: Argentine Ornithology, Volume I (of 2) by P. L Sclater, W. H Hudson (books to read in your 20s female .txt) 馃摉
- Author: P. L Sclater, W. H Hudson
Book online 芦: Argentine Ornithology, Volume I (of 2) by P. L Sclater, W. H Hudson (books to read in your 20s female .txt) 馃摉禄. Author P. L Sclater, W. H Hudson
breast and flanks with cross lines of dusky brown: total length 7路5
inches, wing 2路9, tail 3路7. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Guiana, Amazonia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.
The genus _Donacobius_ contains two species somewhat intermediate between
the Mock-birds and the large Wrens of the genus _Campylorhynchus_. The
well-known Brazilian _D. atricapillus_ extends through Paraguay, where
Azara found it abundant, into Corrientes and the adjoining provinces
of La Plata. It is met with among the reeds on lakes and streams.
12. TROGLODYTES FURVUS (Gm.). (BROWN HOUSE-WREN.)
+Troglodytes furvus+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 158
(Conchitas); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 7; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1876, p.
157, 1877, p. 32 (Chupat), p. 167 (Buenos Ayres), 1878, p. 392
(Central Patagonia); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 593 (Buenos
Ayres); _D枚ring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 36 (Azul, R.
Colorado, R. Negro). +Troglodytes platensis+, _Burm. La-Plata
Reise_, ii. p. 476; _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 86
(Concepcion). +Troglodytes musculus+, _Sharpe, Cat. B._ vi. p.
255.
_Description._--Above brown; the tail-feathers and outer webs of
wing-feathers pencilled with dark wavy lines; beneath very pale
brown; bill and feet horn-colour; eye brown: total length 4路8
inches, wing 2路0, tail 1路7. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ South America.
The common Argentine Wren is to all English residents the "House-Wren,"
and is considered to be identical with the species familiar to them in
their own country. It is a sprightly little bird, of a uniform brown
colour and a cheerful melodious voice; a tireless hunter after small
spiders and caterpillars in hedges, gardens, and outhouses, where it
explores every dark hole and cranny, hopping briskly about with tail
erect, and dropping frequent little curtsies; always prompt to scold an
intruder with great emphasis; a great hater of cats.
It was my belief at one time that the Wren was one of the little birds
a cat never could catch; but later on I discovered that this was a
mistake. At my home on the pampas we once had a large yellow tom cat
exceedingly dexterous in catching small birds; he did not, however, eat
them himself, but used to bring them into the house for the other cats.
Two or three times a day he would appear with a bird, which he would
drop at the door, then utter a loud mew very well understood by the
other cats, for they would all fly to the spot in great haste, and
the first to arrive would get the bird. At one time I noticed that he
brought in a Wren almost every day, and, curious to know how he managed
to capture so clever a bird, I watched him. His method was to go out
into the grounds frequented by Wrens, and seat himself conspicuously
amongst the weeds or bushes; and then, after the first burst of alarm
had subsided amongst the small birds, one or two Wrens would always take
on themselves the task of dislodging him, or, at all events, of making
his position a very uncomfortable one. The cat would sit perfectly
motionless, apparently not noticing them at all, and by-and-by this
stolid demeanour would have its effect, and one of the Wrens, growing
bolder, would extend his dashing little incursions to within a few
inches of pussy's demure face; then at last, swift as lightning, would
come the stroke of a paw, and the little brown body would drop down with
the merry brave little spirit gone from it.
The House-Wren is widely distributed in South America, from the tropical
forests to the cold uplands of Patagonia, and, possessing a greater
adaptiveness than most species, it inhabits every kind of country, moist
or dry, and is as much at home on lofty mountains and stony places as in
the everglades of the Plata, where it frequents the reed-beds and damp
forests. About houses they are always to be found; and though the
traveller on the desert pampas might easily imagine that there are no
Wrens in the giant grasses, if he makes himself a lodge in this lonely
region, a Wren will immediately appear to make its nest in his thatch
and cheer him with its song.
Even in large towns they are common, and I always remember one flying
into a church in Buenos Ayres one Sunday, and, during the whole
sermon-time, pouring out its bright lyric strains from its perch high
up somewhere in the ornamental wood-work of the roof.
