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 scrape in the ground lined with dry grass. 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. ÆGIALITIS COLLARIS (Vieill.).

(AZARA’S SAND-PLOVER.)

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 (Æ. 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 Tucuman, and Mr. Barrows found it “rather abundant” in small flocks all over the open country in Entrerios.

391. OREOPHILUS RUFICOLLIS (Wagl.).

(SLENDER-BILLED PLOVER.)

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 sparsely distributed throughout the Argentine States, and passes 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 latitudes.

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 passage-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. HÆMATOPUS PALLIATUS, Temm.

(AMERICAN OYSTER-CATCHER.)

Hab. America.

This Oyster-catcher is widely distributed along the coasts of North and South America, from Nova Scotia to Patagonia. Durnford found it nesting near Tombo Point in Central Patagonia in the month of December, but failed to obtain the eggs.

At the same place Durnford also observed the Black Oyster-catcher (H. ater), but that is an Antarctic species, which may probably not come further north.

Fam. XLVIII. THINOCORIDÆ, or SEED-SNIPES.

The family Thinocoridæ, which embraces the two genera Thinocorus and Attagis, is a peculiar group of South-American birds of somewhat Partridge-like appearance, and associated by the older authors with the Gallinæ, but now known to be most nearly allied in essential structure to the Plovers. The Seed-Snipes are inhabitants of bare and desolate districts, being found in the northern parts of the continent only on the high Andes, but descending to the sea-level in Patagonia and the Falkland Islands. The species are few in number, only about six being known, of which two occur within Argentine limits.

393. THINOCORUS RUMICIVORUS, Eschsch.

(COMMON SEED-SNIPE.)

Hab. Western Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Patagonia, and Argentina.

This curious bird has the grey upper plumage and narrow, long, sharply-pointed wings of a Snipe, with the plump body and short strong curved beak of a Partridge. But the gallinaceous beak is not in this species correlated, as in the Partridges, with stout rasorial feet; on the contrary, the legs and feet are extremely small and feeble, and scarcely able to sustain the weight of the body. When alighting the Seed-Snipe drops its body directly upon the ground and sits close like a Goatsucker; when rising it rushes suddenly away with the wild hurried flight and sharp scraping alarm-cry of a Snipe. It is exclusively a vegetable-feeder. I have opened the gizzards of many scores to satisfy myself that they never eat insects, and have found nothing in them but seed (usually clover-seed) and tender buds and leaves mixed with minute particles of gravel.

These birds inhabit Patagonia, migrating north to the pampas in winter, where they arrive in April. They usually go in flocks of about forty or fifty individuals, and fly rapidly, keeping very close together. On the ground, however, they are always much scattered, and are so reluctant to rise that they will allow a person to walk or ride through the flock without taking wing, each bird creeping into a little hollow in the surface or behind a tuft of grass to escape observation. During its winter sojourn on the pampas the flock always selects as a feeding-ground a patch of whitish argillaceous earth, with a scanty withered vegetation; and here when the birds crouch motionless on the ground, to which their grey plumage so closely assimilates in colour, it is most difficult to detect them. If a person stands still close to or in the midst of the flock the birds will presently betray their presence by answering each other with a variety of strange notes, resembling the cooing of Pigeons, loud taps on a hollow ground, and other mysterious sounds, which seem to come from beneath the earth.

In the valley of Rio Negro I met with a few of these birds in summer, but could not find their nests.

Durnford, however, who found them breeding in Chupat at the end of October, tells us that the nest is a slight depression in the ground, sometimes lined with a few blades of grass. “The eggs have a pale stone ground-colour, very thickly but finely speckled with light and dark chocolate markings; they have a polished appearance, and measure 1·3 × ·8 inch” (Ibis, 1878, p. 403).

394. THINOCORUS ORBIGNYANUS, Geoffr. et Less.

(D’ORBIGNY’S SEED-SNIPE.)

Hab. Western Peru, Bolivia, Chili, and Western Argentina.

