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

Plate                                       Page

 

MIMUS TRIURUS 8

 

CINCLUS SCHULZI 11

 

   III. Fig. 1. CYCLORHIS OCHROCEPHALA                  23

 

        Fig. 2. CYCLORHIS ALTIROSTRIS                   24

 

STEPHANOPHORUS LEUCOCEPHALUS 38

 

SALTATRICULA MULTICOLOR 61

 

Fig. 1. MOLOTHRUS BADIUS, ad. 95

 

        Fig. 2. MOLOTHRUS RUFOAXILLARIS, pull.          86

 

   VII. TÆNIOPTERA RUBETRA                             120

 

  VIII. PHYTOTOMA RUTILA, ♂ et ♀                       164

 

HOMORUS LOPHOTES 195

 

     X. DRYMORNIS BRIDGESI                             199

INTRODUCTION.

As regards its Bird-life the Neotropical Region, which, according to the

arrangement usually adopted, consists of America south of the Isthmus of

Tehuantepec together with the West Indies[1], may be most conveniently

divided into six Subregions. These are:--

 

  [1] _Cf._ Sclater, Journ. Linn. Soc., Zool. ii. p. 143 (1857).

 

The _Transpanamic Subregion_, embracing the great Central-American

Isthmus from Tehuantepec down to Panama.

 

The _Antillean Subregion_, containing the West-India Islands.

 

The _Colombian Subregion_, containing the South-American littoral and

the adjacent Andean ranges in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and

Bolivia.

 

The _Amazonian Subregion_, containing Guiana and the valleys of the

Orinoco and Amazons and their confluents.

 

The _Brazilian Subregion_, containing the great wooded and campos

districts of Southern Brazil and Paraguay.

 

The _Patagonian Subregion_, consisting of Antarctic America up to the

Brazilian wood-districts and the highlands of Bolivia on the eastern

side of the Andes, and apparently extending as far as the Gulf of

Guayaquil on the west.

 

It is, of course, impossible to draw a precise line between these six

Subregions, and any boundaries assigned to them can only be regarded as

approximative; but it is obvious that nearly, if not quite, the whole of

the Argentine Republic, the Avifauna of which we are now considering,

comes within the limits of the Patagonian Subregion. It is possible that

the birds of the Territory of Misiones and of some parts of Northern

Corrientes may be more nearly akin to those of Brazil, but we may say

generally that the Argentine Republic belongs to the Patagonian

Subregion.

 

As shown in the succeeding pages, the number of species of Birds as yet

ascertained to be found within the Argentine Republic[2] is about 430.

We will now take the leading groups of the Neotropical Ornis, one after

another, and consider the _rôle_ they play in the Argentine Avifauna, so

as to get some general ideas as to its peculiarities.

 

  [2] We have not included within the scope of the present work the

  territory of Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego, which are politically

  part of the Argentine Republic, but only Northern Patagonia down to

  the Rio Negro.

 

The subjoined Table contains in the first column the number of

Neotropical species assigned to each of the 20 different Orders of Birds

in the 'Nomenclator Avium Neotropicalium.' In the second column is given

the corresponding number of Argentine species of each order according to

the present work. The total number of Neotropical species will be seen

to be about eight times as many as those of the Argentine Avifauna;

so that where this average is exceeded in the individual orders the

particular group may be considered to be over-represented, and where it

is not reached to be under-represented in the Argentine Avifauna. This

is of course a very rough-and-ready mode of calculation, because it

assumes that every species has an equal area of distribution, which is

not ordinarily the case; but it will serve to give us some general ideas

on the subject. We will now proceed to consider the principal groups one

after another, and to point out their comparative importance in the

Argentine Avifauna.

