Argentine Ornithology Volume Ii Part 33

+Charadrius dominicus+, _Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A._ i. p. 139. +Charadrius fulvus america.n.u.s+, _Seebohm, Plovers_, p.

100.

_Description._--Above brownish black, with numerous irregular spots of yellow; forehead, superciliary stripe, and sides of neck white: beneath black; crissum whitish; axillaries smoky grey; bill black; feet dark grey: whole length 105 inches, wing 70, tail 28.

_Female_ similar. _Young_: beneath dirty white, with greyish freckles.

_Hab._ America.

This closely allied representative of the Golden Plover of Europe, from which it is distinguishable mainly by its rather larger size and smoky-grey axillaries, visits South America in autumn.

The American Golden Plover is abundant and well known to everyone by its native name _Chorlo_ throughout Southern Argentina. Its wild clear notes are first heard about the last week in August; and among the first comers many individuals are seen still wearing the nuptial dress. After their long journey from the Arctic regions they are lean and not worth shooting; two months later they become excessively fat, and are then much appreciated by _gourmets_. But although so regular in their arrival they do not regularly visit the same localities every season; the bird may be abundant in a place one year and scarce or absent altogether the next. During the spring, from September to December, they prefer open plains with short gra.s.s and in the neighbourhood of wet or marshy ground; at the end of December, when the giant thistle (_Carduus mariana_), which often covers large areas of country, has been burnt up by the sun and blown to the ground, they scatter about a great deal in flocks of from one to four or five hundred. At noon, however, they all resort to a lagoon or marshy place containing water, congregating day after day in such numbers that they blacken the ground over an area of several acres in extent; and at a distance of a quarter of a mile the din of their united voices resembles the roar of a cataract. As population increases on the pampas these stupendous gatherings are becoming more and more rare. Twenty-five years ago it was an exceptional thing for a man to possess a gun, or to use one when he had it; and if Chorlos were wanted, a Gaucho boy, with a string a yard long with a ball of lead attached to each end, could knock down as many as he liked. I have killed them in this way myself, also with the _bola perdida_--a ball at the end of a long string thrown at random into a cloud of birds.

The habits, flight, and language of the Golden Plover need not be spoken of here, as this bird has been so often and exhaustively described by North-American ornithologists. The only peculiarity it possesses which I have not seen mentioned, is its faculty of producing a loud sound, as of a horn, when a few pa.s.sing birds, catching sight of others of their kind on the ground below, descend violently and almost vertically to the earth with unmoving wings. This feat is, however, rarely witnessed; and on the first occasion when I heard the sound high above me, and looked up to see half a dozen Chorlos rus.h.i.+ng down from the sky, the sight almost took my breath away with astonishment.

The Golden Plover appears to be most abundant on the pampas between the thirty-fourth and thirty-sixth parallels of lat.i.tude, but how far south its range extends has not yet been ascertained. The return migration begins early in March, and yet Mr. Barrows met with it in the neighbourhood of Bahia Blanca and on the Sierra de la Ventana from February 8 to March 19. During most of this time he says it was abundant in flocks of from twenty to two hundred birds, which appeared to be moving uniformly _south_ or _south-west_.

388. EUDROMIAS MODESTA (Licht.).

(WINTER PLOVER.)

+Vanellus modestus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 502 (Pampas).

+Eudromias modesta+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 143; _iid. P. Z.

S._ 1868, p. 144 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 197 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 402 (Centr. Patagonia); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 313 (Entrerios); _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas de Zamora). +Charadrius modestus+, _Seebohm, Plovers_, p.

105.

_Description._--Above brownish cinereous; frontal band and superciliary stripe white; wings and central tail-feathers blackish; lateral tail-feathers white, the inner ones with an imperfect black subterminal band: beneath, throat cinereous, breast bright chestnut with a black band below; belly white; bill black, base of lower mandible yellowish; feet brown: whole length 75 inches, wing 53, tail 24. _Female_ similar. _Young_ without the rufous chest.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WINTER PLOVER. (Seebohm's 'Plovers,' p. 105.)]

_Hab._ Antarctic America.

This species in its gait, flight, and general appearance closely resembles the American Golden Plover, but is smaller than that bird, and its sober upper plumage is unrelieved with flecks of golden colour.

It breeds in South Patagonia and the Falklands, and migrates north in autumn, appearing on the pampas in April, and being met with there throughout the winter; hence the vernacular name _Chorlito de invierno_ (Little Winter Plover). In its winter dress the upper plumage is greyish drab colour; the breast dark brown; the belly white. It is shy and active in disposition, has a very rapid flight, and is seen in flocks varying greatly in number, from a dozen to two or three hundred individuals. When feeding the birds scatter very widely, running swiftly over the ground in all directions. When on the wing it frequently utters its cry, which has not the mellow tone of the Golden Plover's note, but it is wonderfully clear and far-reaching, and impresses the listener with its wildness and melancholy.

Their return migration takes place in August.

389. aeGIALITIS FALKLANDICA (Lath.).

(PATAGONIAN SAND-PLOVER.)

+aegialitis falklandica+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 143; _iid. P. Z.

S._ 1868, p. 144 (Buenos Ayres), et 1872, p. 549 (Rio Negro); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 402 (Centr. Patagonia); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 163 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 313 (Entrerios). +Charadrius falklandicus+, _Seebohm, Plovers_, p.

