird is utterly unconcerned
by the presence of man. I have frequently seen a
nest in a shade or ornamental tree within ten yards
of the main entrance to a house ; and I have also
seen several on the tall upright stakes of a horse-
corral, and the birds working quietly, with a herd
of half-wild horses rushing round the enclosure
beneath them, pursued by the men with lassoes.
The bird uses large sticks for building, and drops
a great many ; frequently as much fallen material
as would fill a barrow lies under the tree. The
fallen stick is not picked up again, as the bird could
not rise vertically with its load, and is not intelligent
enough, I suppose, to recover the fallen stick and to
carry it away thirty yards from the tree and then
rise obliquely. It consequently goes far afield in
quest of a fresh one, and having got one to its liking,
carefully takes it up exactly by the middle, and,
carrying it like a balancing-pole, returns to the nest,
where, if one end happens to hit against a pro-
jecting twig, it drops like the first. The bird is not
discouraged, but, after a brief interview with its mate,
flies cheerfully away to gather more wood.
Durnford writes wonderingly of the partiality for
building in poplar trees shown by this bird in Buenos
Ayres, and says that in a tall tree the nest is some-
times placed sixty or seventy feet above the ground.
226 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
and that the bird almost invariably rises with a stick
at such a distance from the tree as to be able just to
make the nest, but that sometimes failing it alights
further down, and then climbs up the twigs with
its stick. He attributes the choice of the tall poplar
to ambition ; but the Ahumbi has really a much
simpler and lowlier motive. In the rich Buenos-
Ayrean soil all trees have a superabundance of foliage,
and in the slim Lombardy poplar alone can the nest
be placed where the bird can reach it laden with
building-material, without coming in contact with
long projecting twigs.
The nest of the Ahumbi is about two feet in depth,
and from ten to twelve inches in diameter, and rests
in an oblique position amongst the branches. The
entrance is at the top, and a crooked or spiral passage-
way leads dov/n to the lower extremity, where the
breeding chamber is situated ; this is lined with wool
and soft grass, and five white eggs are laid, varying
considerably in form, some being much more sharply
pointed than others.
The nest, being so secure and comfortable an
abode, is greatly coveted by several other species of
birds to breed in ; but on this subject I have already
spoken in the account of the genus Molothrus, When
deprived of their nest, the birds immediately set to
work to make a new one ; but often enough without
being ejected from the first they build a second nest,
sometimes demolishing the first work to use the
materials. I watched one pair make three nests be-
fore laying ; another pair made two nests, and after
CURVED-BILL RUSH-BIRD 227
the second was completed they returned to the first
and there elected to remain* Two or three nests are
sometimes seen on one tree^ and A^ara says he has
seen as many as six. Mr* Barrows observed the bird
at Concepcion, where it is very common, and writes
that in that district the nest is sometimes four feet
long with an average diameter of two feet, and that
the same nest in some cases is used for several
seasons successively ; also that several nests are
sometimes joined together and all occupied at the
same time*
CURVED-BILL RUSH-BIRD
Limnornis curvirostris
Above rufous-brown, brighter on the rump ; lores and supercili-
aries white ; wings and tail chestnut-brown ; beneath white ; flanks
and under tail-coverts pale brown ; under wing-coverts white ; length
7 inches.
This species is found everywhere in marshy places
in the eastern part of the Argentine Republic, and is
also common in Uruguay, where Darwin discovered
it* It inhabits dense rush-beds growing in the water,
and is not found in any other situation. It pairs for
life, has a feeble flight, and flies with great reluctance,
but lives always in close concealment in one spot. It
iSf however, very inquisitive, and when approached
the two birds creep up to the summit of the rushes
and utter peculiar loud, rattling, and jarring notes,
as if angrily protesting against the intrusion,
p 2 I
228 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
The Rush-bird has a stout body and short gradu-
ated tail, strong claws, and a slender curved beak
three-fourths of an inch long. The upper plumage is
brown, the tail rufous, the under surface and a mark
over the eye white.
