Argentine Ornithology Volume Ii Part 40

(THICK-BILLED GREBE.)

+Podilymbus podiceps+, _Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A._ ii.

p. 440; _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 473.

_Description._--Above dirty brown, varied with blackish; wings cinereous with white tips to some of the secondaries: beneath white, sprinkled with greyish on the breast and sides; chin and throat black; bill short, compressed, plumbeous, crossed by a black band; feet black: whole length 120 inches, wing 50, tail 10. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ North and South America.

The Thick-billed Grebe extends all through America, from Canada down to Patagonia and Chili. It does not seem to have been noticed in the Argentine Republic except by Mr. Withington, who sends us a single specimen from the Lomas de Zamora, near Buenos Ayres.

A second and larger species of this genus (_P. antarcticus_) occurs on the western side of America from Guatemala to Chili.

Order XVIII. IMPENNES.

Fam. LII. APTENODYTIDae, or PENGUINS.

The Penguins are a peculiar group of oceanic birds which differ essentially from all other birds in the construction of their wings and feet, and should certainly form an Order apart. They are denizens of the Antarctic sea-sh.o.r.es and islands, but in the Pacific go as far north as the Galapagos. On the sh.o.r.es and islands of South America nine species occur, one of which has been met with within our limits.

424. SPHENISCUS MAGELLANICUS (Forst.).

(JACKa.s.s PENGUIN.)

+Spheniscus magellanicus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 151; _Scl.

Zool. Chall. Exp._ pt. viii. (Birds), p. 125, pl. xxviii.

+Aptenodytes demersa+, _Abbott, Ibis_, 1860, p. 336.

_Description._--Above bluish black; broad superciliary stripe descending on each side of the neck white: beneath white; throat and sides of neck, and two breast-bands, the lower narrower and produced down the sides of the belly, black; bill and feet plumbeous: whole length 160 inches, wing 75, tail 20.

_Hab._ Coasts of Antarctic America and Falkland Islands.

At the mouth of the Rio Negro Hudson once picked up a specimen of a Penguin, believed to have been of this species, which had apparently just met its death by some accident. The range of this bird, moreover, appears to extend much further north, as it is well known to the Gauchos along the coast, who call it "_Pajaro Nino_" (bird boy), from its fancied resemblance to a small human being when it stands erect on the sh.o.r.e.

Darwin (Nat. Voy. chap. iii.) speaks of having seen numerous Penguins in the estuary of the Rio de la Plata, when approaching Monte Video in the 'Beagle,' in July 1832; and Graf v. Berlepsch tells me he has an imperfect specimen of _Spheniscus magellanicus_ from the coast of Rio Grande do Sul, where it was picked up dead.

The "Jacka.s.s Penguin" is a well-known species in the Falkland Islands, to which it resorts in thousands for the purpose of breeding. Capt.

Abbott tells us it arrives at the latter end of September and commences laying in its breeding-holes, almost to a day, on October 17. Some of these birds, however, are found on the sh.o.r.es of the Falkland Islands throughout the year.

Order XIX. CRYPTURI.

Fam. LIII. TINAMIDae, or TINAMOUS.

The Tinamous const.i.tute one of the most singular and characteristic types of the Neotropical avifauna. Until late years they were usually a.s.sociated with the Gallinae or Game Birds, but differ very widely from them in the conformation of the skull and in other essential points of structure, and are now generally regarded as forming an Order of their own, to be placed at the base of the series of Carinatae. About forty species of Tinamous are known, of which eight occur within our limits.

425. CRYPTURUS OBSOLETUS, Temm.

(BROWN TINAMOU.)

+Crypturus cinereus+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 629 (Salta) (?).

+Ynambu azulado+, _Azara, Apunt._ iii. p. 52 (Paraguay).

+Crypturus obsoletus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 152.

_Description._--Above reddish brown; head blackish; sides of head pale cinereous: beneath chestnut-brown; chin pale cinereous; lower half of abdomen pale ochraceous, distinctly barred with undulating black bands; bill brown, yellowish at the base; feet dark flesh-colour: whole length 120 inches, wing 62, tail 18.

_Hab._ Southern Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.

White refers a Tinamou which he shot at Oran in November 1880 to _Crypturus cinereus_. There can be little doubt, however, that the specimen in question really belonged to the allied species _C.

obsoletus_, which is known to occur in Paraguay. The true _C. cinereus_ is from a much more northern locality, and is not likely to be found in Argentina.

426. CRYPTURUS TATAUPA (Temm.).

(TATAUPA TINAMOU.)

+Crypturus tataupa+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 152; _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 364 (Salta); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 629, (Oran).

+Ynambu tataupa+, _Azara, Apunt._ iii. p. 48.

_Description._--Above chestnut-brown; head and neck dark cinereous: beneath cinereous; throat white; middle of belly white; flanks and crissum varied with undulating bars of black and white; bill yellowish; feet dark ashy: whole length 100 inches, wing 52, tail 18. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ South Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.

The Tataupa Tinamou was first described by Azara as an inhabitant of Paraguay, whence it extends into the northern provinces of the Argentine Republic. White obtained specimens among the undergrowth in the dense forests of Campo Colorado, near Oran, and Durnford also met with it near Salta.

To Azara's interesting account of the Tataupa's habits nothing has been recently added. He says that this species inhabits woods and thickets, and also approaches houses where it finds cover--hence the Guarani name, which means a bird of the house. It lays four eggs of a fine purple colour; and when driven from the nest flutters along the ground, feigning lameness. It sings all the year round, and for power and brilliance of voice is preeminent among this cla.s.s of birds. After the first note of its curious song there is an interval of eight seconds of silence; then the note is repeated with shorter and shorter intervals, until, becoming hurried, they run into a trill, followed by a sound which may be written _chororo_, repeated three or four times. When sitting close it tips forward, pressing its breast on its legs, so that the rump is raised higher than the back, and opening the terminal feathers of the body, it spreads them in a semicircle over the back as if to conceal itself beneath them, and when looked at from behind nothing is visible except this fan of feathers. The feathers are concave with points inclining upward, and when thus disposed have a strange and beautiful appearance.

427. RHYNCHOTUS RUFESCENS (Temm.).

(GREAT TINAMOU.)

+Rhynchotus rufescens+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 498 (Parana, Rosario, Tuc.u.man); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 153; _Hudson, P.

Z. S._ 1872, p. 546 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p.

263 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 317 (Entrerios); _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 473 (Lomas de Zamora).

_Description._--Above cinereous; head, wings, and back crossed by black bars with pale ochraceous edgings; neck reddish; primaries chestnut: beneath pale cinereous, strongly tinged with rufous on the neck and breast; chin white; bill ashy, beneath at base yellowish; feet dark flesh-colour: whole length 140 inches, wing 95, tail 30. _Female_ similar, but larger.

_Hab._ South Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.

This large Tinamou, known to the Argentines as the _Perdiz grande_, or "Great Partridge," is found on the pampas wherever long gra.s.ses abound, and extends as far south as the Colorado river, its place being taken in Patagonia by _Calodromas elegans_. It is never met with in woods or thickets, and requires no shelter but the giant gra.s.ses, through which it pushes like a Rail. Wherever the country becomes settled and the coa.r.s.e indigenous gra.s.ses are replaced by those of Europe, it quickly disappears, so that it is already extinct over a great portion of the Buenos Ayrean pampas.