Dr. Burmeister met with examples of this Seed-Snipe, which is easily distinguishable from the preceding species by its larger size, in the high valleys of the Sierra of Uspallata, at an elevation of about 6000 feet above the sea-level. It is called “Guancho” by the natives after its peculiar call-note, which, however, sounded more like “Tulco” to Dr. Burmeister, and is often heard at night-time.

This Seed-Snipe is also found in Peru at high elevations in the Puna region (12,000 to 14,000 feet), where M. Jelski obtained its eggs. A description of them with some interesting notes on the habits of the species are given in Taczanowski’s ‘Ornithologie du Pérou.’

Fam. XLIX. SCOLOPACIDÆ, or SNIPES.

Like the Plovers, the Snipes are nearly universally distributed over the world’s surface, though most abundant in northern regions. Of about 35 Neotropical species 15 are known to occur in the Argentine Republic, and many additions to the list of these wandering birds may be reasonably expected.

Of the fifteen Scolopacidæ already recognized as occurring within our limits, all but three are Arctic species, which only visit the far south during their migrations. The three exceptions are the Brazilian Stilt (Himantopus brasiliensis), the Paraguay Snipe (Gallinago paraguaiæ), and the Painted Snipe (Rhynchæa semicollaris), which are resident all the year in the Argentine Republic.

395. HIMANTOPUS BRASILIENSIS, Brehm.

(BRAZILIAN STILT.)

Hab. South America.

This bird is resident and common in the Plata district, and is called in the vernacular Téru-real, also Zancudo (stilt). It frequents marshes and lagoons, and wades in search of food in the shallow water near the margin. It is lively in its movements, and notwithstanding the great length of its legs has a pretty, graceful appearance on the ground. On the wing, however, it is seen at its best, the flight being remarkably swift and free, while the sharply-pointed glossy-black wings contrast finely with the snow-white plumage of the body, and the red legs stretched out straight behind have the appearance of a long slender tail. Stilts are fond of aerial exercises, pursuing each other with marvellous velocity through the air, so that a few moments after the spectator has almost lost sight of them in the sky above they are down again within a few yards of the surface. While pursuing each other they constantly utter their excited barking cries, which in tone remind one of the melodious barking of some hounds.

The nest is made on the low ground close to the water, and consists merely of a slight lining of dry grass and leaves gathered in a small depression on the surface; the eggs are four in number, pyriform, dark olive colour, spotted with brownish black, the spots being very thickly crowded at the large end. During incubation the male keeps guard and utters a warning note on the appearance of an enemy, whereupon the female quits the nest. They also counterfeit lameness to draw a person from the neighbourhood of the eggs or young; but in a manner peculiar to this species; for owing to the great length of their legs they cannot drag themselves along the ground, as ducks, plovers, partridges, and other birds do. Placing themselves at a distance of forty or fifty yards from the intruder, but with breast towards him, they flutter about a foot above the ground, their long legs dangling under them, and appear as if struggling to rise and repeatedly falling back. If approached they slowly retire, still fluttering just above the grass and without making any sound. After the young birds are able to fly they remain with the parents until the following spring; and sometimes two or three families associate together, raising the number of the flock to fifteen or twenty birds. The young have a sharp querulous cry of two notes; the plumage is brown and pale grey; the eyes black. After nine or ten months the adult plumage is acquired, not by moulting, but by a gradual change in the colours of the feathers. By the same gradual process the eye changes from black to crimson, the outer edge of the iris first assuming a dull reddish colour, which brightens and widens until the whole iris becomes of a vivid red.

396. PHALAROPUS WILSONI, Sabine.

(WILSON’S PHALAROPE.)

Hab. America, descending southwards during migration to Patagonia.

Wilson’s Phalarope is a North-American species; which breeds in the north-west of that continent, and descends as far south as Chili and Patagonia during migration.

Durnford in 1876 met with this species in the Chupat Valley, “in the still pools formed by the eddies in the river and in the adjacent stagnant ditches.” It was “usually seen in pairs.” Leybold’s collector obtained specimens of it near Mendoza.