 

The known Argentine Passeres, according to the present work, are 229 in

number; those of the Neotropical Region, according to the 'Nomenclator,'

are 1976; so that the species of Argentine Passeres, according to the

ratio which we have adopted, would be very little short of the average

numbers. If, however, we divide the Passeres up into the three suborders

of Oscines, Oligomyodæ, and Tracheophonæ, we shall find that the

Oligomyodæ are rather in excess of the estimated average, while the

species of the two other groups are deficient. This arises mainly from

the large number of Tyrannidæ belonging to the Argentine Ornis. Not less

than 63 species of this group have been already discovered within its

limits. Besides Tyrants, other prevailing families of Passeres in the

Argentine Avifauna are the Finches (Fringillidæ) and the Wood-hewers

(Dendrocolaptidæ), both of which have 46 representatives in the

Argentine Republic. Both these families are, however, well represented

all over the Neotropical Region. But the Tapacolas (Pteroptochidæ) and

the Plant-cutters (Phytotomidæ) are both of them families specially

characteristic of the Patagonian Avifauna, and both of them are

represented in the Argentine Republic. One other Passerine form is also

worthy of special mention. The Dippers (Cinclidæ) are essentially an

Arctic group diffused all over the Palæarctic and the Arctic Regions. It

is singular, however, that this form should reoccur at higher elevations

in the Neotropical Region. A _Cinclus_ is found in the mountains of

Colombia, another in the Andes of Peru, and a third has lately been

discovered in the northern sierras of the Argentine Republic. As regards

Passerine birds, therefore, which great order makes up more than one

half of the Argentine Ornis, we may say that Finches, Tyrants, and

Wood-hewers are remarkable for their abundance, Plant-cutters and

Tapacolas for peculiarity of type, and Dippers as an instance of the

occurrence of an Arctic form in Antarctic latitudes.

 

  +------------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+

  |                        |      I.     |     II.     |     III.    |

  |                        |   No. of    |   No. of    |             |

  |                        | Neotropical |  Argentine  | Proportion. |

  |                        |   Species.  |   Species.  |             |

  +------------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+

  |     I. Passeres.       |             |             |             |

  |          Oscines       |    1049     |     108     |      -      |

  |          Oligomyodæ    |     445     |      67     |      +      |

  |          Tracheophonæ  |     482     |      54     |      -      |

  |    II. Macrochires     |     444     |      18     |     --      |

  |   III. Pici            |     116     |      13     |      -      |

  |    IV. Coccyges        |     214     |      15     |      -      |

  |     V. Psittaci        |     142     |      10     |      -      |

  |    VI. Striges         |      37     |       6     |      +      |

  |   VII. Accipitres      |     114     |      22     |      +      |

  |  VIII. Steganopodes    |      17     |       1     |      -      |

  |    IX. Herodiones      |      44     |      19     |      +      |

  |     X. Anseres         |      64     |      23     |     ++      |

  |    XI. Columbæ         |      66     |       8     |      =      |

  |   XII. Gallinæ         |      90     |       4     |      -      |

  |  XIII. Opisthocomi     |       1     |       0     |             |

  |   XIV. Geranomorphæ    |      57     |      16     |     ++      |

  |    XV. Limicolæ        |      73     |      25     |     ++      |

  |   XVI. Gaviæ           |      53     |       9     |      +      |

  |  XVII. Pygopodes       |       9     |       5     |      +      |

  | XVIII. Impennes        |       9     |       1     |      =      |

  |   XIX. Crypturi        |      36     |       8     |      +      |

  |    XX. Struthiones     |       3     |       2     |      +      |

  |                        +-------------+-------------+             |

  |                        |    3565     |     434     |             |

  +------------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+

 

 

As regards the second order, Macrochires, the Argentine Avifauna

is notably deficient on account of the comparative scarcity of

Humming-birds. Although eleven species of this remarkable group have

been met with within our limits, the great mass of the Trochilidæ,

which are now known to number some 400 species, belong to the Tropics.

The Swifts are also scantily represented by a single species. The

Caprimulgidæ are comparatively more abundant, but slightly below the

average in number of species.

 

The Argentine Woodpeckers enumerated in the present work are thirteen in

number, but several of those are somewhat doubtful species, and others

only occur in the extreme northern limits of the Republic. On the whole

we may say that the _Pici_ are decidedly deficient in Argentina.

