Argentine Ornithology Volume Ii Part 7

White obtained a single example of this species in the forests of Misiones, near Concepcion, in June 1881.

Fam. XXVI. BUCCONIDae, or PUFF-BIRDS.

The Bucconidae, or Puff-birds, are entirely restricted to the Neotropical Region, and are most numerous in the great forests of Amazonia and Colombia, where most of the 43 known species have been met with. These birds seem to pa.s.s their lives sitting upon the topmost or outermost branches of the larger trees, looking out for insects, which are captured flying and const.i.tute their only food. Southwards of the great forest-districts of South America, Puff-birds become very scarce. One species only is as yet known to occur in Paraguay, and some uncertainty prevails as to the single member of this family stated to be found near Tuc.u.man.

266. BUCCO MACULATUS (Gm.).

(SPOTTED PUFF-BIRD.)

+Bucco maculatus+, _Scl. Jamacars and Puff-birds_, p. 99, pl. x.x.xii.; _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 106. +Capito maculatus+, _Burm.

La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 446.

_Description._--Above blackish, spotted with brown; lores, superciliaries, and neck-collar pale cinnamomeous white: beneath white, fore neck clear reddish cinnamon; breast and belly covered with round black spots; chin and middle of belly whitish; tail black, with transverse bars of pale brown; under wing-coverts and under surface of wings white; bill red, with the culmen and base blackish; feet plumbeous: whole length 80 inches, wing 32, tail 28. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ S.E. Brazil.

Dr. Burmeister records the occurrence of this species of Puff-bird near Tuc.u.man, and it must therefore be placed in our list on his authority.

But it is possible that the species which he met with may have been the nearly allied _B. striatipectus_ of the Bolivian frontier of Brazil, which is more likely to extend into Northern Argentina than the true _B. maculatus_. _B. striatipectus_ (figured and described in Sclater's 'Monograph of the Jacamars and Puff-birds,' pl. x.x.xiii. p. 101) is very similar to _B. maculatus_, but has the spots on the belly elongated into long striations.

It is again possible that the _Bucco_ of Tuc.u.man may be the Paraguayan _B. chacuru_ of Vieillot, founded upon the "_Chacuru_" of Azara, which is another species not remotely allied to _B. maculatus_.

Fam. XXVII. CUCULIDae, or CUCKOOS.

The Cuckoos form an extensive and rather varied family of zyG.o.dactyle birds with a somewhat wide distribution, being found in all parts of the world except in the extreme north, where their insect-food would not be abundantly met with. The true _Cuculi_, so remarkable for their parasitic habits, are not found in the New World, but several genera of arboreal Cuckoos (_Coccyzus_, _Piaya_, &c.), and others of terrestrial habits (_Crotophaga_, _Geococcyx_, and _Saurothera_), are met with, chiefly in the Neotropical Region, and number altogether some thirty species. Of these, eight are known to occur within the confines of the Argentine Republic.

267. CROTOPHAGA ANI, Linn.

(BLACK ANI.)

+Crotophaga ani+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 107; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 619 (Salta).

_Description._--Black, glossed with bronzy and purplish; bill and feet black; bill with the culmen much elevated, compressed and cultrate: whole length 130 inches, wing 55, tail 70. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Veragua and South America down to Northern Argentina.

This strange Cuckoo, with the plumage and some of the habits of a Crow, is of a nearly uniform black, glossed with bronze, dark green, and purple. Its most peculiar feature is the beak, which is greater in depth than in length, and resembles an immense Roman nose, occupying the whole face, and with the bridge bulging up above the top of the head. The Ani is found only in the northern portion of the Argentine territory.

According to Azara it is very common in Paraguay, and goes in flocks, a.s.sociating with the Guira Cuckoo, which it resembles in its manner of flight, in being gregarious, in feeding on the ground, and in coming a great deal about houses; in all which things these two species differ widely from most Cuckoos. He also says that it has a loud disagreeable voice, follows the cattle about in the pastures like the Cow-bird, and builds a large nest of sticks lined with leaves, in which as many as twenty or thirty eggs are frequently deposited, several females laying together in one nest. His account of these strange and disorderly breeding-habits has been confirmed by independent observers in other parts of the continent. The eggs are oval and outwardly white, being covered with a soft white cretaceous deposit; but this can be easily sc.r.a.ped off, and under it is found a smooth hard sh.e.l.l of a clear beautiful blue colour.

268. GUIRA PIRIRIGUA (Vieill.).

(GUIRA CUCKOO.)

+Guira piririgua+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 107; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 185 (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 8 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 619 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 26 (Entrerios); _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 468 (Lomas de Zamora). +Ptiloleptis guira+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 443.