RED THORN-BIRD
Phacellodomus ruber
Above olive-brown, front chestnut j tail brownish chestnut ; beneath
whitish, throat, breast, and flanks washed and mottled with bright red-
dish brown ; under wing-coverts and inner margins of wing-feathers
bright cinnamon ; length 7.3 inches.
This is a common species throughout the eastern
portion of the Argentine country, and extends as far
south as the southern boundary of the Buenos-
Ayrean province.
It is resident, living in pairs in places where there
are scattered thorny trees and bushes, and is never
found in deep woods. It never attempts to conceal
itself, but, on the contrary, sits exposed on a bush
and will allow a person to approach within three or
four yards of it. Nor has it the restless manner of
most Synallaxine birds which live in the same places
with it, but moves in a slow, deliberate way, and
spends a great deal of time sitting motionless on its
perch, occasionally uttering its call or song, composed
of a series of long, shrill, powerful notes in descend-
ing scale and uttered in a very leisurely manner. It
RED THORN-BIRD aag
builds a large oblong nest of sticks, about two feet
deep, and placed obliquely among the thorny twigs
of a bush or low tree» Mr* Barrows writes : '* There
are commonly two cavities in the nest, one being half
open to the weather, and forming the entrance, the
other further back and connected with the former
by only a short passage-way, which in many cases is
reduced to a simple hole through a broad partition,
which alone separates them/' The eggs are four and
of a pure white.
The bird described is one of a group of four
species found in Argentina, Of these the smallest
and most interesting in its nesting habits is the
Whistling Thorn-bird, Phacellodomus sibilatrix*
It inhabits the thorny woods of the northern
districts of the Argentine country, but I have no
reason to regret that I have not personally observed
this species, since Mr, Barrows' careful account of
its nesting-habits leaves nothing to be desired. He
writes : "An abundant species among the open
woods along the Uruguay, and hardly distinguish-
able at ten paces from half a dozen others. Its
nest, however, is unmistakable. The birds begin by
fixing a few crooked and thorny twigs among the
terminal sprays of some slender branch which juts
out horizontally from a tree, or rises obliquely from
near its base, and around these twigs as a nucleus
more are gathered, until by the time the nest has
reached the proper size, its weight has bent the
branch so that its tip points directly to the earth.
Nests which are thus begun at a distance of fifteen
y
230 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
or twenty feet from the ground are often only two
or three feet from it when finished^ and a thorough
soaking by a heavy rain will sometimes weigh them
down until they actually touch* They are more or
less oval or cylindrical in shape, and commonly
about two feet long by twelve or fifteen inches in
diameter, and contain from a peck to a bushel of
twigs and thorns. The nest-cavity within is small
in proportion to the size of the nest, and occupies its
upper part. It is reached by a more or less direct
passage-way from below, the external opening being
very nearly at the lowest part of the nest, though
sometimes a little shelf, or even a pocket, is built on
to the side, forming a resting-place in front of the
door.
** The nests vary interminably in size and shape,
but are pretty constant in the material used ; this
being almost always irregular and thorny twigs of
various trees growing in the neighbourhood, while
the interior is formed of less thorny twigs and with
some wool and hair. Usually, also, if the material
be at hand, a quantity of old dry horse-droppings is
placed loosely on the top of the nest, and gradually
becomes felted into it, rendering it more nearly
waterproof. In place of this I have frequently found
quantities of broken straw, weed-stalks, grass, and
even chips ; all doubtless collected from the ridges
of drift which the last overflow of the river had left
near at hand. So compactly is the whole nest built,
that it often lasts more than one year, and may
sometimes serve the same pair two successive
RUFOUS CACHALOTE 231
summers. More often, however, a new nest is built
directly above the old one, which serves as a founda-
tion, and occasionally as many as three nests are
seen thus on the same branch-tip, two of them at
least being occupied. When other branches of the
same tree are similarly loaded, and other trees close
at hand also bear the same kind of fruit, the result
is very picturesque. The eggs, which are white, are
laid from ist October to ist January, but many of
the birds work at nest-building all the winter, some-
times spending months on a single nest/'
RUFOUS CACHALOTE
Homorus lophotes
Above bright brown, with olive tinge on the back ; crest feathers ^-^'■'-'Tfa-'-''*^-*'^-^ ^'^
dark brown; quills blackish; tail bright chestnut; beneath duller Z' ^'^^^-^^
brown, throat rufous ; bill bright blue, eye white ; length 9.8 inches.
