Argentine Ornithology Volume I Part 39

+Phacellodomus sibilatrix+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1879, p. 461; _White, P.

Z. S._ 1882, p. 612 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn.

Cl._ viii. p. 209 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Above dull olive-brown, paler on the sides of the head; front and lesser wing-coverts chestnut-red; wing-feathers blackish, edged with olive-brown; tail light chestnut, the middle pair of feathers and the inner webs of the two next pairs brown, like the back; beneath dirty brownish white, washed with ochraceous on the flanks; under wing-coverts bright cinnamon: whole length 53 inches, wing 22, tail 22.

_Hab._ Argentina.

This species resembles _P. frontalis_, but differs in its much smaller size, and in having the upper lesser wing-coverts bright rufous.

It inhabits the th.o.r.n.y 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's 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 distinguishable at ten paces from half a dozen others. Its nest, however, is unmistakable. The birds begin by fixing a few crooked and th.o.r.n.y 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 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 pa.s.sage-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 th.o.r.n.y twigs of various trees growing in the neighbourhood, while the interior is formed of less th.o.r.n.y twigs and with some wool and hair. Usually, also, if the material be at hand, a quant.i.ty 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 quant.i.ties of broken straw, weed-stalks, gra.s.s, 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 summers. More often, however, a new nest is built directly above the old one, which serves as a foundation, 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 October 1 to January 1, but many of the birds work at nest-building all the winter, sometimes spending months on a single nest."

210. PHACELLODOMUS STRIATICOLLIS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).

(RED-WINGED THORN-BIRD.)

+Anumbius striaticollis+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 255 (Buenos Ayres).

+Phacellodomus striaticollis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 65.

_Description._--Above, forehead and crown rufous; lores white; sides of head, neck, and back brown; whole wing chestnut, the feathers tipped with blackish; tail chestnut; beneath white, clearer on the throat and breast, which are marked with slight white shaft-spots; sides of breast and flanks washed with reddish brown; under tail-coverts brown; under wing-coverts cinnamon; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 80 inches, wing 29, tail 31. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Argentina and Uruguay.

D'Orbigny, who discovered this species in Uruguay, and found it also near Buenos Ayres, remarks that it lives in pairs in the th.o.r.n.y bushes, and resembles its congeners in habits. It is, however, certainly not common in the vicinity of the Argentine capital, for Hudson has never met with it.

211. PHACELLODOMUS RUBER (Vieill.).

(RED THORN-BIRD.)

+Phacellodomus ruber+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 467 (Parana, Cordova); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 65; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 183 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p.

210 (Entrerios). +Phacellodomus maculipectus+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1883, p. 109 (?).

_Description._--Above olive-brown, front chestnut; tail brownish chestnut; beneath whitish, throat, breast, and flanks washed and mottled with bright reddish brown; under wing-coverts and inner margins of wing-feathers bright cinnamon; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 73 inches, wing 26, tail 32. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Argentina.

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 th.o.r.n.y 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 descending scale and uttered in a very leisurely manner. It builds a large oblong nest of sticks, about two feet deep, and placed obliquely among the th.o.r.n.y 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 pa.s.sage-way, which in many cases is reduced to a simple hole through a broad part.i.tion, which alone separates them." The eggs are four and of a pure white.

The name commonly used for this species is founded on the "_Anumbe roxo_" of Azara's 'Apuntamientos'; but the description given there of the bird's nesting-habits shows either that some other species was meant--perhaps _P. sibilatrix_, Doring--or that the nesting-habits of a different bird have been a.s.signed to _P. ruber_.

212. h.o.m.oRUS LOPHOTES, Reichenb.

(BROWN CACHALOTE.)

[Plate IX.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: h.o.m.oRUS LOPHOTES.]

+h.o.m.orus lophotes+, _Reichb. Handb._ p. 172; _Barrows, Bull. Nutt.

Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 212 (Entrerios); _Hudson, Ibis_, 1885, p. 283 (Buenos Ayres). +Anabates unirufus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 466 (Cordova). +h.o.m.orus unirufus+, _Scl. et Salv.

Nomencl._ p. 65; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 612 (Catamarca).

_Description._--Above brown, tinged with olive on the back, but clear and rufescent on the hind head and rump; crest-feathers blackish brown; wings blackish; tail chestnut; beneath earthy brown, throat rufous; under wing- and tail-coverts and inner margins of wing-feathers pale rufous; bill pale bluish, feet bluish horn-colour: whole length 98 inches, wing 46, tail 42. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Argentina.

This species interested me greatly during my observations of the Argentine birds, but, owing to its rarity and to its recluse habits, my knowledge of it is very scanty. It is found in 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 sh.o.r.es 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 scream it utters when disturbed. This resentful look is deceptive, however, for the bird is the s.h.i.+est creature imaginable. Its language has the shrill excited character common to this most loquacious family; and at intervals throughout the day two birds, male and female, meet together and make the woods echo with their screaming concert. 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 acc.u.mulation 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 Cachalote 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 following 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 length by about two in breadth in 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."

213. h.o.m.oRUS GUTTURALIS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).

(WHITE-THROATED CACHALOTE.)

+Anabates gutturalis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 467 (Mendoza).

+h.o.m.orus gutturalis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 65; _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 545 (Rio Negro); _id. Ibis_, 1885, p. 284; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 36, et 1878, p. 396 (Chupat, Central Patagonia).

_Description._--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: whole length 94 inches, wing 40, tail 32. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Patagonia.

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 Brown Cachalote it is also shy in disposition, and, being so dull in colour and without 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 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, sc.r.a.ping 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 distinctly hear their extravagant cries at this distance. After each performance they pursue each other, pa.s.sing from bush to bush with a wild jerky flight, and uttering harsh angry 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 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. So strongly made is the nest that I have stood on the dome of one and stamped on it with my foot 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.

214. ANABAZENOPS OLEAGINEUS, Scl.

(OILY-GREEN ANABAZENOPS.)

+Anabazenops rufo-superciliatus+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 613 (Catamarca). +Anabazenops oleagineus+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1883, p.

654.

_Description._--Above and beneath dark olive-green; lores, superciliaries, and spots on the sides of the head yellowish white; wings blackish, the outer webs of the feathers olive-brown; tail bright chestnut; throat whitish yellow, on the lower part the yellow feathers tipped with olive; breast and belly spotted with same colour as the throat; bend of wing, under wing-coverts, and margins of inner webs of secondaries fulvous yellow; bill and feet blackish: whole length 62 inches, wing 32, tail 30. _Female_ similar.