Argentine Ornithology Volume Ii Part 5

256. CHLORONERPES TUc.u.ma.n.u.s, Cab.

(TUc.u.mAN WOODp.e.c.k.e.r.)

+Chloronerpes tuc.u.ma.n.u.s+, _Cab. Journ. f. Orn._ 1883, p. 103.

_Description._--Like _C. rubiginosus_, and princ.i.p.ally distinguishable by its rather larger size and darker under surface, in which the yellowish hue is wanting.

_Hab._ Tuc.u.man.

This is another discovery of Herr Fritz Schulz in Tuc.u.man, which has been shortly described by Dr. Cabanis.

257. CHRYSOPTILUS CRISTATUS (Vieill.).

(RED-CRESTED WOODp.e.c.k.e.r.)

+Chrysoptilus melanochlorus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 445 (Parana, Cordova, Tuc.u.man). +Chrysoptilus chlorozostus+, _Scl.

et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 143 (Conchitas). +Chrysoptilus cristatus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 100; _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 11 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p.

618 (Catamarca); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 25 (Entrerios); _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 468 (Lomas de Zamora). +Colaptes leucofrenatus+, _Leybola, Leopoldina_, Heft viii. p. 53 (1873).

_Description._--Above black, barred across with white; rump white, with black spots; top of head black, nape scarlet; sides of head white, bordered beneath by black, which carries a scarlet malar stripe: beneath white, on the neck yellowish, thickly covered with round black spots; throat white, striped with black; under surface of wings white, tinged with yellow; tail black, lateral rectrices slightly barred with yellowish; bill and feet black: whole length 105 inches, wing 58, tail 40. _Female_ similar, but without the scarlet malar patch.

_Hab._ Paraguay and Argentina.

This Woodp.e.c.k.e.r ranges as far south as the vicinity of Buenos Ayres, and is not uncommon there in the few localities which possess wild forests.

It is the handsomest of our Woodp.e.c.k.e.rs, having brighter tints than its congener of the plains, _Colaptes agricola_. Like that bird, though not to the same extent, it has diverged from the typical Picidae in its habits, alighting sometimes on the ground to feed, and also frequently perching crosswise on branches of trees. It has a powerful, clear, abrupt, and oft-repeated note, and a rapid undulating flight.

The following interesting account of its breeding-habits appears in one of Mr. Gibson's papers:--"The excavation for the nest is begun as early as September; but the eggs are only laid during the first half of October. The hole is generally commenced where some branch has decayed away; but care is taken that the remainder of the tree is sound. It opens at a height of from six to nine feet from the ground, and is excavated to a depth of nearly a foot. Occasionally it is sufficiently wide to admit of one's hand, but such is not always the case. No preparation is made for the eggs beyond the usual lining of some chips of wood.

"The pair which frequented the garden excavated a hole in a paradise-tree, and bred there for two consecutive years. The tree stood near one of the walks, and on any one pa.s.sing the sitting bird immediately showed its head at the aperture, like a jack-in-the-box, and then flew away. Last year this pair actually bred in one of the posts of the horse-corral, notwithstanding the noise and bustle incident to such a locality. While waiting there, at sunrise, for the herd of horses to be shut in I used often to knock at the post, in order to make the Woodp.e.c.k.e.r leave its nest, but the bird seemed indifferent to such a mild attack, and would even sit still while a hundred horses and mares rushed about the corral or hurled themselves against the sides of it.

In another case I had worked with hammer and chisel for half-an-hour, cutting a hole on a level with the bottom of a nest, when the female first demonstrated her presence by flying out almost into my face. This last nest contained four (considerably incubated) eggs, which I took.

Happening to pa.s.s the spot a fortnight after, I inspected the hole and was surprised to find that it had been deepened and other five eggs laid, while the entrance I had cut was the one now used by the birds.

The nest was again resorted to the following year and a brood hatched out, but since then a pair of Wrens have occupied the place to the exclusion of the rightful owners."

The eggs are white, four or five in number, pear-shaped, and with polished sh.e.l.ls.

White obtained specimens of this Woodp.e.c.k.e.r in Catamarca, and Mr.

Barrows found it resident in Entrerios. The latter tells us it is "abundant in the woods everywhere, and conspicuous for its activity, bright colours, and large size."

258. LEUCONERPES CANDIDUS (Otto).

(WHITE-BELLIED WOODp.e.c.k.e.r.)

+Leuconerpes candidus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 445 (Parana, Cordova); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 100; _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 361 (Salta); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 618 (Misiones); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 25 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Above white; wings and upper back, with a line on each side running up to the eye, black; nape tinged with yellow: beneath white; tail black, with white cross bands: whole length 110 inches, wing 55, tail 45. _Female_ similar, but without the yellow on the nape.

_Hab._ S. Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.

Prof. Burmeister met with this peculiarly coloured Woodp.e.c.k.e.r near Parana, and Mr. Barrows found it resident in Entrerios, though not very abundant.

White speaks of this species as follows:--"These noisy birds, abundant in various parts of Misiones as well as in the rest of the north of the Republic, go about in flocks of eight or ten, and settle on the same tree, which they proceed to ascend very comically in a spiral or corkscrew fas.h.i.+on, each head touching the preceding tail. They are not seen in dense forests, but only out in the open, on some old, usually dead, tree, and I think I observed them as far south as the sierras of Cordoba."