155.

_Description._--Above brown; front white; band across forehead and sides of head black, bordered with rufous; wings black, with bright shafts and white edges to the base of some of the inner primaries; central tail-feathers black, lateral white, with a more or less distinct subterminal blackish band, except on the outer pair: beneath white, crossed by two broad blackish bands on the breast; bill and feet black: whole length 70 inches, wing 50, tail 21.

_Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Patagonia, Falkland Islands, Chili, and Argentina.

The pretty little Belted Plover inhabits the Falklands and South Patagonia, and migrates north in winter as far as Paraguay; but it is not anywhere common, and is seldom seen in parties exceeding half a dozen in number. It is extremely active, always preferring wet grounds to dry, and runs rapidly over the mud in search of food like a Tringa.

Its only language is a low clicking note uttered when taking wing.

Some individuals remain to breed as far north as the pampas of Buenos Ayres. Mr. Gibson says the nest is always placed near the water, and is a slight sc.r.a.pe in the ground lined with dry gra.s.s. The eggs are three in number, have black spots on an olive ground; and in shape resemble Lapwing's eggs.

Durnford also found it breeding in the Chupat Valley in September 1877.

390. aeGIALITIS COLLARIS (Vieill.).

(AZARA'S SAND-PLOVER.)

+Charadrius azarae+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 501. +aegialitis collaris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 143; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 67 (Buenos Ayres); _id. Ibis_, 1880, p. 424 (Tuc.u.man); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 628 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 313 (Entrerios). +Charadrius collaris+, _Seebohm, Plovers_, p. 173. "+Cinereous Plover+," _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1871, p. 261.

_Description._--Above brown; front white; fore half of head and line between bill and eyes black; top of head and sides of neck tinged with rusty red; primaries blackish with bright shafts and slight white edgings; tail with the central rectrices blackish brown, lateral rectrices white: beneath white; pectoral collar black; bill black; feet yellow: whole length 60 inches, wing 41, tail 20.

_Female_ similar.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AZARA'S SAND-PLOVER. (Seebohm's 'Plovers,' p. 173.)]

_Hab._ South and Central America.

Azara's Sand-Plover is distributed all over South America east of the Andes, and has been obtained by Mr. Salvin in Guatemala. It is a close ally of the Kentish Plover of Europe (_ae. cantiana_), but has the black pectoral band complete in the adult form.

This Plover appears to be an inland species. Durnford observed it in October, December, and February in the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres, on "dry sandy ground," frequenting the same sort of places as the Common Ring-Plover in England. He also met with it during his last journey to Tuc.u.man, and Mr. Barrows found it "rather abundant" in small flocks all over the open country in Entrerios.

391. OREOPHILUS RUFICOLLIS (Wagl.).

(SLENDER-BILLED PLOVER.)

+Oreophilus ruficollis+, _Wagl., Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 143; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 42 (Chupat), et 1878, p. 402 (Centr.

Patagonia). +Oreophilus totanirostris+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1878, p.

199 (Sierra de Cordova). +Charadrius totanirostris+, _Seebohm, Plovers_, p. 111.

_Description._--Above grey, varied with yellowish brown, and striped with black on the back and wing-coverts; front and superciliaries yellowish brown; stripe through the eye blackish; wings blackish with white shafts, and slightly edged with white, their under surface white; tail grey, with a black subterminal bar on the lateral feathers: beneath grey, whole throat rusty reddish; large ventral patch black; sides of belly and crissum cinnamomeous white; bill black; feet yellowish: whole length 100 inches, wing 65, tail 30, bill from gape 15.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SLENDER-BILLED PLOVER. (Seebohm's 'Plovers,' p. 111.)]

_Hab._ Southern half of South America.

This pretty and curious Plover, with a Snipe-like beak, inhabits South Patagonia and the Falklands. In the autumn it migrates north, and during the cold season is found spa.r.s.ely distributed throughout the Argentine States, and pa.s.ses into Bolivia and Peru. On the pampas it is most abundant in April, but most of the birds seen during that month are travellers to warmer lat.i.tudes.

It is a shy and exceedingly active bird, somewhat larger than the Golden Plover in size, and in the Plata district is usually called _Chorlo canela_, from the prevailing cinnamon-red tint of the plumage. It is distinguished in the family it belongs to by the great length of its straight slender probe-like bill, unlike that of any other Plover; and it also has other structural peculiarities, the toes being exceptionally short and thick, the frontal bone curiously modified, and the eyes enormously large, like those of a nocturnal species. I do not think, however, that it migrates by night, as I have never heard its peculiar pa.s.sage-cry after dark. A flock is usually composed of from a dozen to thirty individuals, and when on the ground they scatter widely, running more rapidly than any other Plover I am acquainted with. When they travel the flight is swift and high, the birds much scattered. They possess no mellow or ringing tones like other members of the Plover family; on the ground they are silent, but when taking wing invariably utter a long tremulous reedy note, with a falling inflection, and usually repeated three or four times. The sound may be imitated by striking on the slackened strings of a guitar. This cry is frequently uttered while the birds are migrating.

On the Rio Negro in Patagonia I observed this Plover only in the winter season; but Durnford found it nesting in the valley of the Sengel in Chupat in the month of December.

392. HaeMATOPUS PALLIATUS, Temm.