Argentine Ornithology Volume Ii Part 22

_Description._--Hind toe present. Plumage rosy red; wing-coverts crimson; wing-feathers black; bill pale yellowish red, apical half black; feet dark violet-grey: whole length 390 inches, wing 150, tarsus 110. _Female_ similar, but smaller.

_Hab._ Southern portions of South America.

The Argentine Flamingo inhabits the whole of the Argentine country, down to the Rio Negro in the south, where I found it very abundant. The residents told me of a breeding-place there--a shallow salt-lake--which, however, had been abandoned by the birds before my visit. The nest there, as in other regions, was a small pillar of mud raised a foot or eighteen inches above the surface of the water, and with a slight hollow on the top; and I was a.s.sured by people who had watched them on their nests that the incubating bird invariably sits with the hind part of the body projecting from the nest, and the long legs dangling down in the water, and not tucked up under the bird.

On the Rio Negro I found the birds most abundant in winter, which surprised me, for that there is a movement of Flamingoes to the north in the autumn I am quite sure, having often seen them pa.s.sing overhead in a northerly direction in the migrating-season. I have also found the young birds, in the grey plumage, at this season in the marshes near to Buenos Ayres city, hundreds of miles from any known breeding-place. Probably the birds in the interior of the country, where the cold is far more intense than on the sea-coast, go north before winter, while those in the district bordering on the Atlantic have become stationary.

The Flamingo has a curious way of feeding: it immerses the beak, and by means of a rapid continuous movement of the mandibles pa.s.ses a current of water through the mouth, where the minutest insects and particles of floating matter are arrested by the teeth. The stomach is small, and is usually found to contain a pulpy ma.s.s of greenish-coloured stuff, mixed with minute particles of quartz. Yet on so scanty a fare this large bird not only supports itself, but becomes excessively fat. I spent half a winter in Patagonia at a house built on the borders of a small lake, and regularly every night a small flock of Flamingoes came to feed in the water about 200 yards from the back of the house. I used to open the window to listen to them, and the noise made by their beaks was continuous and resembled the sound produced by wringing out a wet cloth.

They feed a great deal by day, but much more, I think, by night.

Where they are never persecuted they are tame birds, and when a flock is fired into and one bird killed, the other birds, though apparently much astonished, do not fly away. They are silent birds, but not actually dumb, having a low hoa.r.s.e cry, uttered sometimes at the moment of taking flight; also another cry which I have only heard from a wounded bird, resembling the gobbling of a turkey-c.o.c.k, only shriller. They are almost invariably seen standing in the water, even when not feeding, and even seem to sleep there; on land they have a very singular appearance, their immense height, in proportion to their bulk, giving them an appearance amongst birds something like that of the giraffe amongst mammals. To the lakes and water-courses in the midst of the grey scenery of Patagonia they seem to give a strange glory, while standing motionless, their tall rose-coloured forms mirrored in the dark water, but chiefly when they rise and pa.s.s in a long crimson train or phalanx, flying low over the surface.

333. PHNICOPTERUS ANDINUS, Philippi.

(ANDEAN FLAMINGO.)

+Phnicopterus andinus+, _Phillipi, Reise d. d. Wuste Atacama_, p.

164, tt. iv., v.; _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 127; _Scl. P. Z.

S._ 1886, p. 399; _Burm. P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 364 (Cordilleras of N.-West).

_Description._--Hind toe absent. Plumage rosy white; lower neck and breast carmine; wings scarlet, with the tips of the quills black; bill at the base yellowish stained with red; apical half black; feet yellow: whole length 350 inches, wing 160, tarsus 90. _Female_ similar, but smaller.

_Hab._ Andes of Bolivia and Northern Chili.

The Andean Flamingo, which is at once distinguishable from _P.

ignipalliatus_ by the complete absence of the hind toe, is stated by Dr.

Burmeister, on the authority of Herr Schickendantz, to be found on the north-western frontiers of the Argentine Republic, on the lagunes of the eastern valleys between the Cordilleras and the adjacent mountains.

Order X. ANSERES.

Fam. x.x.xIX. PALAMEDEIDae, or SCREAMERS.

This singular Neotropical form is even more isolated than the Flamingo and more difficult to place satisfactorily in a linear series. It seems, however, that it is best arranged near the Anatidae, as first suggested by Mr. Parker[7], and that it may with least inconvenience be const.i.tuted an aberrant family of the Order Anseres.

[7] _Cf._ Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863, p. 511.

Besides the typical form _Palamedea_ (with one species found in Amazonia and the interior of Brazil) the present family contains only one other genus--_Chauna_--in which the head carries a feather-crest instead of the long h.o.r.n.y wattle of _Palamedea_. One species of _Chauna_ is met with in Argentina, the only other known species (_C. derbiana_) being confined to Colombia and Venezuela.

334. CHAUNA CHAVARIA (Linn.).

(CRESTED SCREAMER.)

+Palamedea chavaria+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 506 (Parana).

+Chauna chavaria+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 128; _iid. P. Z.

S._ 1868, p. 145 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 63 (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 165 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 272 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Slaty grey, blacker on the back; chin, neck, and cheeks whitish; a naked ring round the neck; nape crested; belly whitish; feet red: whole length 320 inches, wing 190, tail 80.

_Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Southern Brazil, Paraguay, and La Plata.

This majestic bird, called _Chaja_ in the vernacular, is common throughout the Plata district, in marshes and on the open level country abounding in water and succulent gra.s.ses, and ranges south to the neighbourhood of Bahia Blanca. It is most abundant on the pampas south of Buenos Ayres city, and on that vast expanse of perfectly level, green country the bird is seen at its best; it is there an important feature in the landscape; its vocal performances are doubly impressive on account of the profound silence of nature, and its singularity--the contrast between its aerial habit and ponderous structure--strikes one more forcibly where the view is so un.o.bstructed and the atmosphere so pure.

