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

 

+Spermophila cærulescens+, _Scl. Ibis_, 1871, p. 12; _Scl. et Salv.

      Nomencl._ p. 28; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 508 (Buenos Ayres);

      _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 92 (Concepcion);

      _Sharpe, Cat. B._ xii. p. 126. +Sporophila ornata+, _Burm.

      La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 488 (Mendoza, Paraná). +Spermophila

      ornata+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 632; _Durnford, Ibis_,

      1877, p. 170 (Buenos Ayres); _Salv. Ibis_, 1880, p. 353 (Salta).

 

    _Description._--Above pale smoky brown; front and lores black;

    beneath, chin and upper part of throat black, with a distinct white

    mystacal stripe on each side; fore neck white; broad band across the

    chest black; abdomen white, slightly varied with grey and black on

    the flanks; under wing-coverts white; bill pale horn-colour; feet

    brown: whole length 4·8 inches, wing 2·3, tail 1·9. _Female_ pale

    olive-brown; wings and tail darker; beneath lighter, tinged with

    ochraceous; middle of the belly almost white.

 

_Hab._ Southern Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Bolivia.

 

This species is a summer visitor in Buenos Ayres, and is one of the last

to arrive and first to depart of our migrants. These birds are always

most abundant in plantations, preferring peach-trees, but do not

associate in flocks: they are exceedingly swift and active, overflowing

with life and energy, their impetuous notes and motions giving one the

idea that they are always in a state of violent excitement. The male has

a loud, startled chirp, also a song composed of eight or ten notes,

delivered with such vehemence and rapidity, that they run into each

other and sound more like a scream than a song. There is not a more

clever architect than this species; and while many _Synallaxes_ are

laboriously endeavouring to show how stately a mansion of sticks a

little bird can erect for itself, the Screaming Finch has successfully

solved the problem of how to construct the most perfect nest for

lightness, strength, and symmetry with the fewest materials. It is a

small, cup-shaped structure, suspended hammock-wise between two slender

upright branches, and to which it is securely attached by fine hairs and

webs. It is made of thin, pale-coloured, fibrous roots, ingeniously

woven together--reddish or light-coloured horse-hair being sometimes

substituted; and so little material is used that, standing under the

tree, a person can easily count the eggs through the bottom of the nest.

Its apparent frailness is, however, its best protection from the prying

eyes of birds and mammals that prey on the eggs and young of small

birds; for it is difficult to detect this slight structure, through

which the sunshine and rain pass so freely. So light is the little

basket-nest that it may be placed on the open hand and blown away with

the breath like a straw; yet so strong that a man can suspend his weight

from it without pulling it to pieces. The eggs are three in number,

white and spotted with black, sometimes bluish-brown spots are mingled

with the black.

54. PAROARIA CUCULLATA (Lath.). (CARDINAL FINCH.)

 

+Paroaria cucullata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 482 (Paraná,

      Tucuman); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 30; _Durnford, Ibis_,

      1877, p. 171 (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 19 (Buenos

      Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 598 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows,

      Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 129 (Concepcion).

 

    _Description._--Above grey; wing- and tail-feathers blackish grey;

    head all round, crest, and throat brilliant scarlet, the scarlet

    extending downwards to the chest; below white, the white colour

    extending up the sides of the neck; nape spotted with white: total

    length 8·0 inches, wing 4·0, tail 3·5. _Female_ similar.

 

_Hab._ Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina.

 

This well-known species is perhaps the finest Finch the Argentines have.

The entire upper plumage is clear grey, the under surface pure white;

but its chief glory is its crest, which, with the anterior part of the

head and the throat, is of the most vivid scarlet. The song has little

variety, but is remarkably loud, and has that cheerful ring which most

people admire in their caged pets, possibly because it produces the idea

in the listener's mind that the songster is glad to be a prisoner. As a

cage-bird this Finch enjoys an extraordinary popularity; and a stranger

in Buenos Ayres, seeing the numbers that are exposed for sale by the

bird-dealers in the markets of that city, might fancy that a Cardinal in

a cage is considered a necessary part of the _ménage_ of every house in

the country. This large supply of caged birds comes from South Brazil,

Paraguay, and the north-eastern part of the Argentine country, where the

Cardinals are most abundant and unite in large flocks. Probably they are

not snared, but taken when young from the nest, as most of the birds

exposed for sale are in immature plumage.

