Argentine Ornithology Volume I Part 3

Fam. III. MUSCICAPIDae, or FLYCATCHERS.

The peculiar genus _Polioptila_, which contains some twelve or thirteen species of small-sized American birds, ranging from the United States to the Argentine Republic, has been variously arranged by naturalists, but seems to be more nearly related to the African genus _Stenostira_ than to any other known form. I therefore now place it with the Muscicapidae, or Flycatchers, of which it is the only genus found in the New World.

10. POLIOPTILA DUMICOLA (Vieill.).

(BRUSH-LOVING FLY-SNAPPER.)

+Polioptila dumicola+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 4; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1876, p. 157, 1877, p. 167 (Buenos Ayres); _Salv. Ibis_, 1880, p. 352 (Tuc.u.man); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 593 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 86 (Concepcion); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 444. +Culicivora dumicola+, _Burm.

La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 473 (Parana). +Culicivora boliviana+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1852, p. 34, pl. xlvii.

_Description._--Above clear greyish blue; wing-coverts, b.a.s.t.a.r.d-wing, and primary-coverts dusky brown, with greyish-blue edges; quills dusky; upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers black, the third outer tail-feather white at the tip, the outer tail-feather nearly entirely white; from the base of the forehead a black line extends backwards over the eye; under surface delicate ashy grey, white on the abdomen and under tail-coverts; bill and feet bluish-black: total length 45 inches, wing 21, tail 20. _Female_ similar, but without the black eye-streak.

_Hab._ Paraguay and Northern Argentina.

This little bird strongly resembles some species of that division of the Tyrannidae which includes the genera _Stigmatura_, _Serpophaga_, and _Anaeretes_; but the likeness, strange to say, is even more marked in habits and voice than in coloration and general appearance.

It is found in open th.o.r.n.y woods and thickets; and in Buenos Ayres seems to have a partial migration, as it is much more common in summer than in winter. At all times male and female are found together, and probably pair for life, like several of the species in the groups just mentioned.

They are seen continually hopping about among the twigs in a leisurely deliberate manner, all the time emitting a variety of low short notes, as if conversing together; and at intervals they unite their voices in a burst of congratulatory notes, like those uttered by the small Tyrant-birds they resemble. They have no song. I have not found the nest, but Dr. Burmeister says that it is made in bushes, and that the eggs are white.

Fam. IV. TROGLODYTIDae, or WRENS.

The Troglodytidae, or Wren family, are of wide distribution, and are found alike under the tropics and in temperate lat.i.tudes. In South America nearly 100 species altogether are known to occur. Of these two are familiar inhabitants of the whole Argentine Republic, and a third, belonging to the water-loving genus _Donacobius_, is met with in the eastern provinces on the Parana. A fourth species has been lately described from Tuc.u.man.

11. DONACOBIUS ATRICAPILLUS (Linn.).

(BLACK-HEADED REED-WREN.)

+Donacobius atricapillus+, _Scl. Cat. A. B._ p. 16; _Scl. et Salv.

Nomencl._ p. 5; _Sharpe, Cat. B._ vi. p. 364; _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 475. +Donacobius brasiliensis+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 213 (Corrientes).

_Description._--Above dark chocolate-brown; cap black; wings black, with a large white patch on the inner primaries; tail black; lateral rectrices broadly ended with white; beneath ochreous buff; sides of breast and flanks with cross lines of dusky brown: total length 75 inches, wing 29, tail 37. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Guiana, Amazonia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.

The genus _Donacobius_ contains two species somewhat intermediate between the Mock-birds and the large Wrens of the genus _Campylorhynchus_. The well-known Brazilian _D. atricapillus_ extends through Paraguay, where Azara found it abundant, into Corrientes and the adjoining provinces of La Plata. It is met with among the reeds on lakes and streams.

12. TROGLODYTES FURVUS (Gm.).

(BROWN HOUSE-WREN.)

+Troglodytes furvus+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 158 (Conchitas); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 7; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1876, p.

157, 1877, p. 32 (Chupat), p. 167 (Buenos Ayres), 1878, p. 392 (Central Patagonia); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 593 (Buenos Ayres); _Doring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 36 (Azul, R.

Colorado, R. Negro). +Troglodytes platensis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 476; _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 86 (Concepcion). +Troglodytes musculus+, _Sharpe, Cat. B._ vi. p.

255.

_Description._--Above brown; the tail-feathers and outer webs of wing-feathers pencilled with dark wavy lines; beneath very pale brown; bill and feet horn-colour; eye brown: total length 48 inches, wing 20, tail 17. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ South America.