The Crested Screamer, like most of the larger birds and mammals in every part of the globe to which European emigration is attracted, is probably doomed to rapid extermination. My observations of the bird, in that portion of the pampas where it is most abundant, date back some years, to a time when the inhabitants were few and mainly of Spanish race, never the destroyers of bird-life. The conditions had become extremely favourable to this species. It is partially aquatic in its habits; and in desert places is usually found in marshes, wading in the shallow water, and occasionally swimming to feed on the seeds and succulent leaves of water-loving plants. After the old giant gra.s.ses of the pampas had been eaten up by the cattle, and the sweet gra.s.ses of Europe had taken their place, the Screamers took kindly to that new food, preferring the clovers, and seemed as terrestrial in their feeding-habits as Upland Geese. Their food was abundant, and they were never persecuted by the natives. Their flesh is very dark, is coa.r.s.e-grained but good to eat, with a flavour resembling that of wild duck, and there is a great deal of meat on a bird with a body larger than that of a Swan. Yet no person ever thought of killing or eating the Chaja; and the birds were permitted to increase to a marvellous extent.

It was a common thing a few years ago in the dry season to see them congregated in thousands; and so little afraid of man were they that I have often ridden through large scattered flocks without making the birds take wing.

A curious thing about the Screamer is that it pairs for life, and yet is one of the most social of birds. But if a large flock is closely looked at, the birds are invariably seen methodically ranged in pairs. Another curious thing is that, notwithstanding the formidable weapons they possess (each wing being armed with two large spurs), they are extremely pacific in temper. I have never been able to detect even the slightest approach to a quarrel among them; yet it is hard to believe that they do not fight sometimes, since weapons of offence are usually found correlated with the disposition to use them. Captive birds, however, can be made to fight; and I have known Gauchos take them for the pleasure of witnessing their battles. They are very easily tamed, and in that state seem to show greater docility and intelligence than any of our domestic birds; and become so attached to their home that it is quite safe to allow them to fly about at will. They a.s.sociate, but do not quarrel, with the poultry. They are quick to distinguish strangers from the people of the house, showing considerable suspicion of them, and sometimes raising a loud alarm at a stranger's approach. Towards dogs and cats they are often unfriendly; and when breeding it is dangerous for a strange person to approach the nest, as they will sometimes attack him with the greatest fury.

The Screamer is a very heavy bird, and rises from the ground laboriously, the wings, as in the case of the Swan, making a loud noise. Nevertheless, it loves soaring, and will rise in an immense spiral until it wholly disappears from sight in the zenith, even in the brightest weather; and considering its great bulk and dark colour, the height it ultimately attains must be very great. On sunny windless days, especially in winter and spring, they often spend hours at a time in these sublime aerial exercises, slowly floating round and round in vast circles, and singing at intervals. How so heavy and comparatively short-winged a bird can sustain itself for such long periods in the thin upper air to which it rises has not yet been explained.

The voice is very powerful. When disturbed, or when the nest is approached, both birds utter at intervals a loud alarm-cry, resembling in sound the anger-cry of the Peac.o.c.k, but twice as loud. At other times its voice is exercised in a kind of singing performance, in which male and female join, and which produces the effect of harmony. The male begins, the female takes up her part, and then with marvellous strength and spirit they pour forth a torrent of strangely-contrasted sounds--some ba.s.soon-like in their depth and volume, some like drumbeats, and others, long, clear, and ringing. It is the loudest animal-sound of the pampas, and its jubilant martial character strongly affects the mind in that silent melancholy wilderness.

The Screamers sing all the year round, at all hours, both on the ground and when soaring; when in pairs the two birds invariably sing together, and when in flocks they sing in concert. At night they are heard about nine o'clock in the evening, and again just before dawn. It is not unusual, however, to hear them singing at other hours.

The nest is a large fabric placed among the low rushes and water-lilies, and is sometimes seen floating on the water, away from its moorings. The eggs are five, pointed at one end, pure white, and in size like the eggs of the domestic goose. The young are clothed in yellow down like goslings, and follow the parents about from the date of hatching.

Fam. XL. ANATIDae, or DUCKS.

The Anatidae or Waterfowl are a well-known family of universal distribution over the earth's surface. As shown in an article published in the Zoological Society's 'Proceedings' for 1876[8], upwards of 60 species of this group of birds are found in the Neotropical Region, and of these about 22 occur in the Argentine Republic. Amongst the Argentine species are some of the finest and most ornamental of the whole family, such as the Black-necked Swan, the Ashy-headed Goose, and the Chiloe Wigeon--all well known from their introduction and acclimatization in Europe.

[8] "A Revision of the Neotropical Anatidae," by P. L. Sclater and O.

Salvin, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 358.

It may be remarked that nearly all the Argentine members of this family belong to Antarctic forms, and are specifically different from those met with in North America.

335. BERNICLA MELANOPTERA (Eyton).

(ANDEAN GOOSE.)

+Chloephaga melanoptera+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 513 (Cordilleras). +Bernicla melanoptera+, _Burm. P. Z. S._ 1872, p.

365; _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1876, p. 362; _iid. Nomencl._ p.

128.

_Description._--White; wing-feathers black; scapulars and tail greenish black; greater wing-coverts externally purplish, forming a speculum; smaller wing-coverts white; anterior scapulars spotted with brown, posterior scapulars brown with a greenish tinge: whole length 300 inches, wing 175, tail 65. _Female_ similar, but smaller.

_Hab._ Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and Northern Chili.