Argentine Ornithology Volume Ii Part 35

_Hab._ America, descending southwards during migration to Patagonia.

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

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

397. GALLINAGO PARAGUAIae (Vieill.).

(PARAGUAY SNIPE.)

+Scolopax frenata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 503. +Gallinago paraguaiae+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 144 (Buenos Ayres); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 144; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 198 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 314 (Entrerios); _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas de Zamora). +Scolopax frenata magellanica+, _Seebohm, Plovers_, p. 496.

_Description._--Above brown, striped and barred with black and pale fulvous; wings dark cinereous edged with white; tail of 16 rectrices, of which the outer pair are pin-shaped: beneath white, breast marbled with blackish and brown: whole length 105 inches, wing 51, tail 24, bill 28.

_Hab._ Patagonia, La Plata, and Paraguay.

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

After the summer heats are over Snipes suddenly appear again all over the country, and at this season they are frequently met with on the high and dry grounds among the withered gra.s.s and thistles. In favourable wet seasons they sometimes collect in large flocks, numbering not less than five or six hundred birds, and a flock of this kind will occasionally remain in one spot for several months without breaking up. They usually frequent an open spot of level ground where the water just covers the roots of the short gra.s.s; here the birds keep close together while feeding and are visible from a long distance; but they become extremely wary, all raising their heads in a very un-Snipe-like manner at the slightest alarm, and taking flight with the readiness of Wild Ducks.

These flocks are, however, not often met with. Usually the Snipe is a solitary bird, crouches close when approached, and springs up suddenly when almost trodden on, loudly uttering its sharp sc.r.a.ping alarm-cry; after rising to a considerable height, flying in a wild erratic manner, it returns suddenly to the earth, often dropping into the gra.s.s within twenty yards of the spot it rose from.

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

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

398. RHYNCHaeA SEMICOLLARIS (Vieill.).

(PAINTED SNIPE.)

+Rhynchaea hilarii+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 504 (Rio Parana).

+Rhynchaea semicollaris+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 144 (Buenos Ayres); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 145; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 199 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 403 (Chupat); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 314 (Entrerios); _Seebohm, Plovers_, p. 459, pl. xix.; _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas de Zamora).

_Description._--Above dark brown; head black, with a central and two lateral longitudinal bands of buffy white; wings ashy blackish, spotted with buffy white and barred with black; coverts with large oval spots of clear white: beneath, throat and breast dark brownish, with a conspicuous white neck-collar on each side; belly white, flanks tinged with buffy; bill greenish, reddish at tip; feet flesh-colour: whole length 80 inches, wing 41, tail 20. _Female_ similar, but slightly larger and more brightly coloured.

_Hab._ Southern parts of South America, from Peru to Patagonia.

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

They are oblong and bluntly pointed at the smaller end, and have a white ground-colour, but so densely marked and blotched with black that in some cases they appear to be almost wholly of that colour, or like black eggs flecked with white.

399. TRINGA MACULATA, Vieill.

(PECTORAL SANDPIPER.)

+Tringa maculata+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 145; _iid. P. Z. S._ 1873, p. 455; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 43 (Chupat), et 1878, p. 68 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 314 (Entrerios); _Saunders, Yarrell's Birds_, iii. p. 368. +Actodromas maculata+, _Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A._ i. p. 232. +Tringa ac.u.minata pectoralis+, _Seebohm, Plovers_, p. 443.

_Description._--Above brown, varied with black; superciliaries whitish; rump and middle upper tail-coverts blackish, lateral upper tail-coverts white: beneath white; neck and breast pale greyish streaked with blackish: whole length 85 inches, wing 51, tail 24, bill 11. _Female_ similar.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Tail-feathers of PECTORAL SANDPIPER. (Seebohm's 'Plovers,' p. 443.)]

_Hab._ Arctic America, migrating south to Patagonia in winter.

The Pectoral Sandpiper is a well-known North-American species that visits the south during migration. It breeds abundantly in Alaska, and descends in winter through Central and South America to Chili and Patagonia. Durnford found it abundant about the salt-lagoons of Chupat.

Near the end of August it begins to arrive in La Plata, usually in very small flocks or singly; and among these first-comers there are some young birds so immature and weak in appearance that one can scarcely credit the fact that so soon after being hatched they have actually performed the stupendous journey from the northern extremity of the North-American continent to the Buenos-Ayrean pampas.

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

400. TRINGA BAIRDI (Coues).

(BAIRD'S SANDPIPER.)

+Tringa dorsalis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 503 (Mendoza)?

+Tringa bairdi+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 145; _iid. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 144, et 1873, p. 455 (Buenos Ayres); _Seebohm, Plovers_, p. 444. +Actodromas bairdi+, _Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N.

A._ i. p. 230.

_Description._--Above brown varied with blackish; rump and upper tail-coverts blackish: beneath white, neck and sides of breast pale fulvous-brown, with blackish shaft stripes; bill and feet black: whole length 68 inches, wing 45, tail 21. _Female_ similar.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Tail-feathers of BAIRD'S SANDPIPER. (Seebohm's 'Plovers,' p. 444.)]

_Hab._ Arctic America, migrating south to Patagonia in winter.

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

401. TRINGA FUSCICOLLIS, Vieill.

(BONAPARTE'S SANDPIPER.)

+Tringa fuscicollis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 145; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 68 (Buenos Ayres) et p. 404 (Centr. Patagonia); _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 42 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 314 (Entrerios); _Saunders, Yarrell's Birds_, iii. p.

373. +Tringa bonapartii+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 144, et 1873, p. 455 (Buenos Ayres); _Seebohm, Plovers_, p. 445.

+Actodromas fuscicollis+, _Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N.

A._ i. p. 227.

_Description._--Above brownish grey, varied and spotted with black; superciliaries white; rump grey, upper tail-coverts white: beneath white; breast and flanks spotted and streaked with blackish: whole length 70 inches, wing 48, tail 21. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Arctic America, migrating south to Patagonia in winter.

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

402. CALIDRIS ARENARIA (Linn.).

(SANDERLING.)

+Calidris arenaria+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 145; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 404 (Tombo Point); _Baird, Brew., et Ridgw.

Water-B. N. A._ i. p. 249; _Saunders, Yarrell's Birds_, iii. p.