Argentine Ornithology.

Volume II.

by P. L. Sclater and W. H. Hudson.

PREFACE.

This volume contains our account of all the Orders of Birds met with within the Argentine Republic except the Pa.s.seres, which were treated of in the First Volume. It also comprises an Appendix and Index, and completes the work. The Introduction is issued with this, but is intended to be bound up with the first volume, and is paged to follow the contents of that volume.

The total number of species which we have thus a.s.signed to the Argentine Avifauna is 434. To this list, no doubt, considerable additions will have to be made when the more remote provinces of the Republic have been explored. We trust that this work may at least serve to excite residents in Argentina to make fresh investigations, for we are quite aware how imperfect is the compilation now offered to the public.

It will be seen that in the following pages, as in the first volume, we have availed ourselves liberally of the information on Argentine birds contained in the writings of Dr. Burmeister, Mr. Barrows, and Mr.

Gibson. To all of these gentlemen we wish to offer our most sincere thanks, together with apologies for the liberty we have taken. We have likewise to express our high estimation of the valuable notes which we have extracted from the published writings of the late Henry Durnford and Ernest William White, both most promising Naturalists, and both alike lost to Science at an early age. Nor must we omit to record our thanks to Hans, Graf von Berlepsch, of Munden, Mr. Walter B. Barrows, and Mr. Frank Withington, and other friends and correspondents who have aided us by information and by the loan of specimens.

To the Zoological Society of London and to Mr. Henry Seebohm we are likewise much indebted for the loan of the woodcuts of which impressions are contained in these volumes.

P. L. S.

_February 1, 1889._

ARGENTINE ORNITHOLOGY.

Order II. MACROCHIRES.

Fam. XX. TROCHILIDae, or HUMMING-BIRDS.

Of the great American family Trochilidae, which, according to the most recent authorities, contains about 450 species, eleven members have been ascertained to occur within the limits of the Argentine Republic. But of these only three (_Calliperidia furcifera_, _Hylocharis sapphirina_, and _Chlorostilbon splendidus_) reach the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres, where they occur as summer visitors. The remaining eight have been met with only in the northern and western provinces of Argentina. Of these two (_Oreotrochilus leucopleurus_ and _Patagona gigas_) are also found in Chili, the others are Bolivian and South-Brazilian species.

230. OREOTROCHILUS LEUCOPLEURUS, Gould.

(WHITE-SIDED HUMMING-BIRD.)

+Oreotrochilus leucopleurus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 81; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 615 (Catamarca); _Elliot, Syn. Troch._ p. 36; _Gould, Mon. Troch._ ii. pl. 71.

_Description._--Head, upper surface, and wings greyish olive-brown, pa.s.sing into dull coppery green on the upper tail-coverts; two central tail-feathers and outer one bronzy green, the others white, narrowly edged externally with brown; throat shining green, bordered below by a band of black with bluish reflexions; flanks olive-brown; breast and sides of belly white; centre of belly black with steel-blue reflexions; under tail-coverts olive: whole length 50 inches, wings 27, tail 21. _Female_ above like male; beneath white, throat densely spotted with brown; flanks brownish.

_Hab._ Chili and Northern Argentina.

White obtained a single specimen of this Humming-bird in September 1880, at Fuerte de Andalgala, in Catamarca. It is a well-known species in Chili, where, according to Gould, "it inhabits the sheltered valleys of the Andes, just below the line of perpetual congelation."

231. CHaeTOCERCUS BURMEISTERI, Scl.

(BURMEISTER'S HUMMING-BIRD.)

[Plate XI.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHaeTOCERCUS BURMEISTERI.]

+Chaetocercus burmeisteri+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1887, p. 639.

_Description._--Bill straight, entirely black and as long as the head; whole upper part of the body of a dark green metallic colour, except the wings, which are black; the small feathers of the throat on the under jaw are whitish with a darker spot in the middle; there begins on the throat the crimson-red bilateral beard, which is composed on both sides of three rows of very small feathers, these becoming somewhat larger in the middle of the beard and terminating with two ranges of feathers in the exterior half part. Many of these feathers are shining metallic green in certain positions. A white spot behind the eyes descends from there to the breast, which is also whitish, but with a dark spot on every feather, causing a greyish appearance in the middle of the breast. The hinder half of the breast and the belly are black, but the a.n.a.l portion is white, as also the sides of the body, except the thighs, which are black.

