Argentine Ornithology Volume I Part 41

(NARROW-BILLED WOOD-HEWER.)

+Picolaptes angustirostris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 69; _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 433 (Cordova). +Lepidocolaptes atripes+, _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 21 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Above, head and neck blackish, with oblong whitish shaft-spots on the crown and neck; broad superciliaries white, extending nearly to the back and broken at their lower ends into shaft-spots; rest of upper surface dull brown, brighter on the rump; wing-feathers pale obscure chestnut; outer webs and broad tips of primaries blackish; tail chestnut; beneath white, clearer on the throat; sides of breast and belly thickly marked with faint blackish stripes; under wing-coverts cinnamon; bill pale horn-colour; feet grey: whole length 82 inches, wing 38, tail 25. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Paraguay and Argentina.

This is the only member of the genus _Picolaptes_ as yet met with within the limits of the Argentine Republic. Azara found it abundant in Paraguay, and on this account named it the Common Climber, "_Trepador comun_." In Buenos Ayres it is a summer visitant, appearing at the end of September. It is a solitary bird, never seen away from the woods, and invariably utters a loud melancholy cry when pa.s.sing from one tree to another. It always alights on the trunk close to the ground, clinging to the bark in a vertical position, supported by the tail, and with head thrown far back in order to give free play to the extremely long beak.

Having thus alighted, it progresses upwards by short hops, exploring the crevices in the wood for small insects, until it reaches the branches, when it flies off to the next tree.

Fam. XVIII. FORMICARIIDae, or ANT-BIRDS.

The Formicariidae, or Ant-birds, are another very important const.i.tuent of the Neotropical Avifauna, but are less generally diffused than the Dendrocolaptidae, the greater number of the forms being restricted to the hot forests of South and Central America. In the Argentine Republic we meet with only four species of the widely-spread genus _Thamnophilus_, and of them only one appears to extend as far south as Buenos Ayres.

222. THAMNOPHILUS LEACHI (Such).

(LEACH'S BUSH-BIRD.)

+Thamnophilus leachi+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 69; _White, P. Z.

S._ 1882, p. 614 (Misiones).

_Description._--Black, thickly and conspicuously spotted above with white or pale yellowish; on the wings the spots occur on the outer webs of the feathers; upper tail-coverts faintly edged with grey; tail black, unspotted; feathers on the lower breast and belly slightly edged with grey; bill and feet black: whole length 105 inches, wing 34, tail 50. _Female_: spots larger and yellow, on the crown lengthening to stripes and tinged with rufous; inner webs of the wing-feathers also spotted on their margins; whole under surface thickly spotted with pale yellow.

_Hab._ Brazil and N. Argentina.

White met with a single individual of this fine Bush-bird at Concepcion, Misiones. It was observed on the ground feeding on a swarm of black ants.

223. THAMNOPHILUS MAJOR, Vieill.

(LARGER BUSH-BIRD.)

+Thamnophilus major+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 69; _White, P. Z.

S._ 1882, p. 614 (Salta); _Salvin, Ibis_. 1880, p. 359 (Salta).

+Thamnophilus stagurus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 471 (Parana, Tuc.u.man).

_Description._--Above black, upper wing-coverts crossed by a row of white spots; the outer rectrix on each side tipped and barred with white, the other rectrices, excepting the middle pair, spotted with white on their inner webs; beneath pure white; bill black, feet grey: whole length 80 inches, wing 36, tail 28. _Female_ above rufous, beneath white, lower flanks and under tail-coverts tinged with ochraceous; tail wholly rufous.

_Hab._ Paraguay and N. Argentina.

White found this species common in the gardens round the town of Oran.

He noted the iris as "crimson."

Azara's account of this species is prefaced by the following remarks on the birds of this genus known to him in Paraguay:--"These birds inhabit only the dense and tangled thickets, and never show themselves outside of their hiding-places, except for a few moments in the early morning and in the evening; but at no time do they perch high on the trees, but keep always within a few feet of the earth. They live in pairs; feed solely on insects caught in the bushes which they frequent, or on the ground, on which, however, the bird alights only to pick up its prey, and then returns to the twig to devour it. They are stationary, and fly only from one thicket to another. Many of the species have a similar voice or song, which is singular, powerful, and heard only in the love-season. The call is a trill of a single note rapidly reiterated, and loud enough to be heard half a mile away; the cry being accompanied by vibratory motions of the wings."

