Informe Oficial de la Comision Científica agregada al estado mayor general de la Expedicion al Rio Negro (Patagonia). Realizada en los meses de Abril, Mayo y Junio de 1879, bajo las órdenes del General D. Julio A. Roca. Entrega I. Zoología. Buenos Aires, 1881.
Dr. Adolf Doering, of the Argentine University of Cordoba, has been a zealous collector and observer of the birds of the Republic (see under Cabanis and Sclater). The zoological portion of his report upon the Rio Negro expedition of 1879 gives a list of the birds, which contains 110 species, most of them well-known Patagonian forms.
Henry Durnford, a member of the British Ornithologists’ Union, whose early decease was a severe loss to ornithological science, was a constant worker on birds from the time of his arrival in Buenos Ayres in 1875 until his death in 1878. The birds collected by Durnford are now mostly in the British Museum. His published papers on this subject are the following (see also biographical notice in ‘Ibis,’ 1879, p. 121):—
(1) Ornithological Notes from the Neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres. Ibis, 1876, p. 157.
[Notes made during his first five months’ residence at Belgrano, five miles north-west of Buenos Ayres. About 70 species are mentioned.]
(2) Notes on the Birds of the Province of Buenos Ayres. Ibis, 1877, p. 166, and 1878, p. 58.
[Notes made principally at Baradero, 90 miles W.N.W. of Buenos Ayres. In the first paper 144 species are mentioned and Porzana spiloptera is described and figured as new. In the second 47 species, mostly additional, are noticed.]
(3) Notes on some Birds observed in the Chupat Valley, Patagonia, and in the Neighbouring District. Ibis, 1877, p. 27.
[Durnford first visited Chupat, on the river of the same name, in Eastern Patagonia (43° 20′ S. lat.), in October 1876; 62 species of birds are noted and commented upon.]
(4) Notes on the Birds of Central Patagonia. Ibis, 1878, p. 389.
[Durnford’s second visit to Chupat extended from September 1877 to April 1878. The list of birds is now extended to 89, and it is not believed that many more will be found to occur in the district.]
(5) Last Expedition to Tucuman and Salta. Ibis, 1880, p. 411, pl. xii.
[This is an almost verbatim copy of Durnford’s journal in 1878, during his expedition to Tucuman and Salta. Many notes on birds are inserted. Durnford died at Campo Santo, in the province of Salta, on July 13th, 1878. The collection made on this occasion was worked out by Mr. Salvin (Ibis, 1880, p. 351, see below).]
Gibson, Ernest.
Mr. Ernest Gibson, who has been resident in the Argentine Republic since about 1873, is an excellent observer in the field, and has written two very interesting papers on our subject, from which we have quoted largely in this work.
(1) Ornithological Notes from the Neighbourhood of Cape San Antonio, Buenos Ayres. Ibis, 1879, p. 405; 1880, pp. 1, 153.
Mr. Gibson’s notes, which relate to 61 species, are in most cases very full and contain particulars of the breeding-habits, eggs, and nests. Cape San Antonio is on the Atlantic coast, south of Buenos Ayres (36° 20′ S. lat.).
(2) Notes on the Birds of Paisandú, Republic of Uruguay. (Communicated by J. J. Dalgleish.) Ibis, 1885, p. 275.
Field-notes on 52 species from this locality, which Mr. Gibson visited in 1883. The specimens were sent to Mr. J. J. Dalgleish and named by P. L. S.
Giebel, Prof. C. (of Halle, Germany).
Einige neue und wenig bekannte argentinische Vögel. Zeitschr. f. d. ges. Naturwiss. xxxi. p. 11 (1868).
In this paper the author described two new Bolivian species and two Argentine species (Troglodytes fasciolatus and Geobamon rufipennis), from specimens in the Halle Museum received from Dr. Burmeister.
Gould, John.
Gould determined the species in the collection made by Darwin during the voyage of the ‘Beagle,’ and drew up the scientific portion of the report on the birds, which forms vol. iii. of the “Zoology” of the voyage. Owing to his departure for Australia the MS. was subsequently completed and edited by G. R. Gray (see Darwin, C.).
Holmberg, Dr. E. L.
Resultados científicos, especialmente zoológicos y botánicos, de los tres viajes llevados á cabo por el Dr. Holmberg, en 1881, 1882, y 1883 á la Sierra del Tandil. Aves. Act. Ac. Nac. de Ciencias en Córdoba, v. pp. 73-92.