259. COLAPTES LONGIROSTRIS, Cab.

(LONG-BILLED WOODp.e.c.k.e.r.)

+Colaptes longirostris+, _Cabanis, Journ. f. Orn._ 1883, p. 97.

_Description._--Similar to _C. rupicola_, d'Orb., but with the bill much longer.

_Hab._ Tuc.u.man.

This is a southern form of the Brazilian _C. rupicola_, which has been recently described by Dr. Cabanis. Herr Schulz obtained a single male example of this species in Tuc.u.man. Like _C. rupicola_ it has red moustaches, but no red nape-band, whereas the more northern _C. pura_ of Peru shows a red nape-band in both s.e.xes.

260. COLAPTES AGRICOLA (Malh.).

(PAMPAS WOODp.e.c.k.e.r.)

+Colaptes agricola+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 101; _Hudson, P.

Z. S._ 1872, p. 549 (Rio Negro); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 25 (Entrerios); _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 468 (Lomas de Zamora).

+Colaptes australis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 445 (Parana). +Colaptes campestris+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 618 (Misiones).

_Description._--Above greyish white, transversely barred with blackish; wings black, with golden-yellow shafts, and white bars on the outer webs; rump white, with smaller black cross bars; crested head black; sides of head and whole neck in front yellow; malar stripe red; abdomen white, with regular transverse black bars; under wing-coverts yellowish white; bill and feet black: whole length 130 inches, wing 68, tail 49. _Female_ similar, but no red malar stripe.

_Hab._ Argentina and Patagonia.

The species commonly called _Carpintero_ in the Argentine country, and ranging south to Patagonia, is one of a group of the Picidae of South America which diverge considerably in habits from the typical Woodp.e.c.k.e.rs. On trees they usually perch horizontally and crosswise, like ordinary birds, and only occasionally cling vertically to trunks of trees, using the tail as a support. They also seek their food more on the ground than on trees, in some cases not at all on trees, and they also breed oftener in holes in banks or cliffs than in the trunks of trees. As Darwin remarks in 'The Origin of Species,' in his chapter on Instinct, these birds have, to some slight extent, been modified structurally in accordance with their less arboreal habits, the beak being weaker, the rectrices less stiff, and the legs longer than in other Woodp.e.c.k.e.rs. In South Brazil and Bolivia the _Colaptes campestris_ represents this group, in Chili _C. pitius_, and in the Argentine country _C. agricola_.

Azara's description, under the heading _El Campestre_, probably refers to the Brazilian species, but agrees so well in every particular with the pampas Woodp.e.c.k.e.r that I cannot do better than to quote it in full.

"Though this name (_Campestre_) seems inappropriate for any Woodp.e.c.k.e.r, no other better describes the present species, since it never enters forests, nor climbs on trunks to seek for insects under the bark, but finds its aliment on the open plain, running with ease on the ground, for its legs are longer than in the others. There it forcibly strikes its beak into the matted turf, where worms or insects lie concealed, and when the ant-hills are moist it breaks into them to feed on the ants or their larvae. It also perches on trees, large or small, on the trunks or branches, whether horizontal or upright, sometimes in a clinging position and sometimes crosswise in the manner common to birds. Its voice is powerful, and its cry uttered frequently both when flying and perching. It goes with its mate or family, and is the most common species in all these countries. It lays two to four eggs, with white and highly polished sh.e.l.ls, and breeds in holes which it excavates in old walls of mud or of unbaked brick, also in the banks of streams; and the eggs are laid on the bare floor without any lining."

In Patagonia, where I have found this bird breeding in the cliffs of the Rio Negro, its habits are precisely as Azara says; but on the pampas of Buenos Ayres, where the conditions are different, there being no cliffs or old mud-walls suitable for breeding-places, the bird resorts to the big solitary ombu tree (_Pircunia dioica_), which has a very soft wood, and excavates a hole 7 to 9 inches deep, inclining upwards near the end, and terminating in a round chamber.

This reversion to an ancestral habit, which (considering the modified structure of the bird) must have been lost at a very remote period in its history, is exceedingly curious. Formerly this Woodp.e.c.k.e.r was quite common on the pampas. I remember that when I was a small boy quite a colony lived in the ombu trees growing about my home; now it is nearly extinct, and one may spend years on the plains without meeting with a single example.

Mr. Barrows speaks as follows of this species:--"Abundant and breeding at all points visited. At Concepcion, where it is resident, it is by far the commonest Woodp.e.c.k.e.r. The ordinary note very much resembles the reiterated alarm-note of the Greater Yellow-legs (_Tota.n.u.s melanoleucus_), but so loud as to be almost painful when close at hand, and easily heard a mile or more away. They spend much time on the ground, and I often found the bills of those shot quite muddy. They are very tough and hard to kill, and a wounded one shows about as many sharp points as a Hawk. A nest found near Concepcion, November 6, 1880, was in the hollow trunk of a tree, the entrance being through an enlarged crack at a height of some three feet from the ground. The five white eggs were laid on the rubbish at the bottom of the cavity, perhaps a foot above the ground. In the treeless region about the Sierra de la Ventana we saw this bird about holes on the banks of the streams, where it doubtless had nests."

Order IV. COCCYGES.

Fam. XXIV. ALCEDINIDae, or KINGFISHERS.