This interesting species inhabits the north and
north-western parts of the Argentine territory; in
the province of Buenos Ayres its presence is confined
to the narrow strip of subtropical wood fringing the
low shores of the Plata river*
When surprised, its white eye, blue dagger-like
beak, and raised crest give it a strikingly bold and
angry appearance, the effect of which is heightened
by the harsh, rasping, jay-like scream it utters when
disturbed. This resentful look is deceptive, however,
for the bird is the shyest creature imaginable. Its
232 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
language has the shrill excited character common to
this most loquacious family ; and at intervals through-
out the day two birds^ male and female, meet together
and make the woods echo with their screaming con-
cert. For many weeks after I had become familiar
with these loud-sounding notes, while collecting in
the littoral forest where it is found, the bird was still
to me only a *' wandering voice ** ; but I did not
give up the pursuit till I had seen it several times
and had also secured two or three specimens. I
found one nest, though without eggs, a rough-
looking domed structure, made with material enough
to fill a barrow. I also discovered that the bird feeds
exclusively on the ground, close to the boles of
low-branching trees, where there is usually an
accumulation of fallen bark, dead leaves, and other
rubbish. Here the bird digs with its sharp beak for
the small insects it preys on. When approached it
does not fly away, but runs swiftly to the nearest
tree, behind the trunk of which it hides, then scuttles
on to the next tree, and so escapes without showing
itself.
Mr. Barrows, who observed the Gachalote at
Concepcion, says that it is a bird which cannot be
overlooked, with an outrageous disposition and voice,
and a nest the size of a barrel. He gives the follow-
ing account of its nidification : ** His nest is built
entirely of sticks, and many of them of goodly size,
frequently as large round as your little finger and
two feet or more long. These are disposed in such
a way as to form a structure three or four feet in
LAUGHING CACHALOTE 233
length by about two in breadth at the widest part,
the whole very much resembling a gigantic powder-
flask lying on its side among the lower branches of
a spreading tree* It is quite loosely built and the
nest-cavity is rather indefinite, being any portion
of the floor of the nest which the bird selects for
the reception of the eggs. These are usually three
or four in number, pure white, and are laid from
October until January. They can usually be counted
through the loose floor of the nest, though sometimes
its thickness prevents this/*
LAUGHING CACHALOTE
Homorus gutturalis
Nearly uniform earthy grey, faintly tinged with olivaceous brown
above, and much paler beneath ; lores and upper part of throat pure
white, lower part of throat black, or white and black mixed ; under
wing-coverts white, faintly tinged with pale cinnamon ; beak and feet
bluish grey ; length 94 inches.
I FOUND this bird quite common on the dry open
plains in the neighbourhood of the Rio Negro in
Patagonia. In size, form, and crest it is like the
northern Cachalote, but has a white throat, while the
rest of the plumage is of a pale earthy brown instead
of rufous. Like the Rufous Cachalote it is also shy
in disposition, and, being so dull in colour and with-
out the bright beak and eye tints, has not the bold,
striking appearance of that species ; still I do not
think any ornithologist can meet with it and fail to
234 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
be strongly impressed with its personality, if such a
word can be applied to a bird*
Dendrocolaptine birds are, as a rule, builders of
big nests and very noisy ; H* gutturalis is, I believe,
the loudest screamer and greatest builder of the
family. Male and female live together in the same
locality all the year ; the young, when able to fly,
remain with their parents till the breeding-season,
so that the birds are found occasionally in pairs, but
more frequently in families of five or six individuals.
