Argentine Ornithology Volume Ii Part 3

The well-known "Whip-poor-Will" of the U. S. appears to extend its winter-migration into Northern Argentina. Mr. Barrows has recorded the capture of two specimens of this species at Concepcion in Entrerios in January 1880 and December of the same year. Its occurrence in Paraguay is also known to us, and Natterer obtained examples of it in S.E.

Brazil.

244. ANTROSTOMUS PARVULUS (Gould).

(LITTLE GOATSUCKER.)

+Caprimulgus parvulus+, _Gould, Zool. Voy. Beagle_, iii. p. 37.

+Antrostomus parvulus+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1866, p. 138, pl. xiii.; _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 96; _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p.

451 (Parana); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 184 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 24 (Entrerios); _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 467 (Lomas de Zamora).

_Description._--Above rufous mottled with blackish, crown black; tips of wing-coverts spotted with white; beneath fulvous with irregular black cross bands; primaries black, with white bars across the second, third, and fourth about half-way down; tail like the back, but tips of outer rectrices white: whole length 75 inches, wing 53, tail 40. _Female_ similar, but without the white spots on the wings and tail.

_Hab._ Brazil and Argentina.

Resident, according to Mr. Durnford, in the province of Buenos Ayres, "but probably, from its shy and retiring disposition, considered rarer than it really is. Like our Nightjar (_Caprimulgus europaeus_) it frequents open spots in sheltered coppices on banks under a sheltering hedge of thorns, and may generally be found in the same place from day to day, coming out about dusk in quest of moths and other insects."

Mr. Barrows tells us that this species is not uncommon in Entrerios in summer time, and "doubtless breeds." At dusk he frequently saw it near the margins of the woods and thickets, where it makes only short flights, soon settling on the ground.

Gould's original description of this species was based on a specimen obtained by Darwin near Santa Fe on the Parana, which is now in the British Museum.

245. STENOPSIS BIFASCIATA (Gould).

(WING-BANDED GOATSUCKER.)

+Stenopsis bifasciata+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 96; _iid. P. Z.

S._ 1868, p. 142 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 37 (Chupat), et 1878, p. 396 (Centr. Patagonia). +Antrostomus longirostris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 450 (Mendoza).

_Description._--Above greyish brown variegated with black, crown black; light rufous collar at the back of the neck; wing-coverts with large light brown spots; primaries black, with a broad white bar across the five outer ones; tail black; lateral rectrices with a white bar near the base, and very broad white tips: beneath fulvous, with narrow blackish cross bands; throat-band white; crissum pale fulvous: whole length 100 inches, wing 60, tail 50. _Female_ similar, but the white on the throat, wings, and tail replaced by fulvous and less extended.

_Hab._ Chili, Patagonia, and Argentina.

A single skin of this species was obtained at Conchitas by Hudson.

Durnford also found it rather rare in Chupat and its vicinity, though resident and breeding in that district. "When flushed it never flies very far, but seeks the shelter of a small bush, squatting flat on the ground, and from its peculiar zigzag mode of flight it is difficult for the eye to follow it."

246. HYDROPSALIS FURCIFERA (Vieill.).

(FORK-TAILED GOATSUCKER.)

[Plate XII.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: HYDROPSALIS FURCIFERA.]

+Hydropsalis furcifera+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 96; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 185 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 24 (Entrerios). +Hydropsalis psalurus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii.

p. 450 (Parana). +Hydropsalis torquata+, _Lee, Ibis_, 1873, p.

134 (Gualeguaychu).

_Description._--Above brown varied with black; a light rufous collar on the back of the neck; wing-coverts with numerous rounded white or fulvous spots; wings black, crossed beneath by pale rufous bands; outer primary edged with white: beneath paler, with a pale fulvous throat-collar; tail with the outer rectrix twice as long as the middle pair, black, edged with white; the next three pairs similar, but gradually diminis.h.i.+ng in length; the middle pair like the back, and rather longer than the second pair: whole length 200 inches, wing 72, tail 155. _Female_ similar, but tail short, black banded with fulvous, and without any white.

_Hab._ Paraguay and Argentina.