397. GALLINAGO PARAGUAIÆ (Vieill.).

(PARAGUAY SNIPE.)

Hab. Patagonia, La Plata, and Paraguay.

This familiar bird, called Agachona in the vernacular, from its habit of crouching close to the ground to escape observation when approached, is abundant in the Plata district and resident, although its sudden and total disappearance from all the open wet places where it is common in the winter gives one the impression that it is migratory. The bird, however, only retires to breed in the extensive lonely marshes. The nest is a slight depression on the moist ground close to the water, and lined with a little withered grass. The eggs are four, pear-shaped, and spotted with black on an olive-coloured ground.

After the summer heats are over Snipes suddenly appear again all over the country, and at this season they are frequently met with on the high and dry grounds among the withered grass and thistles. In favourable wet seasons they sometimes collect in large flocks, numbering not less than five or six hundred birds, and a flock of this kind will occasionally remain in one spot for several months without breaking up. They usually frequent an open spot of level ground where the water just covers the roots of the short grass; here the birds keep close together while feeding and are visible from a long distance; but they become extremely wary, all raising their heads in a very un-Snipe-like manner at the slightest alarm, and taking flight with the readiness of Wild Ducks. These flocks are, however, not often met with. Usually the Snipe is a solitary bird, crouches close when approached, and springs up suddenly when almost trodden on, loudly uttering its sharp scraping alarm-cry; after rising to a considerable height, flying in a wild erratic manner, it returns suddenly to the earth, often dropping into the grass within twenty yards of the spot it rose from.

It is, indeed, curious to see how these habits, characteristic of the Snipes all over the world, are so completely laid aside when the birds associate in large flocks.

Early and late in the day many individuals are usually on the wing engaged in their aerial pastimes, the singular grinding sounds caused by their feathers in their violent descent from a great height being distinctly audible at a distance of nearly a mile. It is heard throughout the winter at all hours of the day in mild damp weather, and on moonlight nights often until after midnight.

398. RHYNCHÆA SEMICOLLARIS (Vieill.).

(PAINTED SNIPE.)

Hab. Southern parts of South America, from Peru to Patagonia.

In the Argentine provinces this bird is called Dormilon (Sleepy-head), in allusion to its dull habits, which are like those of a nocturnal species. It passes the daylight hours concealed in dense reed-beds, rising only when almost trodden on; the flight is feeble and erratic, the rapid wing-flutterings alternating with intervals of gliding, and after going a short distance the bird drops again like a Rail into the rushes. From its behaviour on the ground, also in flying, when it appears dazed with the light, I have no doubt that it is altogether nocturnal or crepuscular in its habits. It is solitary and resident, and may be met with in small numbers in every marsh or stream in the Plata district, where its favourite reed-beds afford it cover. It appears to have no cry or note of any kind, for even when frightened from its nest and when the eggs are on the point of hatching it utters no sound. The eggs never exceed two in number and are placed on the wet ground, often without any lining, among the close grass and herbage near the water. They are oblong and bluntly pointed at the smaller end, and have a white ground-colour, but so densely marked and blotched with black that in some cases they appear to be almost wholly of that colour, or like black eggs flecked with white.

399. TRINGA MACULATA, Vieill.

(PECTORAL SANDPIPER.)

Hab. Arctic America, migrating south to Patagonia in winter.

The Pectoral Sandpiper is a well-known North-American species that visits the south during migration. It breeds abundantly in Alaska, and descends in winter through Central and South America to Chili and Patagonia. Durnford found it abundant about the salt-lagoons of Chupat. Near the end of August it begins to arrive in La Plata, usually in very small flocks or singly; and among these first-comers there are some young birds so immature and weak in appearance that one can scarcely credit the fact that so soon after being hatched they have actually performed the stupendous journey from the northern extremity of the North-American continent to the Buenos-Ayrean pampas.