When feeding they scatter about, each bird attaching
itself to a large bush, scraping and prodding for
insects about the roots ; and at intervals one of the
old birds, ascending a bush, summons the others
with loud shrill cries, on which they all hurry to the
place of meeting, and from the summits of the bushes
burst forth in a piercing chorus, which sounds at a
distance like screams of hysterical laughter. At one
place where I spent some months, there were some
bushes over a mile and a quarter from the house I
lived in, where these birds used to hold frequent
meetings, and in that still atmosphere I could dis-
tinctly hear their extravagant cries at that distance.
After each performance they pursue each other,
passing from bush to bush with a wild jerky flight,
and uttering harsh excited notes.
They select a low, strong, wide-spreading bush to
build in ; the nest, which is made of stout sticks, is
perfectly spherical and four to five feet deep, the
chamber inside being very large. The opening is at
the side,' near the top, and is approached by a narrow
CLIMBING WOOD-HEWER 235
arched gallery, neatly made of slender sticks resting
along a horizontal branch, and about fourteen inches
long* This peculiar entrance no doubt prevents the
intrusion of snakes and small mammals* The struc-
ture differs from all the domed nests of other species
of Woodhewers in the spaciousness of the cavity
where the eggs are laid. The dome removed, an eagle
or vulture could breed in it quite comfortably. So
strongly made is the nest that I have stood on the
dome of one and stamped on it with my heavy boots
without injuring it in the least, and to demolish one
I had to force my gun barrel into it, then prize it up
by portions. I examined about a dozen of these
enormous structures, but they were all met with
before or after the laying season, so that I did not
see the'eggs.
CLIMBING WOOD-HEWER
Picolaptes angustirostris
Above^ head and neck blackish, with oblong whitish shaft-spots on
the crown and neck ; broad superciliaries white, extending nearly to
the back and broken at their lower ends into shaft-spots ; rest of
upper surface dull brown, brighter on the rump ; wing-feathers pale
obscure chestnut ; outer webs and broad tips of primaries blackish ;
tail chestnut; sides of breast and belly thickly marked with faint
blackish stripes ; under wing-coverts cinnamon ; length 8.3 inches.
This is the only member of the genus Picolaptes as
yet met with within the limits of the Argentine
Republic. Azara found it abundant in Paraguay,
236 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
and on this account nameoit the Common Climber,
Trepador comun. In Buenos Ayres it is a summer
visitant, appearing at the end of September* It is a
solitary bird, never seen away from the woods, and
invariably utters a loud melancholy cry when passing
from one tree to another* It always alights on the
trunk close to the ground, clinging to the bark in a
vertical position, supported by the tail, and with
head thrown far back in order to give free play to
the extremely long beak. Having thus ahghted, it
progresses upwards by short hops, exploring the
crevices in the wood for small insects, until it reaches
the branches, when it flies off to the next tree. It
is in fact a Tree-creeper in its manner of seeking
its food.
RED-CAPPED BUSH-BIRD
Thamnophilus ruficapilltu
Above olive-brown tinged with rufous ; lores yellowish-white ; super-
ciliaries and sides of head whitish grey ; quills olive-brown ; tail black,
the rectrices, except the middle pair, tipped and broadly spotted on
the inner webs with white ; beneath whitish grey, every feather trans-
versely barred with black ; length 6.2 inches. Female like the male
except that the tail is rufous brown and the markings beneath scarcely
perceptible.
The Red-capped Bush-bird, or Bush-lover, is one
of four species of its genus, which range as far south
as the Argentine country and are the only repre-
sentatives in it of the Family Formicaridas or Ant-
RED-CAPPED BUSH-BIRD 237
birds. Like the Tyrants and Wood-hewers it is
confined to America^ but less diffused than those
two families, being mostly birds of the tropical
forest region.