This remarkable Goatsucker was often observed by Durnford in the province of Buenos Ayres in spring and autumn. It lives on the ground, generally in damp situations, and where the gra.s.s is long and thick enough to afford some slight cover, and is generally observed in parties of four or five individuals. Its flight is noiseless, and performed by jerky erratic movements. In Entrerios Mr. Barrows tells us this species is a "rather common summer resident, arriving in August and leaving in May. While hunting capybaras and armadillos by moonlight he frequently had good opportunities for watching its movements. Its flight is nearly as irregular and as noiseless as that of a b.u.t.terfly, while its beautiful tail is opened and shut in the same manner as with the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. Alighting frequently on the ground or on stones or roots, it keeps up a continual but very soft clucking, which is the only note uttered. It was most often seen in open gra.s.sy or sandy spots in the woods, especially along the margins of the streams. By day it sits close on the ground, and if disturbed only flies a few yards, though it evidently sees well." Of its nesting-habits and eggs Mr.

Barrows did not obtain any information.

The figure (Plate XII.) is taken from a specimen in Sclater's collection, which was obtained at Gualeguaychu in Entrerios by Mr. Lee.

247. HELEOTHREPTUS ANOMALUS (GOULD).

(SHORT-WINGED GOATSUCKER.)

+Amblypterus anomalus+, _Gould, Icon. Av._ pl. 11. +Heleothreptus anomalus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 97; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 62 (Buenos Ayres); _Pelz. Orn. Bras._ p. 12.

_Description._--Greyish brown, irregularly dashed and spotted with black; long superciliaries and faint nuchal collar pale fawn-colour; wing-coverts and secondaries like the back, but with pale fawn-coloured spots; primaries black, with the basal portion reddish fawn-colour and tips white, the first six nearly equal in length, and curved inwards; tail fawn-colour, irregularly barred with blackish, two centre feathers like the back: beneath, throat and breast blackish brown, with slight fawn-coloured shaft-spots; abdomen pale fawn-colour, with irregular blackish cross bands; tarsi long, naked: whole length 70 inches, wing 52, tail 35. _Female_ similar, but wings banded with rufous, and without the white tips.

_Hab._ South Brazil and Argentina.

Mr. Durnford obtained a single female of this rare and anomalous Caprimulgine form on the 31st of March, 1877, near Quilmes in the province of Buenos Ayres. It was flushed from a clump of thistles, and its stomach was full of insect-remains.

Order III. PICI.

Fam. XXIII. PICIDae, or WOODp.e.c.k.e.rS.

The Woodp.e.c.k.e.rs are distributed all over the world except Australia and the adjacent islands (up to Flores and Celebes) and Madagascar. They are very abundant in the Neotropical and Oriental Regions, where great forests predominate. From South and Central America about 120 species, mostly belonging to peculiar genera, have been recorded. In Argentina, as might have been expected from the vast extent of the pampas districts, Woodp.e.c.k.e.rs are not so plentiful as in the densely wooded countries of Amazonia and Colombia. But four Woodp.e.c.k.e.rs are met with in the riverain woods of Buenos Ayres, and a fifth, a curiously modified form, is peculiar to the Pampas, while eight others are known with more or less certainty from the northern provinces of the Republic.

248. CAMPEPHILUS BOIaeI (Wagl.).

(BOIE'S WOODp.e.c.k.e.r.)

+Campephilus boiaei+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 98; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 185 (Buenos Ayres); _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 360 (Salta); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 617 (Catamarca, Salta); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 25 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Above and beneath black; crested head and neck scarlet, ear-coverts black, with a white line below; upper back and interscapulium pale tawny white; bend of wing cinnamomeous; inner webs of primaries pale chestnut; bill white, feet black: whole length 120 inches, wing 74, tail 42. _Female_ similar, but head black, except the sides of the back of the head and the under portion of the crest, which are scarlet.

_Hab._ Bolivia and Northern Argentina.

Durnford found this fine Woodp.e.c.k.e.r "resident and common" to the north of Buenos Ayres, and on the banks of the Parana. It is likewise met with in the more northern provinces of the Republic. White obtained specimens in Catamarca and Salta, and Durnford, during his last expedition, in the latter locality. Mr. Barrows speaks of its occurrence in Entrerios as follows:--

"A part of the last week in April 1880 was spent in a considerable tract of forest bordering a stream known as the 'Arroyo Gualeguaychu' at a point about twenty miles west of Concepcion. The wood borders the stream to a depth of a mile or more on each side and stretches up and down stream indefinitely. It had suffered comparatively little from the axe of the charcoal-burner, and many birds, not elsewhere seen, were met with here. Among these was the present beautiful Woodp.e.c.k.e.r, of which, however, only a single pair was observed, and the male alone taken. It is said to occur sparingly in all the large forests."

249. CAMPEPHILUS SCHULZI (Cab.).