: Argentine Ornithology, Volume I (of 2) by P. L Sclater, W. H Hudson (books to read in your 20s female .txt) 📖

it builds

in different situations.

 

On arriving in spring each pair takes up its position on some tree,

and usually on a particular branch; a dead branch extending beyond the

foliage is a favourite perch. Here they spend much of their time, never

appearing to remain long absent from it, and often, when singing their

notes together, fluttering about it with a tremulous uncertain flight,

like that of a hovering butterfly. About three weeks after first

arriving they begin to make advances towards the Oven-bird's nest that

stands on the nearest post or tree; and if it be still occupied by the

rightful owners, after much time has been spent in sporting about and

reconnoitring it, a feud begins which is often exceedingly violent and

protracted for many days.

 

In seasons favourable to them the Oven-birds build in autumn and winter,

and breed early in spring; so that their broods are out of their

clay-houses by the end of October or earlier; when this happens, the

Swallow that breeds in November quietly takes possession of the forsaken

fortress. But accidents will happen, even to the wonderful fabric of

the Oven-bird. It is sometimes destroyed and must be rebuilt; or its

completion has perhaps been retarded for months by drought, or by the

poor condition of the birds in severe weather; or the first brood has

perhaps perished, destroyed by an opossum or other enemy. November, and

even December, may thus arrive before some pairs have hatched their

eggs; and it is these unfortunate late breeders that suffer from the

violence of the marauding Swallows. I have often witnessed the wars of

these birds with the deepest interest; and in many ovens that I have

opened I have found the eggs of the Oven-birds buried under the nests

of the Swallows. After the Swallows have taken up a position near

the coveted oven, they occasionally fly towards and hover about it,

returning again to their stand. By-and-by, instead of returning as at

first, they take to alighting at the entrance of the coveted home; this

is a sort of declaration of war, and marks the beginning of hostilities.

The Oven-birds, full of alarm and anger, rush upon and repel them as

often as they approach; they retire before this furious onset, but not

discomfited, and only warbling out their gay seemingly derisive notes in

answer to the outrageous indignant screams of their enemies. Soon they

return; the scene is repeated; and this desultory skirmishing is often

continued for many days.

 

But at length the lawless invaders, grown bolder, and familiar with his

strength and resources, will no longer fly from the master of the house;

desperate struggles now frequently take place at the entrance, the birds

again and again dropping to the ground clutched fiercely together, and

again hurrying up only to resume the combat. Victory at last declares

itself for the aggressors, and they busy themselves carrying in

materials for their nest, screaming their jubilant notes all the time

as if in token of triumph. The brave and industrious Oven-birds,

dispossessed of their home, retire to spend their childless summer

together, for the male and female never separate; and when the autumn

rains have supplied them with wet clay, and the sense of defeat is worn

off, they cheerfully begin their building-operations afresh.

 

This is not, however, the invariable result of the conflict. To the

superior swiftness of the Martin the Oven-bird opposes greater strength,

and, it might be added, a greater degree of zeal and fury than can

animate its adversary. The contest is thus nearly an equal one; and the

Oven-bird, particularly when its young are already hatched, is often

able to maintain its own. But the Martins never suffer defeat; for, when

unable to take the citadel by storm, they fall back on their dribbling

system of warfare, which they keep up till the young birds leave the

nest, when they take possession before it has grown cold.

 

The Martin makes its own nest chiefly of large feathers, and lays four

eggs, long, pointed, and pure white.

 

It will be remarked that in all its habits above mentioned this bird

differs widely from the two preceding species. It also differs greatly

from them in its manner of flight. The Purple Martins move with

surprising grace and celerity, the wings extended to their utmost; they

also love to sail in circles high up in the air, or about the summits of

tall trees, and particularly during a high wind. At such times several

individuals are usually seen together, and all seem striving to outvie

each other in the beauty of their evolutions.

 

The Tree-Martin is never seen to soar about in circles; and though when

hawking after flies and moths it sweeps the surface of the grass with

amazing swiftness, at other times it has a flight strangely slow and of

a fashion peculiar to itself: the long wings are depressed as much as

those of a Wild Duck when dropping on to the water, and are constantly

agitated with tremulous flutterings, short and rapid as those of a

butterfly.

 

Neither is this bird gregarious like all its congeners, though

occasionally an individual associates for a while with Swallows of

another species; but this only when they are resting on fences or trees,

for as soon as they take flight it leaves them. Once or twice, when for

some mysterious cause the autumnal migration has been delayed long past

its usual time, I have seen them unite in small flocks; but this is very

rare. As a rule they have no meetings preparatory to migration, but

skim about the fields and open plains in un-Swallow-like solitude, and

suddenly disappear without having warned us of their intended

departure.

28. PETROCHELIDON PYRRHONOTA (Vieill.). (RED-BACKED ROCK-MARTIN.)

 

+Petrochelidon pyrrhonota+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 14; _Durnford,

      Ibis_, 1877, p. 169; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 595 (Buenos

      Ayres); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 193. +Cotyle pyrrhonota+, _Burm.

