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

brown: total length 5·6 inches, wing 2·4, tail 2·4.

    _Female_ similar, but without the black on the face.

 

_Hab._ Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.

 

This is again the only species of a North- and Central-American genus

which ranges so far south as Buenos Ayres. It visits us in summer, and

is found singly or in pairs in woods and large plantations. It feeds

both on the ground and in trees, and, while gleaning amongst the

leaves, frequently pauses to utter its loud cheerful song, composed

of seven or eight clear notes uttered with rapidity and emphasis.

19. BASILEUTERUS AURICAPILLUS, Sw. (GOLDEN-CROWNED WOOD-SINGER.)

 

+Basileuterus auricapillus+, _Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 393.

      +Basileuterus vermivorus+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1865, p. 283; _Scl. et

      Salv. Nomencl._ p. 10; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 594 (Misiones).

 

    _Description._--Above olive-yellow, lightest on the rump and upper

    tail-coverts; tail-feathers ashy brown, with yellowish margins;

    quills dusky; crown of head light orange-chestnut; nape and hind

    neck pale ashy grey; on each side of the crown a broad black stripe

    extending from the bill to the hind neck, also a streak of ashy

    white above the eye; under surface bright yellow; axillaries and

    under wing-coverts white; bill and feet brownish: total length 4·5

    inches, wing 2·2, tail 2·05. _Female_ similar.

 

_Hab._ South America.

 

This species, which is widely spread over the northern portion of South

America, was found in Paraguay by Azara, and in the province of Misiones

by White.

20. SETOPHAGA BRUNNEICEPS, d'Orb. et Lafr. (BROWN-CAPPED WOOD-SINGER.)

 

+Setophaga brunneiceps+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 473

      (Tucuman); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 11; _White, P. Z. S._

      1882, p. 595 (Catamarca); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 428.

 

    _Description._--General colour dull olive-yellowish; wing-coverts

    dark slaty grey; quills blackish; upper tail-coverts slaty grey,

    washed with olive; tail-feathers blackish--the outer pair white, the

    next pair white edged with black on the outer web, the third pair

    with a large white mark at the end; crown of head deep chestnut;

    neck slaty grey; under surface of body bright yellow; under tail-

    and wing-coverts white: total length 5·0 inches, wing 2·45, tail

    2·4. _Female_ similar.

 

_Hab._ Bolivia and Northern Argentina.

 

White obtained a pair of these birds on the Sierra of Totoral,

Catamarca, in July 1880. He describes them as quick in their movements

and difficult to shoot. The species was originally discovered by

d'Orbigny in Bolivia.

Fam. VII. (VIREONIDÆ, or GREENLETS.)

 

Three of the groups of the peculiar American family of Greenlets, allied

to our Shrikes, have representatives within the Argentine Republic. The

genera _Vireo_ and _Hylophilus_ both extend, each in the shape of one

of its South-Brazilian members, into the woodlands of the Paraná; while

_Cyclorhis_, another genus also widely spread over South and Central

America, has two representatives within our area. One of these latter is

well known in the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres; the other is only found

in the extreme north of the Republic.

21. VIREOSYLVIA CHIVI (Vieill.). (CHIVI GREENLET.)

 

+Contramaestre gaviero+, _Azara, Apunt._ ii. p. 34. +Sylvia chivi+,

      _Vieill. N. D._ xi. p. 174. +Vireosylvia chivi+, _Baird, Rev. A.

      B._ p. 337; _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 160 (Buenos Ayres);

      _Berl. et Jher. Zeitschr. ges. Orn._ 1885, p. 115. +Vireo chivi+,

      _Gadow, Cat. B._ viii. p. 295.

 

_Hab._ South America, from Colombia down to Buenos Ayres.

 

A single specimen of this Greenlet was found in a collection made by Mr.

Haslehurst near Buenos Ayres. As the species occurs in Rio Grande do

Sul (_Berlepsch_) and Paraguay (_Azara_), its occasional appearance in

Eastern Argentina is quite probable. Whether the bird is really distinct

from the widespread _Vireo olivaceus_ seems to be a question which is

not yet finally settled.