 

Nine families of the fourth order, Coccyges, are included in the

Neotropical Avifauna, but of these only five are represented in the

Argentine Ornis--the Motmots, Todies, Jacamars, and Barbets being

entirely wanting. The Trogons, Puff-birds, and Toucans are also

essentially Tropical forms, and have but one or two representatives

on the northern outskirts of the Republic; so that the Cuckoos and

Kingfishers are the only two families of Coccyges which play any

material _rôle_ in the Argentine Ornis.

 

Of the order of Parrots it will be seen from our Table that 142 species

are known as belonging to the Neotropical Region, and that only ten of

these have been met with within our limits. Of these ten, moreover,

several are either doubtful, or only occur on the northern outskirts of

Argentina, so that Parrots must be held to be deficient in the Argentine

Ornis. As is well known Parrots are mostly inhabitants of the Tropics,

and it is quite an exception to the rule that several of these

warmth-loving birds should extend into the cold latitudes of Patagonia

and Chili. This, however, is paralleled in the Old World by the

existence of Parrots in some of the Antarctic Islands south of New

Zealand.

 

Of the Birds of Prey of the Argentine Republic, Diurnal and Nocturnal,

it is not necessary to say much; both of these orders are rather in

excess as regards the average number of species, the Accipitres

especially so. The wide open pampas offer a fine field for Kites and

Buzzards and their kind, and they are as numerous in individuals as in

species in such favoured haunts.

 

In the next order, Steganopodes, the Argentine Ornis seems to be very

deficient. Out of the five families of this group which occur in the

Neotropical Region, one only is yet known to us to be represented in the

Argentine Ornis, and that by a single species. But when the sea-birds of

the Argentine coast-land come to be better known, there is no doubt that

several additions will be made to the list.

 

The next following order, Herodiones, is of much more importance in

Argentine Ornithology, not less than 19 species of this group being

already known to exist within our limits, out of a total of 44

Neotropical species. And amongst these we can pick out the little

Variegated Bittern (_Ardetta involucris_) and the four species of

Ibises as being highly characteristic members of the Argentine Ornis.

 

The tenth order, that of Anseres, or Waterfowl, commonly so-called, is

also largely in excess as regards the number of species. Out of a total

of 64 Anseres belonging to the Neotropical Regions, 23 are met with

in the Argentine Republic. Moreover, the greater number of these are

exclusively Antarctic species, restricted to the Patagonian Subregion.

Amongst them we may specially call attention to the Black-necked Swan

(_Cygnus nigricollis_), the Chiloe Wigeon (_Mareca sibilatrix_), and

the Rosy-billed Duck (_Metopiana peposaca_) as highly characteristic

and ornamental species.

 

Proceeding to the next order, that of the Pigeons (Columbæ), we find the

number of Argentine species to be slightly below the average. Several

fine Pigeons and Doves are well-known inhabitants of the Republic, but

the Columbine order is not a prominent one within our limits.

 

The Gallinaceous birds of the Neotropical Region are about ninety in

number, the greater part of these belonging to the Curassows, Cracidæ,

a family specially adapted for habitation in the extensive forests

of the New World. Four species of Cracidæ have been met with in the

forest-region of Northern Argentina; but the Gallinaceous group as a

whole must be held to be deficient in this part of South America, the

place in Nature which these birds fill in other regions being occupied

here by the more lowly organized Tinamous, of which we shall speak

further on.

 

The Geranomorphæ of the Argentine Republic are much in excess as regards

the number of species. This arises mainly from the abundant supply of

Rails and Crakes which Nature has provided for the more swampy districts

of the pampas, and to the presence of no less than three distinct

species of Coots (_Fulica_), which appear to be generally abundant

on the lakes and pools. Nor must we forget to mention as of special

interest the two Cariamas which belong to this order, and which are the

only representatives of a family of very peculiar structure. One of the

two Cariamas is, so far as we know, absolutely confined to the Northern

provinces of the Argentine Republic; the second is a bird of the