 

The Cardinal in a wild state is found as far south as the province of

Buenos Ayres, but it is there a scarce bird. It breeds, Mr. Gibson

writes, at the end of October, and makes a shallow nest of twigs,

vine-tendrils, and horse-hair. The eggs are four; ground-colour white

or tinged with faint brown or greenish, and spotted with brown, more

densely at the large end.

55. PAROARIA CAPITATA (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (LESSER CARDINAL FINCH.)

 

+Paroaria capitata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 482; _Scl. et

      Salv. Nomencl._ p. 30; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 598.

 

    _Description._--Above black; head bright scarlet, the black and red

    divided by white, crescent-shaped marks on the neck, narrowing to a

    point on the nape; throat black, the black extending downward to the

    chest; below white; bill and feet yellowish horn-colour: total

    length 6·6 inches, wing 3·0, tail 2·6.

 

_Hab._ Paraguay and Bolivia.

 

Dr. Burmeister tells us this species is not uncommon near Paraná, where

it occurs in small flocks on the river-bank, and is often seen on the

stones at the river's edge.

56. CORYPHOSPINGUS CRISTATUS (Gm.). (RED-CRESTED FINCH.)

 

+Coryphospingus cristatus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 30; _Salvin,

      Ibis_, 1880, p. 354 (Salta); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 598

      (Salta).

 

    _Description._--Above black, washed with red; rump crimson; wing-

    and tail-feathers black; forehead black; crest vivid scarlet; whole

    under surface fine crimson: total length 5·5 inches, wing 2·6, tail

    2·3. _Female_ above brown, with scarlet tinge on the rump; beneath

    salmon-colour, whitish on the throat.

 

_Hab._ Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.

 

Both Durnford and White obtained specimens of this bird in the province

of Salta; White's examples were met with in open country, dotted with

thickets of low brushwood, to which the bird resorts.

57. LOPHOSPINGUS PUSILLUS (Burm.). (DARK-CRESTED FINCH.)

 

+Lophospiza pusilla+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 483.

      +Lophospingus pusillus+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1878, p. 195 (Cordova).

      +Coryphospingus pusillus+, _Salv. Ibis_, 1880, p. 354, pl. ix.

      fig. 1 (Tucuman).

 

    _Description._--Above grey; sides of head and crest blackish; broad

    superciliaries white; wings blackish, edged with whitish grey; tail

    blackish, lateral rectrices with broad white tips; beneath greyish

    white, clearer on the throat and middle of the belly; bill dark

    horn-colour; lower mandible whitish; feet pale brown: whole length

    5·0 inches, wing 2·5, tail 2·4.

 

_Hab._ Northern Argentina.

58. DONACOSPIZA ALBIFRONS (Vieill.). (LONG-TAILED REED-FINCH.)

 

+Donacospiza albifrons+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 632

      (Buenos Ayres), _iid. Nomencl._ p. 30; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877,

171 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 38 (Cordova);

      _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 38 (Pampas). +Poospiza

      albifrons+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 484 (Paraná).

 

    _Description._--Above yellowish grey, the back striped with

    blackish; lesser wing-coverts clear grey; greater coverts and

    wing-feathers black, edged with brown; head nearly the same as the

    back, somewhat grey on the cheek, the crown and nape washed with

    olive-brown; superciliary stripe and under surface buff; bill and

    feet horn-colour: total length 6·0 inches, wing 2·5, tail 3·0.

 

_Hab._ Paraguay, Uruguay, and La Plata.

 

The slender body, great length of tail, and the hue of the plumage,

assimilating to that of sere decaying vegetation, might easily lead one

into mistaking this Finch for a _Synallaxis_ where these birds are

abundant.

 

I have met with it in the marshy woods and reed-beds along the shores of

the Plata, but it is a shy, rare bird in Buenos Ayres. I have followed

it about, hoping to hear it utter a song or melodious note, but it had

only a little chirp. I would not, however, on this account pronounce it

to be the one silent member of a voiceful family, as my acquaintance

with it is so very slight.