[Seventy-nine species of birds are given as occurring in the Sierra of Tandil, south of Buenos Ayres, and slight field-notes are added.]
Hudson, William Henry, C.M.Z.S.
My fellow-author of the present work, though English in name and origin and now resident in London, is an Argentine citizen by birth. From his early childhood he was an observer of bird-life in the province of Buenos Ayres, and continued his investigations until he left the country for England a few years ago. Besides the pampas he explored the woods and marshes along the Plata, and the range of the Sierras from Cape Corrientes on the Atlantic to the Azul and Tapalquen, and made an expedition to the Rio Negro in 1871.
The following is a list of his scientific papers on this subject, which are mostly incorporated in the present work:—
(1) Letters on the Ornithology of Buenos Ayres. P. Z. S. 1869, p. 432; 1870, pp. 87, 112, 158, 332, 545, 671, 748, 798; 1871, pp. 4, 258, 326.
(2) On the Birds of the Rio Negro of Patagonia. With Notes by P. L. Sclater, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., &c. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 534.
(3) On the Habits of the Swallows of the Genus Progne met with in the Argentine Republic. With Notes by P. L. Sclater, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., &c. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 605.
(4) Further Observations on the Swallows of Buenos Ayres. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 844.
(5) Notes on the Habits of the Churinche (Pyrocephalus rubineus). P. Z. S. 1872, p. 808.
(6) Notes on the Habits of the Pipit of the Argentine Republic. P. Z. S. 1873, p. 771.
(7) Notes on the Procreant Instincts of the three Species of Molothrus found in Buenos Ayres. P. Z. S. 1874, p. 153.
(8) On the Habits of the Burrowing-Owl (Pholeoptynx cunicularia). P. Z. S. 1874, p. 308.
(9) On the Herons of the Argentine Republic, with a Notice of a curious Instinct of Ardetta involucris. P. Z. S. 1875, p. 623.
(10) Note on the Spoonbill of the Argentine Republic. P. Z. S. 1876, p. 15.
(11) Notes on the Rails of the Argentine Republic. P. Z. S. 1876, p. 102.
(12) Notes on the Birds of the Genus Homorus observed in the Argentine Republic. Ibis, 1885, p. 283.
Lee, William Blackstone.
Ornithological Notes from the Argentine Republic. Ibis, 1873, p. 129.
This article gives field-notes on seven species, of which examples were obtained near Frayle Muerto, in the province of Cordova, and 33 species from near Gualeguaychú in Entrerios. The specimens were determined by myself and Salvin.
Leybold, Dr. Friedrich.
Dr. Leybold was resident in Santiago, Chili, for some years, and sent bird-skins and other objects of natural history to Munich for sale in Europe. He published two papers on supposed new birds obtained by his collectors during their excursions from Chili to Mendoza.
(1) Beschreibung von vier neuen Vogelarten aus der Argentinischen Provinz Mendoza. Journ. f. Orn. 1865, pp. 401-406.
[Describes as new Synallaxis crassirostris, Myiarchus fasciatus, Sporophila rufirostris, and Phrygilus ornatus, from Mendoza. These species are all referred to in our work.]
(2) Beschreibungen einiger Thiere und Pflanzen aus den Anden Chile’s und der Argentinischen Provinzen. Leopoldina, viii. p. 52 (1873).
[This paper contains descriptions of Conurus glaucifrons, from San Luis (=Conurus acuticaudatus), Colaptes leucofrenatus (=Chrysoptilus cristatus), and Columbina aurisquamata (=Metriopelia aymara), all from Mendoza.]
Orbigny, Alcide d’.
Voyage dans l’Amérique Méridionale (le Brésil, la République Orientale, de l’Uruguay, la République Argentine, la Patagonie, la République du Chili, la République de Bolivia, la République du Pérou), exécuté pendant les Années 1826-33. Vol. IV. Oiseaux. Paris, 1835-44. 4to, 396 pp., 66 pl.