The inferior feathers behind the a.n.a.l region are clear yellow-brown, but those in the middle have a green metallic spot. The tail is composed of eight feathers; the two exterior on each side are more than an inch long, very small but of equal size in the whole extent, and rounded at the tip, not pointed. The exterior rectrix is entirely black; the second has a clear brown stripe on the inside border. The third feather of each side is very short, only half an inch long and more than eight lines shorter than the exterior; its colour is entirely black. The fourth feathers on each side, that is in the middle of the tail, are shorter than the third pair and partly covered by the coverts: they are of metallic green colour like the coverts.

_Hab._ Tuc.u.man.

The only known specimen of this species was procured in the Valle de Tafi, in the mountains of Tuc.u.man, by Herr Schulz, and is now in the National Museum of Buenos Ayres. This species is nearly allied to _C.

bombus_, Gould (Mon. Troch. Suppl. p. 45, pl. 32), but differs in the form of the tail. The figure (Plate XI.) is taken from a watercolour sketch of this specimen kindly sent to us by Dr. Burmeister.

232. SPARGANURA SAPPHO (Lesson).

(SAPPHO HUMMING-BIRD.)

+Sparganura sappho+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 86; _White, P. Z.

S._ 1882, p. 615 (Catamarca). +Cometes sparganurus+, _Burm.

La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 449 (Mendoza, Catamarca, Tuc.u.man); _Gould, Mon. Troch._ iii. pl. 174. +Sappho sparganura+, _Elliot, Syn. Troch._ p. 154; _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 360 (Tuc.u.man, Salta).

_Description._--Head, upper back, wing-coverts, and under surface shining bronze-green; lower back and upper tail-coverts shining crimson; tail dark brown at base, remaining part fiery orange, tipped with black; basal half of outer web of external rectrices pale brown; wings purplish brown; under tail-coverts light brown with purplish centres; bill and feet black: whole length 62 inches, wing 25, tail 41. _Female_: crown and back greenish brown; throat and sides of face buffy white, spotted with green; rest of under surface whitish, with large spots of green on the flanks; rump and upper tail-coverts shining crimson; central rectrices crimson, lateral rectrices brownish glossed with crimson; outer web of external rectrix white; bill and feet black.

_Hab._ Bolivia and North-western Argentina.

Dr. Burmeister tells us that the Sappho Humming-bird is not uncommon in Mendoza, Catamarca, and Tuc.u.man, but keeps to the mountains, and does not descend on to the plains. In the neighbourhood of Mendoza it specially affects the flowers of _Loranthus cuneifolius_; at Tuc.u.man Dr. Burmeister found it also on the orange-blossoms.

Durnford obtained specimens of this species at Tuc.u.man and Salta in the month of June.

White (P. Z. S. 1882, p. 615) gives us the following notes on its habits:--

"I have met with these Humming-birds scattered, although somewhat spa.r.s.ely, over the upper provinces of the Republic, feeding princ.i.p.ally upon _Nicotiana glauca_, the Quichua name for which is 'palan-palan.'

They follow it southwards as it flowers, even as far as Cordoba; but their true habitat is the Andean region. In Quichua, Humming-birds generally are called 'Tuminicos.' When these birds are poised in front of a flower with wings and tail expanded in the full sunshine, they offer the most brilliant feathery picture imaginable; and as they dart off their flight is so speedy that the eye cannot follow them."

233. PETASOPHORA SERRIROSTRIS (Vieill.).

(VIOLET-EARED HUMMING-BIRD.)

+Petasophora serrirostris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 89; _Elliot, Syn. Troch._ p. 52; _Gould, Mon. Troch._ iv. pl. 223.

+Petasophora crispa+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 447 (Tuc.u.man).

_Description._--Head, upper surface, wing-coverts, flanks, and abdomen dark yellowish green; ear-coverts rich violet-blue; wings purplish brown; tail dark bluish green, crossed near the tip by a broad chalybeate band, beyond which the tips are of a lighter bluish green; throat and upper part of the breast luminous green; across the breast a gorget of shining bluish green; vent and under tail-coverts pure white; bill black; feet blackish brown: whole length 38 inches, wings 28, tail 17. _Female_ similar, but not so bright.