224. THAMNOPHILUS CaeRULESCENS, Vieill.

(SLATY-BLUE BUSH-BIRD.)

+Thamnophilus caerulescens+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 472 (Parana, Mendoza, Tuc.u.man); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 70; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 614 (Corrientes, Misiones); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 21 (Entrerios); _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 361 (Salta).

_Description._--Above grey, black on the crown, and a patch of white and black feathers on the middle of the back; wings black, the coverts thickly spotted and the inner webs of the remiges edged with white; tail black, all the feathers, except the middle pair, tipped with white, the outer rectrix on each side has also a long white spot in the middle part of the outer web; beneath cinereous, white on the belly; bill and feet black: whole length 56 inches, wing 27, tail 23. _Female_: above earthy olive-green, yellowish on the crown; wing-coverts and tail as in the male; wing-feathers olive-brown; beneath yellowish olive-grey, brightening into ochraceous on the belly and flanks.

_Hab._ Paraguay and Argentina.

Mr. Barrows says concerning this species that it is "frequently seen, especially during the winter" (on the Lower Uruguay). A nest, taken November 24th, "was almost precisely like that of our Red-eyed Vireo (_V. olivaceus_), being pensile in the fork of a horizontal spray, only four feet from the ground. It contained three fresh eggs, white, with spots and dashes of light brown."

White says that these birds frequent the banks of streams, and have a deep ba.s.s call-note, rather mournful and slow.

225. THAMNOPHILUS RUFICAPILLUS, Vieill.

(RED-CAPPED BUSH-BIRD.)

+Thamnophilus argentinus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 472 (Parana, Tuc.u.man); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 70; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 183 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 21 (Entrerios). +Thamnophilus ruficapillus+, _Pelz. Orn. Bras._ p.

79; _Berl. et Jher. Zeitschr. ges. O._ 1885, p. 49.

_Description._--Above olivaceous brown, tinged with rufous, brighter on the crown; lores yellowish white, superciliaries and sides of head whitish grey; wing-feathers dark olive-brown, the inner webs edged with ochraceous; tail black, all the rectrices, except the middle pair, slightly tipped and broadly spotted on the inner webs with white; beneath greyish white, the feathers from the lower throat to the belly transversely barred with black; bill and feet black: whole length 62 inches, wing 27, tail 26. _Female_: above the same as the male, except the tail, which is rufous brown; beneath whitish, tinged with ochraceous, and with scarcely perceptible greyish mottlings.

_Hab._ Paraguay and Argentina.

This species is very common in the eastern provinces of Argentina, and extends south to Buenos Ayres. It is a shy, solitary bird, found in woods and thickets along the sh.o.r.es of La Plata; and utters occasionally a singular low rasping note, its only language. The nest is a slight shallow structure placed in a low tree; the eggs are white, thinly spotted with reddish brown. Probably this species is to some extent migratory, as I have only observed it in the summer season.

Fam. XIX. PTEROPTOCHIDae, or TAPACOLAS.

The Pteroptochidae form a small but very peculiar family of Tracheophonine Pa.s.seres, mostly restricted to Chili and the south-western extremity of the South-American Continent, but also represented in the Andes of Ecuador and Colombia and in the high plateau of Central Brazil. They are ground-birds, remarkable for their large and robust feet with long claws, their strangely formed bills, and the elevated position in which the tail is carried in the living bird.

In the Argentine Republic four species of Pteroptochidae are known to occur, only one of which, however, is a well-known bird. Two of the remaining three are recent discoveries, and the fourth a Chilian species, which extends over the Andes into the western borders of Argentina.

226. SCYTALOPUS SUPERCILIARIS, Cab.

(WHITE-EYEBROWED SCYTALOPUS.)

+Scytalopus superciliaris+, _Cab. Journ. f. Orn._ 1883, p. 105, t.

ii. fig. 3 (Tuc.u.man).

_Description._--Nearest to _S. indigoticus_ of Brazil, but without the white colour on the breast and belly, only the throat being clear white; superciliaries striped white; front and sides of the head and neck, breast and belly grey; rest of the upper surface, together with the flanks and crissum, light brown, with fine blackish cross-markings; bill blackish, feet light-coloured.