After Azara’s ‘Apuntamientos’ this is the most important of the older publications relating to Argentine ornithology. The celebrated French traveller and naturalist d’Orbigny made extensive collections of birds in several parts of the Argentine Republic, especially in Corrientes, on the Paraná, near Buenos Ayres, and on the Rio Negro. The birds were worked out by himself after his return home, with the assistance of the well-known French ornithologist the Baron F. de la Fresnaye. The list of them, with the descriptions of the new species, was first published in two consecutive volumes of the ‘Magasin de Zoologie’ (for 1837 and 1838), with a separate title13 and separately paged. It was unfortunately never completed, and contains only the Accipitres, Passeres, and Picariæ. The valuable notes and remarks of d’Orbigny were subsequently published in the fourth volume of his ‘Voyage,’ of which the title is given above. This work also, as is much to be regretted, was brought to a sudden termination when only half finished.
D’Orbigny’s types are now mostly in the French National Collection at Paris, though a few of them, which cannot be found there, are supposed to have been retained in the De la Fresnaye Collection, and if so are now in the museum of the Boston Society of Natural History.
Page, Capt. T. J.
See Cassin, suprà, p. 223.
A List of Birds collected by the late Henry Durnford during his last Expedition to Tucuman and Salta. Ibis, 1880, p. 351.
The collection consisted of 84 specimens belonging to 54 species, obtained in June 1878 at Tucuman or near Salta. Nine were new to Dr. Burmeister’s list. See also Durnford, suprà, p. 224.
Schulz, Fritz.
Herr Fritz Schulz, an assistant in the museum of the University of Cordoba, brought a fine collection of birds to Europe in 1883, which he had made in Tucuman and other northern provinces of the Republic. The new species were described by Dr. Cabanis (see above, p. 223), except a single species described by Schulz himself.
Ueber eine neue Cnipolegus-Art. Journ. f. Orn. 1882, p. 462.
[Describes Cnipolegus cabanisi from Tucuman.]
(1) Exhibition of Specimens of Heliomaster angelæ, and Notes thereupon by Prof. Burmeister. P. Z. S. 1865, p. 466.
[The specimens were obtained near Buenos Ayres, where it is “not uncommon.” Dr. Burmeister also refers to Chlorostilbon phaethon.]
(2) On some new or little-known Birds from the Rio Paraná. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 57.
[Some of the specimens procured during Capt. Page’s expedition (see Cassin, suprà, p. 223) are remarked on. Of these Coryphistora alaudina is figured and Cnipolegus cinereus is described as new.]
(3) Exhibition of a Skin of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) from Buenos Ayres. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 496.
[The specimen was shot by Hudson in the district of Quilmes, in April 1870.]
(4) Notice of a small Collection of Birds forwarded by Dr. Adolf Döring, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Cordova. P. Z. S. 1879, pp. 460-461.
[The collection contained examples of nine species from the vicinity of Cordova.]
(5) On two new Species of Birds discovered by Mr. E. W. White in the Argentine Republic. Ibis, 1881, p. 599, pl. xvii.
[Describes and figures Poospiza erythrophrys from Catamarca, and Synallaxis whitii from Oran.]
Sclater, P. L., and Salvin, O.
(1) List of Birds collected at Conchitas, Argentine Republic, by Mr. William H. Hudson. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 137.
[This article gives a list of 98 species, determined from specimens sent to the Smithsonian Institution by Hudson.]
(2) Second List of Birds collected at Conchitas, Arg. Rep., by Mr. W. H. Hudson; together with some Notes upon another Collection from the same locality. P. Z. S. 1869, p. 158.
[This article contains the results of an examination of a second collection from the same locality, likewise belonging to the Smithsonian Institution, and adds 14 species to the former list. It also gives an account of a collection made by Mr. Haslehurst near Buenos Ayres, which contains examples of 10 species not up to that date transmitted by Hudson.]
(3) Third List of Birds collected at Conchitas, Arg. Rep., by Mr. W. H. Hudson. P. Z. S. 1869, p. 631.
[Hudson’s third collection sent to the Smithsonian Institution contained examples of 92 species, of which 33 were additional to those contained in the two former lists. Thus the total number of species of the district of Quilmes is raised to 143.]
Weisshaupt, Albert.
Herr Weisshaupt was a German collector at Santiago, Chili, who came several times to London with fine collections of living animals (see P. Z. S. 1870, p. 664, and 1871, p. 700). He made one or more excursions to Mendoza from Santiago, and collected bird-skins in the vicinity of that city. Many of these skins were acquired by Messrs. Salvin and Godman and myself respectively and are in our collections.
White, Ernest William.