The present species is quite common in the eastern
provinces of Argentina, and extends south to Buenos
Ayres. It is a shy, solitary bird, found in woods
and thickets along the shores of La Plata ; and utters
occasionally a singular low rasping note, its only
language. The nest is a slight shallow structure
placed in a low tree ; the eggs are white, thinly
spotted with reddish brown. Probably this species
is to some extent migratory, as I have only observed
it in the summer season.
Azara's account of another species, the Larger
Bush-bird, Thamnophilus major , which inhabits Para-
guay and North Argentina, is prefaced by the fol-
lowing interesting remarks on the birds of this genus
known to him :
** These birds inhabit only the dense and tangled
thickets, and never show themselves outside of their
hiding-place, except for a few moments in the early
morning and in the evening ; but at no time do they
perch high on the trees, but keep always within a
few feetjof the earth. They live in pairs ; feed
solely on insects caught in the bushes which they
frequent, or on the ground, on which, however, the
bird alights only to pick up its prey, and then returns
to the twig'^to devour it. They are stationary, and fly
only from one thicket to another. Many of the
species have a similar voice or song, which is singular,
238 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
powerful, and heard only in me love-season. The call
is a trill of a single note rapidly reiterated, and loud
enough to be heard half a mile away ; the cry being
accompanied by vibratory motions of the wings/*
LITTLE COCK
Rhinocrypta lanceolata
Above^ head and upper neck reddish brown with a fine white shaft-
stripe on each feather, the stripes being most conspicuous on the crest-
feathers ; lower neck, back, rump, and wings greyish olive ; tail blackish ;
beneath, throat and upper part of breast grey, becoming pure white
on the middle of the belly ; sides of belly and flanks bright chestnut ;
lower part of belly and flanks and under tail-coverts like the back ;
bill horn-colour, feet black ; length 9 inches.
The last Passerine species to be described is the
only one known to me belonging to the singular
South American Family, Pteroptochidse* They are
mostly natives of Chili and the south-western
extremity of the South American continent, but
have representatives in the Andes of Ecuador
and Columbia and the high plateau of Central
Brazil.
The vernacular name GallitOt or ** Little Cock,**
by which this species is familiarly known in Pata-
gonia, cannot fail to strike every one who sees the
bird as appropriate, for it struts and runs on the
ground with tail erect, looking wonderfully like a
minute domestic fowl. In the neighbourhood of
^
Gallito (Little Cock)
Rhinocrypta lanceolata, Geoff;i
LITTLE COCK 239
Carmen, on the Rio Negro, it is very abundant, and
when I went there its loud deep chirrup, heard from
every side in the thicket, quickly arrested my atten-
tion, just as the perpetual chirping of the Sparrows
did when I first landed in England. In the interior
of the country it is not nearly so abundant, so that
man*s presence has probably in some way affected
it favourably. Its habits amuse and baffle a person
anxious to make its acquaintance ; for it scarcely
possesses the faculty of flight, and cannot be driven
up, but it is so easily alarmed, so swift of foot, and
so fond of concealment, that it is most difficult to
catch a sight of it. At the same time it is extremely
inquisitive, and no sooner does it spy an intruder in
the bush than the warning note is sounded, where-
upon every bird within hearing hops up into a thick
thorn-bush, where it utters every three or four
seconds a loud hollow chirp, and at intervals a
violent scolding cry, several times repeated. When
approached they all scuttle away, masked by the
bushes, with amazing swiftness, to take refuge at a
distance, where the loud protest is again resumed ;
but when the pursuer gives up the pursuit in disgust
and turns away, they immediately follow him, so
that he is perpetually encircled with the same ring
of angry sound, moving with him, coming no nearer
and never allowing its cause to be seen.
On three or four occasions I have seen one rise
from the ground and fly several yards with a feeble
fluttering flight; but when closely pursued in an
open place they seem incapable of rising. They
240 BIRDS OF LA PLATA
generally fly down from tne top of a bush, but
always ascend it by hopping from twig to twig.
The nest is made in the centre of a thorny bush
two or three feet from the ground ; and is round
and domed, with a small aperture at the side, and
built entirely of fine dry grass. The eggs are four in
number and pure white.