The Wren sings all summer, and also on bright days in winter. The song
is not unlike that of the English House-Wren, having the same gushing
character, the notes being strong and clear, and uttered with rapidity
and precision; but the Argentine bird has greater sweetness and more
power.
In spring the male courts his mate with notes high and piercing as
the squeals of a young mouse; these he repeats with great rapidity,
fluttering his wings all the time like a moth, and at intervals breaking
out into song.
The nest is made in a dark hole in a wall or tree, sometimes in the
forsaken domed nest of some other bird; and where such sites are not to
be found, in a dense thistle or thorn-bush, or in a large tussock of
grass. I have also found nests in dry skulls of cows and horses, in an
old boot, in the sleeve of an old coat left hanging on a _fence_, in a
large-necked bottle, and in various other curious situations. The nest
is built of sticks and lined with horse-hair or feathers, and the eggs
are usually nine in number, of a pinkish ground-colour, thickly spotted
with pale red.
13. TROGLODYTES AURICULARIS, Cab. (EARED WREN.)
+Troglodytes (Uropsila) auricularis+, _Cab. Journ. f. Orn._ 1883, p.
105, t. ii. fig. 1.
_Description._--In habit and size near the European Wren, _T.
parvulus_, but peculiar for the blackish-brown hinder half of the
ear-coverts and its broad white superciliaries. Upper surface and
flanks brown; throat and middle of belly whitish, tinged with
brownish yellow; wings and tail with fine black cross bands; crissum
with broader black and white cross bands. (_Cabanis._)
_Hab._ Tucuman.
This is a recent discovery of Herr Schulz in the Sierra of Tucuman. We
have not yet met with specimens of it.
14. CISTOTHORUS PLATENSIS (Lath.). (PLATAN MARSH-WREN.)
+Cistothorus platensis+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 158; _iid.
Nomencl._ p. 7; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 168 (Buenos Ayres);
_D枚ring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 37 (R. Sauce, R. Colorado,
Negro); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 87 (Carhu茅);_Sharpe, Cat. B._ vi. p. 244. +Cistothorus fasciolatus+, _Burm.
La-Plata Reise_, ii, p. 476 (Mendoza).
_Description._--Above pale sandy brown, variegated with black
streaks; head darker brown, streaked with black; the hind neck paler
brown, with narrow black streaks; wing-coverts brown; tail-feathers
dark sandy brown, barred with blackish brown; under surface pale
sandy buff: total length 4路3 inches, wing 1路85, tail 1路6. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ Argentina, Patagonia, and Falkland Islands.
This small Wren is rarely seen, being nowhere common, although widely
distributed. It prefers open grounds covered with dense reeds and
grasses, where it easily escapes observation. I have met with it near
Buenos Ayres city; also on the desert pampas, in the tall pampas-grass.
It is likewise met with along the Paran谩 river, and in Chili, Patagonia,
and the Falkland Islands. In the last-named locality Darwin found it
common, and says that it has there an extremely feeble flight, so that
it may easily be run down and taken.
The Marsh-Wren has a sweet and delicate song, resembling that of the
House-Wren (_Troglodytes furvus_), but much less powerful. It does not
migrate; and on the pampas I have heard it singing with great animation
when the pampas-grass, where it sat perched, was white with frozen
dew. Probably its song, like that of _Troglodytes furvus_, varies in
different districts; at all events, the pampas bird does not possess so
fine a song as Azara ascribes to his "Todo Voz" in Paraguay, which is
undoubtedly the same species.
Fam. V.( MOTACILLID脝, or WAGTAILS.)
The Wagtails and Pipits are closely-allied forms, and are usually
referred to the same family of Oscines. The Wagtails are restricted to
the Old World, although it has been recently ascertained that some of
them occasionally occur as stragglers in the northern latitudes of
America. Of the almost cosmopolitan Pipits about eight or nine species
are sparingly distributed over the prairies and pampas of the New World.
One of these is a common resident in the pampas of Argentina, and
another (perhaps somewhat doubtful species) is occasionally met with.
15. ANTHUS CORRENDERA, Vieill. (CACHILA PIPIT.)
+Anthus correndera+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 8; _Hudson, P. Z.
S._ 1873, p. 771 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 32
(Chupat), p. 168 (Buenos Ayres), 1878, p. 392 (Central
Patagonia); _Sclater, Ibis_, 1878, p. 362;
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