The common Argentine Wren is to all English residents the "House-Wren,"

and is considered to be identical with the species familiar to them in their own country. It is a sprightly little bird, of a uniform brown colour and a cheerful melodious voice; a tireless hunter after small spiders and caterpillars in hedges, gardens, and outhouses, where it explores every dark hole and cranny, hopping briskly about with tail erect, and dropping frequent little curtsies; always prompt to scold an intruder with great emphasis; a great hater of cats.

It was my belief at one time that the Wren was one of the little birds a cat never could catch; but later on I discovered that this was a mistake. At my home on the pampas we once had a large yellow tom cat exceedingly dexterous in catching small birds; he did not, however, eat them himself, but used to bring them into the house for the other cats.

Two or three times a day he would appear with a bird, which he would drop at the door, then utter a loud mew very well understood by the other cats, for they would all fly to the spot in great haste, and the first to arrive would get the bird. At one time I noticed that he brought in a Wren almost every day, and, curious to know how he managed to capture so clever a bird, I watched him. His method was to go out into the grounds frequented by Wrens, and seat himself conspicuously amongst the weeds or bushes; and then, after the first burst of alarm had subsided amongst the small birds, one or two Wrens would always take on themselves the task of dislodging him, or, at all events, of making his position a very uncomfortable one. The cat would sit perfectly motionless, apparently not noticing them at all, and by-and-by this stolid demeanour would have its effect, and one of the Wrens, growing bolder, would extend his das.h.i.+ng little incursions to within a few inches of p.u.s.s.y's demure face; then at last, swift as lightning, would come the stroke of a paw, and the little brown body would drop down with the merry brave little spirit gone from it.

The House-Wren is widely distributed in South America, from the tropical forests to the cold uplands of Patagonia, and, possessing a greater adaptiveness than most species, it inhabits every kind of country, moist or dry, and is as much at home on lofty mountains and stony places as in the everglades of the Plata, where it frequents the reed-beds and damp forests. About houses they are always to be found; and though the traveller on the desert pampas might easily imagine that there are no Wrens in the giant gra.s.ses, if he makes himself a lodge in this lonely region, a Wren will immediately appear to make its nest in his thatch and cheer him with its song.

Even in large towns they are common, and I always remember one flying into a church in Buenos Ayres one Sunday, and, during the whole sermon-time, pouring out its bright lyric strains from its perch high up somewhere in the ornamental wood-work of the roof.

The Wren sings all summer, and also on bright days in winter. The song is not unlike that of the English House-Wren, having the same gus.h.i.+ng character, the notes being strong and clear, and uttered with rapidity and precision; but the Argentine bird has greater sweetness and more power.

In spring the male courts his mate with notes high and piercing as the squeals of a young mouse; these he repeats with great rapidity, fluttering his wings all the time like a moth, and at intervals breaking out into song.

The nest is made in a dark hole in a wall or tree, sometimes in the forsaken domed nest of some other bird; and where such sites are not to be found, in a dense thistle or thorn-bush, or in a large tussock of gra.s.s. I have also found nests in dry skulls of cows and horses, in an old boot, in the sleeve of an old coat left hanging on a _fence_, in a large-necked bottle, and in various other curious situations. The nest is built of sticks and lined with horse-hair or feathers, and the eggs are usually nine in number, of a pinkish ground-colour, thickly spotted with pale red.

13. TROGLODYTES AURICULARIS, Cab.

(EARED WREN.)

+Troglodytes (Uropsila) auricularis+, _Cab. Journ. f. Orn._ 1883, p.

105, t. ii. fig. 1.

_Description._--In habit and size near the European Wren, _T.

parvulus_, but peculiar for the blackish-brown hinder half of the ear-coverts and its broad white superciliaries. Upper surface and flanks brown; throat and middle of belly whitish, tinged with brownish yellow; wings and tail with fine black cross bands; crissum with broader black and white cross bands. (_Cabanis._)

_Hab._ Tuc.u.man.

This is a recent discovery of Herr Schulz in the Sierra of Tuc.u.man. We have not yet met with specimens of it.

14. CISTOTHORUS PLATENSIS (Lath.).

(PLATAN MARSH-WREN.)

+Cistothorus platensis+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 158; _iid.

Nomencl._ p. 7; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 168 (Buenos Ayres); _Doring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 37 (R. Sauce, R. Colorado, R. Negro); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 87 (Carhue); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ vi. p. 244. +Cistothorus fasciolatus+, _Burm.

La-Plata Reise_, ii, p. 476 (Mendoza).

_Description._--Above pale sandy brown, variegated with black streaks; head darker brown, streaked with black; the hind neck paler brown, with narrow black streaks; wing-coverts brown; tail-feathers dark sandy brown, barred with blackish brown; under surface pale sandy buff: total length 43 inches, wing 185, tail 16. _Female_ similar.