This species differs from other Sandpipers in being much more solitary and sedentary in its ways, feeding for hours in one spot, and in its Snipe-like habit of sitting close when approached and remaining motionless watching the intruder; also in its language, its low, soft, tremulous cry when flying being utterly unlike the sharp and clicking sounds emitted by other species. During the hot months, when water begins to fail, they occasionally congregate in flocks, sometimes as many as two or three hundred individuals being seen together; but at all times it is more usual to see them in very small flocks or singly.

400. TRINGA BAIRDI (Coues).

(BAIRD’S SANDPIPER.)

Hab. Arctic America, migrating south to Patagonia in winter.

This is likewise an Arctic-American species which visits South America in winter. I have met with it in small flocks near Buenos Ayres in April and May; and it has also been procured in Chili.

401. TRINGA FUSCICOLLIS, Vieill.

(BONAPARTE’S SANDPIPER.)

Hab. Arctic America, migrating south to Patagonia in winter.

Bonaparte’s Sandpiper is a third of the same category of Arctic Tringæ that range far south after the breeding-season. Durnford found it common “in flocks” near Buenos Ayres, and again in the valley of the Sengel river in Central Patagonia in winter. White and Hudson also obtained specimens near Buenos Ayres, and Barrows in Entrerios near Concepcion.

402. CALIDRIS ARENARIA (Linn.).

(SANDERLING.)

Hab. Arctic regions of both hemispheres, descending far south in winter.

The Sanderling is one of the most widely spread of all the Arctic Grallæ during its winter migration. Durnford obtained examples at Tombo Point, Central Patagonia, on the 30th December, 1877, so that it must necessarily pass through the Argentine Republic. It is only known to breed in the high Northern Polar lands.

403. TOTANUS MELANOLEUCUS (Gm.).

(GREATER YELLOWSHANK.)

Hab. North and South America.

The Greater Yellowshank is best known as an Arctic American species, descending south during migration, and arriving in La Plata at the end of September or early in October, singly or in pairs, and sometimes in small flocks. Without ever being abundant the bird is quite common, and one can seldom approach a pool or marsh on the pampas without seeing one or more individuals wading near the margin, and hearing their powerful alarm-cry—a long clear note repeated three times.

These summer visitors leave us in March, and then, oddly enough, others arrive, presumably from the south, to winter on the pampas, and remain from April to August. Thus, notwithstanding that the Yellowshank does not breed on the pampas, we have it with us all the year round. Durnford’s observations agree with mine, for he says that the bird is found throughout the year near Buenos Ayres; and Mr. Barrows writes that this species “occurs every month in the year (at Concepcion in Entrerios), but in increased numbers during August, September, October, and November.”

404. TOTANUS FLAVIPES (Gm.).

(LESSER YELLOWSHANK.)

Hab. Arctic America, descending south to Chili and Patagonia during migration.

This North-American species is likewise common throughout the year on the pampas, although not nearly so common in winter (June, July, and August) as in summer.

Durnford also found it abundant in Central Patagonia. In habits, language, and in general appearance, except in size, it closely resembles the Greater Yellowshank, and the two species, attracted or deceived by this likeness, are constantly seen associating together.

Mr. Barrows, who found it near Concepcion in Entrerios, usually in company with Totanus melanoleucus, did not observe it in May, June, or July in that locality.

405. RHYACOPHILUS SOLITARIUS (Wils.).

(SOLITARY SANDPIPER.)

Hab. Arctic America, descending south to Buenos Ayres during migration.

The well-known and well-named Solitary Sandpiper arrives later than the other birds of its family in La Plata, and differs greatly from them in its habits, avoiding the wet plains and muddy margins of lagoons and marshes where they mostly congregate, and making its home at the side of a small pool well sheltered by its banks, or by trees and herbage, and with a clear margin on which it can run freely. As long as there is any water in its chosen pool, though it may be only a small puddle at the bottom of a ditch, the bird will remain by it in solitary contentment. When approached it runs rapidly along the margin, pausing at intervals to bob its head, in which habit it resembles the Tatlers or Yellowshanks, and emitting sharp little clicks of alarm. Finally, taking flight, it utters its peculiar and delightful cry, a long note thrice repeated, of so clear and penetrating a character that it seems almost too fine and bright a sound even for so wild and aerial a creature as a bird.

