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

rapidly that the whole song is more

like that of a cicada than of a bird. This piercing torrent of sound is

broken at intervals by a long grave note, or half a dozen short rapid

notes in a lower key, which come as an agreeable relief.

 

In towns they build in walls, like the English Sparrow; in country

places they always select the domed nest of some Dendrocolaptine species

to breed in. Possibly in some districts where I have not been, this

Sparrow selects other breeding-sites; my experience is that outside of

a town it never lays anywhere but in some domed nest, and at home I

frequently put up boxes for them in the trees, but they would not notice

them, though the Wrens and Swallows were glad to have them. Sometimes

they make choice of the large fabric of the _Anumbius acuticaudatus_,

called Leñatero in the vernacular; but their claim to this nest (even

when the Leñateros are out of it) is frequently disputed by other

species which possess the same habit as this Sparrow, but are more

powerful than he. Their favourite breeding-place is, however, the solid

earthen structure of the Oven-bird; and it is wonderful to see how

persistently and systematically they labour to drive out the lawful

owners--birds so much larger and more powerful than themselves. Early in

spring, and before the advent of the Tree-Martins, the pair of Sparrows

begin haunting the neighbourhood of the oven they have elected to take

possession of, usually one pretty high up in a tree. As the season

advances their desire towards it increases, and they take up their

position on the very tree it is in; and finally a particular branch

near the oven, commanding a good view of the entrance, is chosen for a

permanent resting-place. Here they spend a great portion of their

time in song, twitterings, and loving dalliance, and, if attentively

observed, they are seen with eyes ever fixed on the coveted abode. As

the need for a receptacle for the eggs becomes more urgent they grow

bolder, and in the absence of the owners flit about the oven, alight

on it, and even enter it. The Oven-bird appears to drive them off with

screams of indignation, but the moment he retires they are about it

again, and, even when it contains eggs or young birds, begin impudently

carrying in feathers, straws, and other materials for a nest, as if they

were already in undisputed possession. At this stage the Tree-Martins

(_Progne tapera_) perhaps appear to complicate matters; and even if

these last comers do not succeed in ousting the Oven-birds, they are

sure to seize the oven when it becomes vacant, and the Sparrows, in

spite of their earlier claim, are left out in the cold. But they do not

take their defeat quietly, or, rather, they do not know when they are

beaten, but still remain to harrass their fellow-pirates, just as they

did the Oven-birds before, bringing straws and feathers in their

beaks, and when forced to drop these materials and chased from the

neighbourhood with great noise and fury by the Tree-Martins, it is only

to return undaunted in a few minutes, bringing more straws and feathers.

 

This Sparrow makes a rather large nest, neatly lined with horsehair,

and lays five eggs, long, pointed, the entire surface thickly marked

with deep chocolate-brown.

 

In rural districts this species is comparatively rare, not more than one

or two couples being seen about each habitation; and I scarcely think it

would be too much to say that there are four or five thousand Chingolos

for every individual Yellow Sparrow. Yet it is a hardy little bird, well

able to hold its own, subsists on the same kind of food and lays as many

eggs as the _Zonotrichia_; and it possesses, moreover, a great advantage

over the dominant species in placing its nest out of the reach of the

parasitical _Molothrus_, the destroyer of about fifty per cent. of the

Chingolo's eggs. I can only attribute the great disparity in the numbers

of the two species to the fact that the Yellow House-Sparrow will breed

only (out of towns) in nests not easily taken, and to the stubborn

pertinacity which leads it to waste the season in these vain efforts,

while the other species is rearing its brood. This is a blunder of

instinct comparable to that of the Minera (_Geositta cunicularia_),

mentioned by Darwin in the 'Voyage of a Naturalist,' where the bird made

its hole in a mud wall a few inches wide, and on coming out on the other

side simply went back and made another hole, and then another, unable to

understand that the wall had not the requisite width.

 

In such a case as the Yellow House-Sparrow presents, in which the colour

of the sexes differs, the female being without any of the brighter

hues found in the male, and which makes an elaborate nest and lays

deeply-coloured eggs, it is impossible not to believe that the bird

originally built in exposed situations, and subsequently--perhaps in

very recent times--acquired the habit of breeding in dark holes. The

frequent destruction of the exposed nest, and an abundance of vacant

domed nests, into which some individuals occasionally penetrated to

breed, would lead to the acquisition of such a nesting-habit; for the

birds inheriting it would have an advantage and be preserved, while

those persisting in the old habit of building exposed nests would

perish. Domed nests made by Dendrocolaptine birds are very abundant

even now, and it is probable that, before the country became settled by

Europeans, they were very much more numerous. Darwin, speaking of the

Oven-bird's habit of always placing its oven in the most conspicuous and

(to man) accessible places, predicts, and truly I believe, that this

habit will eventually cause the extinction of the species; for when the

country becomes more thickly settled, the bird-nesting boys will destroy

all the ovens. Probably when the Oven-birds were more abundant the

Sparrows could always find vacant ovens to breed in, until a habit of

breeding almost exclusively in these safe and convenient bird-built

houses was acquired; and the present seemingly stupid persistence of

the birds in struggling to get possession of those already occupied by

stronger species, only shows that the habit or instinct has not been

modified to suit a change in the conditions--_i. e._ a diminishing

number of ovens to breed in, with, perhaps, the increase of other

stronger species possessing the same habit. But while the instinct thus

survives too strongly in the country birds, many individuals have taken

to a town life, and acquired the new habit of breeding in holes in brick

walls. Probably this race of town birds will eventually colonize the

rural districts, and usurp the place of the country birds, which will

then be placed at a disadvantage.