END OF VOL. I
INDEX
Agelxus flavus, ii6
ruficapillus, 119
thilius, 115
Alectrurus risorius, 151
tricolor, 150
Alonzo Garcia, 197
Amblyrhamphus holosericeus, 118
Anaeretes parulus, 17a
Anjelito de las inimas, 145
Anthus correndera, 20
furcatus, 23
Anumbi, 224
Anumbius acuticaudatus, 223
Aphobus chopi, 132
Argentine Blackbird, 5
Cow-bird, 69
Ashy-black Tyrant, 154
Bank Martin, 38
Bay-winged Cow-bird, 112
Bellicose Tyrant, 187
Bienteveo Tyrant, 176
Black-and-Chestnut Warbling
Finch, 49 ^ ^
Black - and - Yellow Crested
Tyrant, 186
Black - and - Yellow Throated
Spine-Tail, 214
Black-crowned Tyrant, 141
Black-headed Reed-Wren, 20
Siskin, 59
Thrush, 5
Black Tyrant, 155
Boyero, 118
Cabeza amarilla, 116
Cachalote, 231
Cachalote, Laughing, 233
Rufous, 231
Cachila Pipit, 20
Calandria, 5
blanca, 12
de las tres colas, 11
Mocking-bird, 5
Caminante, 196
Cardinal Finch, 47
Yellow, 51
Casera, 197
Caserita, 195
Centrites niger, 165
Chat-hke Tyrant, 148
Chestnut-shouldered Hang-nest,
130
Chicli Spine-tail, 210
Chingolo Song-Sparrow, 54
Chin-spotted Tyrant, 163
Chocolate Tyrant, 135
Chopi, 132
Chrysomitris icterica, 59
Churinche, 182
Cinclodes fuscus, 204
Cistothorus platensis, 19
Climbing Wood-hewer, 235
Cnipolegus anthracinus, 154
hudsoni, 155
Cock-tailed Tyrant, 150
Colegial, 159
Common Swallow, 34
Cow-bird, 69
Argentine or Common, 69-96
Bay-winged, H2
Screaming, 96
Curved-bill Rush-bird, 227
Cyanotis azarae, 173
241
242
BIRDS OF LA PLATA
Degollado, 128
Diuca Finch, 52
Diuca minor, 52
Domestic Martin, 25
Dominican Tyrant, 144
Donacobius atricapillus, 20
Donacospiza albifrons, 48
Dusky Thrush, i
Embernagra platensis, 57
Empidonomus aurantio-atro-
cristatus, 186
Espinero, 223
Finches, 44-69
Firewood-gatherer, 223
Fluvicola albiventris, 149
Fork-tailed Pipit, 23
Fuegero, 182
Furnarius rufus, 197
Gallito, 238
Geositta cunicularia, 195
Glaucous Finch, 44
Golondrina domestica, 25
Gubernatrix cristatella, 51
Guiraca glaucocxrulea, 44
Guira-pita, 182
Hang-nest, 130
Hapalocercus flaviventris, 167
Homorus lophotes, 231
gutturalis, 233
Hudson's Spine-tail, 220
Housekeeper, 195
House Wren, 16
Icteridx, 69-135
Icterus pyrrhopterus, 130
Joao de los Barrios, 197
John of the Mudpuddles, 197
Laughing Cachalote, 233
Leistes super ciliaris, 120
Lraatero, 224
Leptasthenura cegithaloides, 209
Lesser Cardinal Finch, 48
Diuca Finch, 52
Lichenops erythropterus, 157
perspicillatus, 157
Limnornis curvirostris, 227
Lindo, 43
Little Black Red-Back, 165
Cock, 238
Housekeeper, 195
Long-tailed Tyrant, 168
River-side Grey Tyrant, 170
Tit-like Grey Tyrant, 172
Machetornis rixosa, 161
Magellanic Thrush, 4
Many-coloured Tyrant, 173
Melancholy Tyrant, 188
Military Starling, 128
Milvulus tyr annus, 190
Mimus modulator, 5
patachonicus, 8
triurus, 11
Minera, 196