Ernest William White was another active worker in Argentine ornithology, whose untimely death we have lately had occasion to deplore14. During five years’ journeyings in the northern provinces of the Republic White made very extensive collections and accumulated a mass of excellent notes, which are published in the following papers:—
(1) Notes on Birds collected in the Argentine Republic. With Notes by P. L. Sclater, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S. P. Z. S. 1882, p. 591.
[This article contains field-notes on 201 species from various provinces of Argentina, including Misiones and Oran. The species were mostly determined by me, and I added some remarks.]
(2) Supplementary Notes on the Birds of the Argentine Republic. With Remarks by P. L. Sclater. P. Z. S. 1883, p. 37.
[Contains remarks on 33 additional species, mostly from Cosquin, near Cordova. I added some notes, and described Poospiza whitii as new.]
(3) Further Notes on the Birds of the Argentine Republic. P. Z. S. 1883, p. 432.
[Gives the names of and notes upon 19 additional species, determined by comparison of specimens with those in my collection and that of Messrs. Salvin and Godman.]
Mr. White’s ‘Cameos from the Silverland’ (2 vols., London, 1881-82) should likewise be carefully studied by those who wish to become acquainted with the natural history of the Argentine Republic.
Withington, Frank.
On the Birds of the Lomas de Zamora, Buenos Aires, Argentine Republic. By Frank Withington. With Notes by P. L. Sclater. Ibis, 1888, p. 461.
[Mr. Withington, for some years resident in Buenos Ayres, and an ardent collector and observer of its birds, has lately sent me a collection which contained examples of 92 species. His interesting field-notes are given in this paper.]
11 Systematischer Index zu Don Felix de Azara’s Apuntamientos para la historia natural de los páxaros del Paraguay y Rio de la Plata. Bremen, 1847.
12 Journ. f. Orn. 1887, p. 1.
13 Synopsis avium ab Alcide d’Orbigny in ejus per Americam meridionalem itinere collectarum et ab ipso viatore necnon A. de la Fresnaye.
14 For biographical notice of this naturalist see Ibis, 1885, p. 335.
II. List of some of the principal Localities where Collections have been made, mentioned in this Work.
Andalgala (Fuerte de). A town in the Province of Catamarca, near its eastern boundary.
Azul. A town and district; Pampas of Buenos Ayres: lat. 30°.
Bahia Blanca. Bay and town on the Atlantic; Province of Buenos Ayres.
Baradero. Town on the Rio de la Plata, north of Buenos Ayres city.
Campo Colorado. Near Oran, Province of Salta.
Campo Santo. Province of Salta.
Capellán. Province of Catamarca.
Carhué. Pampas of Buenos Ayres: lat. 33°.
Cerro Vayo. Province of Tucuman.
Chupat (or Chubut). River in Patagonia, in the Territory of the same name.
Concepcion (or Concepcion del Uruguay). A town on the Lower Uruguay, in the Province of Entrerios.
Conchitas. A small stream in the district of Quilmes, near Buenos Ayres city. This locality was attached by some error to the specimens sent by Hudson to the Smithsonian Institution.
Cosquin. A village in the Sierras, west of Cordova City.
Curumalan. In the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, 75 miles north of Bahia Blanca.
Gualeguaychú. A town on the Lower Uruguay, Province of Entrerios.
Itapua. Territory of Misiones.
Mercedes. A town and district west of Buenos Ayres city.
Oran. A town in the Province of Salta, 50 miles south of the Bolivian border.
Paraná. A city on the Paraná River, Province of Entrerios.
Pigué. In the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, 75 miles north of Bahia Blanca.
Punta Lara. A point on the Rio de la Plata, near La Plata city.
Quilmes. A town and district near Buenos Ayres city.
Rincon de Luna. A village in the Province of Corrientes.
Rio Colorado. Pampas of Buenos Ayres.
Rio Quinto. Province of Cordova.
Rio Sauce. A stream west of Bahia Blanca.
Rio Vermejo. Province of Salta.
San Antonio (Cape of). South of Buenos Ayres city: S. lat. 36° 20′.
San Xavier. Territory of Misiones.
Sengel. A tributary of the Chupat River.
Senguelen. A tributary of the Chupat River.
Sierra de la Ventana. In the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, near Bahia Blanca.
Tafi (Valley of). Near the city of Tucuman.
Tombo Point. On the coast near the mouth of Chupat River.
Totoral (Sierres de). Province of Catamarca.