_Description._--Above dark brown, with white shaft-stripes; head brown; wings reddish brown, pa.s.sing into blackish brown on the outer secondaries; rump white; tail white, at the base ochraceous, crossed by a very broad black band, except the two central feathers, which are uniform brown: beneath sordid white, throat and upper breast with long linear black shaft-stripes; bill and feet yellow: whole length 150 inches, wing 70, tail 80. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.

"_Piririgua_," the specific term adopted by naturalists for this bird, is, according to Azara, the vernacular name of the species in Paraguay.

He says that in that country it is abundant, but scarce in the Plata district. No doubt it has greatly increased and extended its range southwards during the hundred years which have elapsed since his time, as it is now very common in Buenos Ayres, where its vernacular name is _Urraca_ (Magpie). In the last-named country it is not yet quite in harmony with its environment. Everywhere its habit is to feed exclusively on the ground, in spite of possessing feet formed for climbing; but its very scanty plumage, slow laborious flight, and long square tail, so unsuitable in cold boisterous weather, show that the species is a still unmodified intruder from the region of perpetual summer many degrees nearer to the equator.

The Guira Cuckoo is about sixteen inches long, has red eyes and blue feet, and an orange-red beak. The crown of the head is deep rufous, and the loose hair-like feathers are lengthened into a pointed crest. The back and rump are white, the wings and other upper parts very dark fuscous, marked with white and pale brown. Under surface dull white, with hair-like black marks on the throat and breast. The tail is square, 9 to 10 inches long; the two middle feathers dark brown, the others three-coloured--yellow at the base, the middle portion dark glossy green, the ends white; and when the bird is flying the tail, spread out like a fan, forms a conspicuous and beautiful object.

During the inclement winter of Buenos Ayres the Guira Cuckoo is a miserable bird, and appears to suffer more than any other creature from cold. In the evening the flock, usually composed of from a dozen to twenty individuals, gathers on the thick horizontal branch of a tree sheltered from the wind, the birds crowding close together for warmth, and some of them roosting perched on the backs of their fellows. I have frequently seen them roosting three deep, one or two birds at the top to crown the pyramid; but with all their huddling together a severe frost is sure to prove fatal to one or more birds in the flock; and sometimes several birds that have dropped from the branch stiff with cold are found under the trees in the morning. If the morning is fair the flock betakes itself to some large tree, on which the sun shines, to settle on the outermost twigs on the northern side, each bird with its wings drooping, and its back turned towards the sun. In this spiritless att.i.tude they spend an hour or two warming their blood and drying the dew from their scanty dress. During the day they bask much in the sun, and towards evening may be again seen on the sunny side of a hedge or tree warming their backs in the last rays. It is owing, no doubt, to fecundity, and to an abundance of food that the Guira Cuckoo is able to maintain its existence so far south in spite of its terrible enemy the cold.

With the return of warm weather this species becomes active, noisy, and the gayest of birds; the flock constantly wanders about from place to place, the birds flying in a scattered desultory manner one behind the other, and incessantly uttering while on the wing a long complaining cry. At intervals during the day they also utter a kind of song, composed of a series of long modulated whistling notes, two-syllabled, the first powerful and vehement, and becoming at each repet.i.tion lower and shorter, then ending in a succession of hoa.r.s.e internal sounds like the stertorous breathing of a sleeping man. When approached all the birds break out into a chorus of alarm, with notes so annoyingly loud and sustained, that the intruder, be it man or beast, is generally glad to hurry out of ear-shot. As the breeding-season approaches they are heard, probably the males, to utter a variety of soft low chattering notes, sounding sometimes like a person laughing and crying together: the flock then breaks up into pairs, the birds becoming silent and very circ.u.mspect in their movements. The nest is usually built in a thorn-tree, of rather large sticks, a rough large structure, the inside often lined with green leaves plucked from the trees. The eggs are large for the bird, and usually six or seven in number; but the number varies greatly, and I have known one bird lay as many as fourteen. They are elliptical in form and beautiful beyond comparison, being of an exquisite turquoise-blue, the whole sh.e.l.l roughly spattered with white.

The white spots are composed of a soft calcareous substance, apparently deposited on the surface of the sh.e.l.l after its complete formation: they are raised, and look like snow-flakes, and when the egg is fresh laid may be easily washed off with cold water, and are so extremely delicate that their purity is lost on the egg being taken into the hand. The young birds hatched from these lovely eggs are proverbial for their ugliness, _Pichon de Urraca_ being a term of contempt commonly applied to a person remarkable for want of comeliness. They are as unclean as they are ugly, so that the nest, usually containing six or seven young, is pleasant neither to sight nor smell. There is something ludicrous in the notes of these young birds, resembling, as they do, the shrill half-hysterical laughter of a female exhausted by over-indulgence in mirth. One summer there was a large brood in a tree close to my home, and every time we heard the parent bird hastening to her nest with food in her beak, and uttering her plaintive cries, we used to run to the door to hear them. As soon as the old bird reached the nest they would burst forth into such wild extravagant peals and continue them so long, that we could not but think it a rare amus.e.m.e.nt to listen to them.