 

Azara, describing this species, says it is one of the commonest in

deep woods, where it moves about among the terminal twigs, without

ever rising to the tops of the trees or flying down to the brush or the

ground. It is active, and extremely restless in manner; and in searching

after and taking the small insects and spiders on which it lives

it climbs about the twigs, assuming every position, and frequently

suspending itself, head downwards, by its feet. It has a full

pleasing voice of considerable power, heard incessantly in the woods,

particularly in the love-season. The nest is a slender beautiful

structure, even surpassing that of the Humming-birds, constructed of

thin dry leaves outside, smoothly attached to the rest with spiders'

webs, while the inside is formed of fine fibres and cotton.

22. HYLOPHILUS PŒCILOTIS, Max. (BROWN-HEADED WOOD-BIRD.)

 

+Hylophilus pœcilotis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 12; _Scl.

      Ibis_, 1881, p. 300; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 595 (Misiones);

      _Gadow, Cat. B._ viii. p. 308.

 

    _Description._--Crown of head and nape rich rufous-brown; all the

    rest of the upper parts, including the entire tail and wing-coverts

    and the outer webs of the remiges, rich olive-green; cheeks and

    upper throat whitish; ear-coverts blackish, with white central

    streaks; under wing-coverts, axillaries, inner margin of remiges,

    and under tail-coverts lemon-yellow; rest of underparts dull yellow,

    washed with olive on the breast and flanks, and inclining to pale

    ochreous on the abdomen; bill dark flesh-colour; feet hazel: total

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

 

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

 

This South-Brazilian species was met with by White near San Javier, in

the province of Misiones, in June 1881.

23. CYCLORHIS OCHROCEPHALA. (OCHRE-HEADED GREENLET-SHRIKE.) [Plate III. Fig. 1.]

 

+Cyclorhis viridis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 472; _Scl. et

      Salv. Nomencl._ p. 13; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 58 (Punta

      Lara); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 595 (Buenos Ayres); _Gadow,

      Cat. B._ viii. p. 318. +Cyclorhis ochrocephala+, _Tsch. Arch. f.

      Nat._ 1845, pt. i. p. 362; _Berl. et Jher. Zeitschr. ges. Orn._

      1885, p. 116.

 

    _Description._--Above olive-green; cap brownish ochraceous, more or

    less rufescent; front and superciliaries chestnut-red; sides of head

    clear grey, beneath pale buff; breast and flanks yellow; throat

    greyish white; bill reddish grey, feet grey; eye reddish: total

    length 7·0 inches, wing 3·4, tail 2·8. _Female_ similar.

 

_Hab._ Middle districts of Argentina.

 

This species is not uncommon in the woods along the shores of the Plata,

and may be easily known to any person penetrating them by its loud

"cheerful soliloquy," for that phrase of Mr. Barrows, the North-American

writer on birds, well describes the artless, light-hearted song which it

utters at intervals while it roams about in the deep foliage, and which

reminds one of the careless whistling of a boy, whistling merely to

express his gaiety, but without having any particular tune in his mind.

It is migratory, and extends its range south of Buenos Ayres.

24. CYCLORHIS ALTIROSTRIS, Salvin. (DEEP-BILLED GREENLET-SHRIKE.) [Plate III. Fig. 2.]

 

  +Cyclorhis altirostris+, _Salv. Ibis_, 1880, p. 352; _Gadow, Cat. B._

      viii. p. 319. +Cyclorhis viridis+, _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn.

      Cl._ viii. p. 88 (Concepcion, Entrerios); _Berl. et Jher.

      Zeitschr. ges. Orn._ 1885, p. 116.

 

    _Description._--Above olive-green; head more or less rufescent;

    front and superciliaries chestnut-red; sides of head grey, beneath

    pale ochraceous; breast and sides yellow; throat greyish; bill short

    and thick, pale reddish, with a black blotch at the base of the

    lower mandible;