The flight is exceedingly rapid and wild, the bird rising high and darting this way and that, uttering its piercing trisyllabic cry the whole time and finally, dashing downwards, it suddenly drops again on to the very spot from which it rose.

I was once pleased and much amused to discover in a small sequestered pool in a wood, well sheltered from sight by trees and aquatic plants, a Solitary Sandpiper living in company with a Blue Bittern. The Bittern patiently watched for small fishes, and when not fishing dozed on a low branch overhanging the water; while its companion ran briskly along the margin snatching up minute insects from the water. When disturbed they rose together, the Bittern with its harsh grating scream, the Sandpiper daintily piping its fine bright notes—a wonderful contrast! Every time I visited the pool afterwards I found these two hermits, one so sedate in manner, the other so lively, living peacefully together.

406. ACTITURUS BARTRAMIUS (Wils.).

(BARTRAM’S SANDPIPER.)

Hab. North America, migrating south to Buenos Ayres.

Bartram’s Sandpiper is another of those species which breed in North America, and extend their winter-migrations far into the Southern Hemisphere. It differs, however, from its fellow-migrants, which visit the Argentine country, in its wide and even distribution over all that portion of the pampas where the native coarse grasses which once covered the country have disappeared, an area comprising not less than 50,000 square miles. It begins to arrive as early as September, coming singly or in small parties of three or four; and, extraordinary as the fact may seem when we consider the long distance the bird travels, and the monotonous nature of the level country it uses as a “feeding area,” it is probable that every bird returns to the same spot year after year; for in no other way could such a distribution be maintained, and the birds appear every summer evenly sprinkled over so immense a surface.

On the pampas the bird is called Chorlo solo, on account of its solitary habit, but more commonly “Batitú,” an abbreviation of the Indian name Mbatuitui. In disposition it is shy, and prefers concealment to flight when approached, running rapidly away through the long grass or thistles, or concealing itself behind a tussock until the danger is past, or often, where the herbage is short, crouching on the ground like a Snipe. It runs swiftly and pauses frequently; and while standing still with head raised it jerks its long tail up and down in a slow measured manner. When driven up it springs aloft with a sudden wild flight, uttering its loud mellow-toned cry, composed of three notes, strongly accented on the first and last; and sometimes, when the bird is much alarmed, the first note is rapidly repeated several times like a trill. After flying a very short distance it drops to the ground again, agitating its wings in a tremulous manner as it comes down. In this motion of the wings, also in many of its gestures, on the ground, its skulking habits, and reluctance to fly it is more like a Rail than a Snipe. It also, Rail-like, frequently alights on trees and fences, a habit I have not remarked in any other Limicoline species.

It inhabits the pampas from September until March; but early in February the great return-migration begins, and then for two months the mellow cry of the Batitú is heard far up in the sky, at all hours, day and night, as the birds wing their way north. In some seasons stragglers are found throughout the month of April, but before the winter arrives not one is left.

407. TRYNGITES RUFESCENS (Vieill.).

(BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER.)

Hab. Arctic America, descending south to Buenos Ayres in winter.

This species is also an annual visitor to the pampas from the Arctic regions where it breeds. It begins to arrive, usually in small bodies, early in the month of October; and during the summer is seldom met with in flocks of any size on the pampas, but is usually seen on the dry open ground associating in small numbers with the Golden Plover, the Whimbrel, and other northern species. I, however, think it probable that it travels further south than its fellow-migrants from North America, and has its principal feeding-grounds somewhere in the interior of Patagonia; also that its northern journey takes place later than that of other species. In some seasons I have observed these birds in April and May, in flocks of two to five hundred, travelling north, the birds flying very low, flock succeeding flock at intervals of about fifteen minutes, and continuing to pass for several days.

408. LIMOSA HÆMASTICA (Linn.).

(HUDSONIAN GODWIT.)