Misto Seed-Finch, 67
Mocking-bird, Calandria, 5
Patagonian, 8
White-banded, 11
Modest Spine-tail, 216
Molothrus badius, 112
honariensis, 69
rufoaxillaris, 96
Mourning Finch, 50
Mouse-coloured Tyrant, 147
Muscisaxicola macloviana, 163
Myiotheretes rufiventris, 135
Oven-bird, 197
Paroaria capitata, 48
cucullata, 47
Patagonian Earth-creeper, 203
Marsh-Starling, 126
INDEX
243
Patagonian Spine-tail> 219
Pecho-amarillo, 123
Pecho-colorado, 128
Pepoaza Tyrant, 138
Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, 32
Phacellodomus ruber, 228
sibilatrix, 229
Phlaeocryptes melanops, 205
Phrygilus fruticeti, 50
Phytotoma rutila, 193
Pico de Plata, 157
Picolaptes angustirostris, 235
Pipit, Cachila, 20
Pitangus holivianm, 176
Plant-cutter, 193
Poospiza nigrorufa, 49
Progne chalyhea, 25
furcata, 24
tapera, 27
Pseudoleistes virescens, 123
Purple Martin, 24
Pyrocephalus rubineus, 181
Quarhi-rahi, 182
Red-backed Rock Martin, 32
Red-bellied Thrush, 3
Red-billed Ground Finch, 57
Red-breasted Marsh-bird, lao
Red-capped Bush-bird, 236
Red Thorn-bird, 228
Reed Tyrant, 167
Rhinocrypta lanceolata, 238
Rufous Cachalote, 231
Rufous-headed Marsh-bird, 119
Rush-loving Spine-tail, 203
Scarlet-headed Marsh-bird, 118
Scarlet Tyrant, 181
Scissor- tail Tyrant, 190
Screaming Cow-bird, 96-112
Finch, 45
Serpophaga nigricans, 170
subcristata, 169
Short-winged Tyrant, 161
Silverbill, 157
Siskin, Black-headed, 59
Sisopygis icterophrys, 153
Sordid Spine-tail, 217
Sparrow, Chingolo Song, 54
Yellow House, 61
** Spectacular " group, 154
Spermophila caerulescens, 45
mclanocephala, 47
palustris, 47
Stephanophorus leucocephalus, 42
Stigmatura flavo-cinerea, 168
Strange-tailed Tyrant, 151
Striped Spine-tail, 215
Swallow, 24-42
Swallow-like Tyrant, 149
Sycalis luteola, 67
pelzelni, 61
Synallaxis albescens, 211
hudsoni, 220
maluroides, 222
modesta, 216
patagonica, 219
phryganophila, 214
sordida, 217
spixi, 210
striaticeps, 215
sulphurifera, 218
Tachycineta leucorrhoa, 34
Teenioptera coronata, 141
dominicana, 144
irupero, 145
murina, 147
nengetd, 138
rubetra, 148
Tanagers, 42-44
Thamnophilus ruficapillus, 236
Thorn-bird, 223
Tiru-rlru, 223
Tit-like Spine-tail, 209
Tree Martin, 27
Troglodytes furvus, 16
244
BIRDS OF LA PLATA
Troupials, 69-135
Trupialis defilippii, 128
militaris, 12,6
Turdus fuscater, 5
leucomelas, i
magellanicus, 4
nigriceps, 5
rufiventris, 3
Upucerthia dumetoria, 203
White-capped Tanager, 42
White-throated Spine-tail, 211
Wren, 16
Wren-hke Spine-tail, 222
Yellow-breasted Maiih-bird, 123
Yellow-browed Tyrant, 153
Yellow Cardinal, 51
Yellow-headed Marsh-bird, 116
Yellow House-Sparrow, 61
Yellow-shouldered Marsh-bird, 115
Yellow-spot Spine-tail, 218
Zonotrichia canicapiUa, 56
pileata, 54
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