90. SYCALIS LUTEA (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (YELLOW SEED-FINCH.)

 

+Sycalis chloropis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 489 (Mendoza and

      Catamarca), +Sycalis lutea+, _Scl. Ibis_, 1872, p. 46, pl. ii.

      fig. 2.

 

    _Description._--Dark yellow; rump and body below brighter; wings

    and tail brownish black, edged with yellow; under wing-coverts pale

    yellow; inner margins of wing-feathers pale brown: whole length 5·5

    inches, wing 3·2, tail 2·1. _Female_ similar, but duller and more

    brownish.

 

_Hab._ Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina.

 

Prof. Burmeister obtained examples of this species near Mendoza. In my

revision of the genus published in 1872, I referred the specimens (upon

some of which Prof. Burmeister based his species _S. chloropis_) to _S.

uropygialis_. I now find that this was an error, and that they really

belong to _S. lutea_.--P. L. S.

91. SYCALIS LUTEOLA (Sparrm.). (MISTO SEED-FINCH.)

+Sycalis luteola+, _Scl. Ibis_, 1872, p. 44; _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._

85; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 172 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p.

      394 (Centr. Pat.); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 132

      (Entrerios). +Sycalis luteiventris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii.

489.

 

    _Description._--Above light olive-green, marked with dusky stripes;

    wing-feathers blackish, with pale brownish edges; tail-feathers the

    same; beneath, throat and chest dusky buff, lower breast and belly

    yellow; bill and feet horn-colour; total length 5·0 inches, wing

    2·6, tail 2·0. _Female_ similar, but not so bright.

 

_Hab._ S. America, from Colombia to Chili.

 

This is a slender, graceful bird, less than the Canary in size, the

whole upper plumage yellowish olive, with dun markings, the lower

surface of a dull yellow. The female is a little smaller than the male,

and her colours are somewhat dimmer.

 

This species is resident and gregarious in the Argentine Republic,

and in autumn frequently congregates in flocks of several thousands.

They are not so universally distributed as the Chingolo, and are not

wood-birds, but frequent open plains abounding in thistles and other

coarse herbage, which affords them shelter. In cultivated districts,

where their food is most abundant, they are excessively numerous, and,

after the harvest has been gathered, frequent the fields in immense

flocks. While feeding, the flocks scatter over a large area of ground,

being broken up into small companies of a dozen or more birds, and at

such times are so intent on their food that a person can walk about

amongst them without disturbing them. They take flight very suddenly,

bursting into a thousand chirping, scolding notes, pursue each other

through the air, and, after wheeling about the field for a minute or

two, suddenly drop down into the grass again and are silent as before.

 

In August they begin to sing, here and there an individual being heard

in the fields; but when the weather grows warmer they repair to the

plantations in vast numbers, and, sitting on the branches, sing in

a concert of innumerable voices, which produces a great volume of

confused sound, and which often continues for hours at a time without

intermission.

 

By-and-by these pleasant choirs break up, the birds all scattering over

the plains and fields to woo and build, and it is then first discovered

that the male has a peculiar and very sweet song. Apart from his

fellows, he acquires a different manner of singing, soaring up from

his stand on the summit of a bush or stalk, and beginning his song the

moment he quits his perch. Ascending, he utters a series of long,

melodious notes, not loud, but very distinctly enunciated and increasing

in volume; at a height of fifty or sixty yards he pauses, the notes

becoming slower; then, as he descends with a graceful spiral flight, the

wings outstretched and motionless, the notes also fall, becoming lower,

sweeter, and more impressive till he reaches the earth. After alighting

the song continues, the notes growing longer, thinner, and clearer,

until they dwindle to the merest threads of sound, and cease to be

audible except to a person standing within a few yards of the songster.

The song is quite unique in character, and its great charm is in its

gradual progress from the somewhat thick notes at the commencement to

the thin, tremulous tones with which the bird returns to earth, and

which change again to the excessively attenuated sounds at the end.

 

The nest is deep, well-built, and well-concealed, sometimes resting

on the ground, but frequently raised above it. It contains five long,

pointed eggs, with a white or bluish-white ground-colour, and thickly

spotted with brown. I have, frequently found the eggs of the _Molothrus_

in its nest, but have