      La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 477 (Tucuman).

 

    _Description._--Above glossy dark steel-blue; lower back and rump

    cinnamon-rufous; the upper tail-coverts brown, with grey margins;

    wings black; tail black, with greenish gloss; crown steel-blue;

    forehead sandy buff; cheeks and sides of face chestnut, spreading

    to the sides of the hind neck; chin chestnut; the lower throat

    steel-blue; fore neck, chest, and sides of body and flanks light

    ashy brown; centre of breast and abdomen white, tinged with brown;

    under tail-coverts, also under wing-coverts and axillaries, ashy

    brown: total length 5·3 inches, wing 4·35, tail 2·05. _Female_

    similar.

 

_Hab._ South America.

 

This species does not breed in Buenos Ayres, and is only seen there in

spring, flying south or south-west, and again in much larger numbers on

its return journey in autumn. On the Rio Negro, in Patagonia, I did

not meet with it, and suppose its summer resort must be south of that

locality; and, judging from the immense numbers visible in some seasons,

I should think that they must, in their breeding-place in Patagonia,

occupy a very extensive area. They do not seem to be as regular in

their movements as other Swallows here; some years I have observed them

passing singly or in small parties during the entire hot season: usually

they begin to appear, flying north, in February; but in some years not

until after the middle of March. They are not seen passing with a rapid

flight in close flocks, but straggle about, hawking after flies: first

one bird passing, then two or three, and a minute or two later half a

dozen, and so on for a greater part of the day. So long as the weather

continues warm they journey in this leisurely manner; but I have known

them to continue passing till April, after all the summer migrants had

left us, and these late birds flew by with great speed in small close

flocks, directly north, as if their flight had been guided by the

magnetic needle.

 

While flying this species continually utters sharp twitterings and

grinding and squealing notes of various lengths.

29. TACHYCINETA LEUCORRHOA (Vieill.). (WHITE-RUMPED SWALLOW.)

 

+Hirundo leucorrhoa+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, pp. 606, 845 (Buenos

      Ayres); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 14; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877,

32 (Chupat), 1878, p. 392 (Central Patagonia); _White, P. Z.

      S._ 1882, p. 596 (Corrientes); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._

      viii. p. 89 (Concepcion). +Cotyle leucorrhoea+, _Burm. La-Plata

      Reise_, ii. p. 478 (Paraná). +Tachycineta leucorrhous+, _Sharpe,

      Cat. B._ x. p. 114.

 

    _Description._--Above glossy dark green; rump white; quills black,

    washed with green; upper tail-coverts dark green; tail-feathers

    black with greenish gloss; base of forehead white, extending a

    little backward over the lores; cheeks and whole under surface

    white; flanks and sides washed with smoky brown; axillaries and

    under tail-coverts pale smoky brown; bill and feet black: total

    length 5·5 inches, wing 4·45, tail 2·0. _Female_ similar.

 

_Hab._ Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.

 

This is the most abundant and best known of our Swallows; a pretty bird

in its glossy coat of deep green, and rump and under surface snowy

white; exceedingly restless in its disposition, quick and graceful in

its motions; social, quarrelsome, garrulous, with a not unmusical song,

beginning with long, soft, tremulous notes, followed by others shorter

and more hurried, and sinking to a murmur. They are the last of all our

migrants to leave us in autumn, and invariably reappear in small numbers

about the houses on every warm day in winter. Probably many individuals

in Buenos Ayres remain through the winter in sheltered situations, to

scatter over the surrounding country whenever there comes a warm bright

day. I once saw three together, skimming over the plains, on one of the

coldest days I ever experienced on the pampas, the thermometer having

stood at 29° Fahr. that morning.

 

Further south their migration is more strict; and on the Rio Negro, in

Patagonia, from March to August I did not meet with a single individual.

In Buenos Ayres the autumnal migration of the Hirundines begins about

the middle of February, and from that date vast numbers of this Swallow

are seen travelling north, and, in some seasons, they continue passing

for over a month. One autumn, in April, several days after the Swallows

had all disappeared, flocks of the Common Swallow began again to appear

flying north, and for ten days afterwards they continued to pass in

large numbers. They would stoop to dip themselves in a pool where I

observed them, and then alight on the reeds and bushes to rest, and

appeared quite tired with their journey, rising reluctantly when

approached, and some allowing me to stand almost within arm's length

of them without stirring. I had never before observed any later or

supplementary migration like this; for, as a rule, the causes which in

some years delay the departure of birds seems to affect them all alike.

Possibly these late birds come from some remote district, where

exceptionally cold weather had retarded breeding-operations.

 

The White-rumped Swallow sometimes lays in a tree, in the large nest,

previously abandoned, of the Leñatero (_Anumbius acuticaudatus_).

Its favourite site is, however, a hole in a wall, sheltered by the

overhanging tiles or thatch; for though it does not go much into towns,

as Azara has remarked, it is very domestic, and there is not a house on

the pampas, however humble it be, but some of these birds are