According to Azara the Guira Cuckoo in Paraguay has very friendly relations with the Ani (_Crotophaga ani_), the birds consorting together in one flock, and even laying their eggs in one nest; and he affirms that he has seen nests containing eggs of both species. These nests were probably brought to him by his Indian collectors, who were in the habit of deceiving him, and it is more than probable that in this matter they were practising on his credulity; though it is certain that birds of different species do sometimes lay in one nest, as I have found--the Common Teal and the Tinamou for instance. I also doubt very much that the bird is ever polygamous, as Azara suspected; but it frequently wastes eggs, and its procreant habits are sometimes very irregular and confusing, as the following case will show:--

A flock numbering about sixteen individuals pa.s.sed the winter in the trees about my home, and in spring scattered about the plantation, screaming and chattering in their usual manner when about to breed. I watched them, and found that after a time the flock broke up into small parties of three or four, and not into couples, and I could not detect them building. At length I discovered three broken eggs on the ground, and on examining the tree overhead found an incipient nest composed of about a dozen sticks laid crossways and out of which the eggs had been dropped. This was in October, and for a long time no other attempt at a nest was made; but wasted eggs were dropped in abundance on the ground, and I continued finding them for about four months. Early in January another incipient nest was found, and on the ground beneath it six broken eggs. At the end of that month two large nests were made, each nest by one pair of birds, and in the two fourteen or fifteen young birds were reared.

When taken young the Guira Cuckoos become very tame, and make bold, noisy, mischievous pets, fond of climbing over and tugging at the clothes, b.u.t.tons, and hair of their master or mistress. They appear to be more intelligent than most birds, and in a domestic state resemble the Magpie. I knew one tame that would carry off and jealously conceal bits of bright-coloured ribbon, thread, or cloth. In a wild state their food consists largely of insects, which they sometimes pursue running and flying along the ground. They also prey on mice and small reptiles, and carry off the fledglings from the nests of Sparrows and other small birds, and in spring they are frequently seen following the plough to pick up worms.

269. DIPLOPTERUS NaeVIUS (Gm.).

(BROWN CUCKOO.)

+Diplopterus naevius+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 107. +Diplopterus galeritus+, _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 27 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Above ashy brown, with large black shaft-spots; head rufous, striated with black; wings blackish, edged with brown; tail similar, but with slight white tips to the feathers, and the upper tail-coverts much elongated: beneath dirty white: whole length 115 inches, wing 45, tail 55. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Mexico, and Central and South America down to Argentina.

The Brown Cuckoo, called "Crispin," is found throughout the hot portion of South America, and in different districts varies considerably in size and colouring. It is about 12 inches long, the beak much curved; the prevailing colour of the upper parts is light brown, the loose feathers on the head, which form a crest, deep rufous. The upper tail-coverts are long loose feathers of very unequal length, the longest reaching nearly to the end of the tail. The under surface is dirty white, or dashed with grey.

Azara says it is called _Chochi_ in Paraguay, and has a clear sorrowful note of two syllables, which it repeats at short intervals during the day, and also at night during the love-season. It is solitary, scarce, and excessively shy, escaping on the opposite side of the tree when approached, and when seen having the head and crest raised in an att.i.tude of alarm. In the northern part of the Argentine country it is called _Crispin_, from its note which clearly p.r.o.nounces that name. Mr.

Barrows found it common at Concepcion on the Uruguay river, and has written the following notes about it:--

"Several were taken in open bushy places, and many others were heard. It is a plain but attractive Cuckoo with a few-feathered crest, and long soft flowing upper tail-coverts. The note is very clear and penetrating, sounding much like the word 'crispin' slowly uttered, and with the accent on the last syllable. The birds are very shy, and I followed one for nearly an hour before I saw it at all, and nearly twice that time before any chance of a shot was offered. There is some peculiarity in the note which makes it impossible to tell whether the bird is in front of or behind you--even when the note itself is distinctly heard. I know nothing of nest or eggs."

From personal observation I can say nothing about this species, as I never visited the district where it is found; but with the fame of the Crispin I have always been familiar, for concerning this Cuckoo the Argentine peasants have a very pretty legend. It is told that two children of a woodcutter, who lived in a lonely spot on the Uruguay, lost themselves in the woods--a little boy named Crispin and his sister.

They subsisted on wild fruit, wandering from place to place, and slept at night on a bed of dry gra.s.s and leaves. One morning the little girl awoke to discover that her brother had disappeared from her side. She sprung up and ran through the woods to seek for him, but never found him; but day after day continued wandering in the thickets calling "_Crispin, Crispin_," until at length she was changed into a little bird, which still flies through the woods on its never-ending quest, following every stranger that enters them, calling after him "_Crispin, Crispin_," if by chance it should be her lost brother.

270. PIAYA CAYANA (Linn.).