Volume I Part 11 (1/2)
53. SPERMOPHILA CaeRULESCENS (Vieill.).
(SCREAMING FINCH.)
+Spermophila caerulescens+, _Scl. Ibis_, 1871, p. 12; _Scl. et Salv.
Nomencl._ p. 28; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 508 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 92 (Concepcion); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ xii. p. 126. +Sporophila ornata+, _Burm.
La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 488 (Mendoza, Parana). +Spermophila ornata+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 632; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 170 (Buenos Ayres); _Salv. Ibis_, 1880, p. 353 (Salta).
_Description._--Above pale smoky brown; front and lores black; beneath, chin and upper part of throat black, with a distinct white mystacal stripe on each side; fore neck white; broad band across the chest black; abdomen white, slightly varied with grey and black on the flanks; under wing-coverts white; bill pale horn-colour; feet brown: whole length 48 inches, wing 23, tail 19. _Female_ pale olive-brown; wings and tail darker; beneath lighter, tinged with ochraceous; middle of the belly almost white.
_Hab._ Southern Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Bolivia.
This species is a summer visitor in Buenos Ayres, and is one of the last to arrive and first to depart of our migrants. These birds are always most abundant in plantations, preferring peach-trees, but do not a.s.sociate in flocks: they are exceedingly swift and active, overflowing with life and energy, their impetuous notes and motions giving one the idea that they are always in a state of violent excitement. The male has a loud, startled chirp, also a song composed of eight or ten notes, delivered with such vehemence and rapidity, that they run into each other and sound more like a scream than a song. There is not a more clever architect than this species; and while many _Synallaxes_ are laboriously endeavouring to show how stately a mansion of sticks a little bird can erect for itself, the Screaming Finch has successfully solved the problem of how to construct the most perfect nest for lightness, strength, and symmetry with the fewest materials. It is a small, cup-shaped structure, suspended hammock-wise between two slender upright branches, and to which it is securely attached by fine hairs and webs. It is made of thin, pale-coloured, fibrous roots, ingeniously woven together--reddish or light-coloured horse-hair being sometimes subst.i.tuted; and so little material is used that, standing under the tree, a person can easily count the eggs through the bottom of the nest.
Its apparent frailness is, however, its best protection from the prying eyes of birds and mammals that prey on the eggs and young of small birds; for it is difficult to detect this slight structure, through which the suns.h.i.+ne and rain pa.s.s so freely. So light is the little basket-nest that it may be placed on the open hand and blown away with the breath like a straw; yet so strong that a man can suspend his weight from it without pulling it to pieces. The eggs are three in number, white and spotted with black, sometimes bluish-brown spots are mingled with the black.
54. PAROARIA CUCULLATA (Lath.).
(CARDINAL FINCH.)
+Paroaria cucullata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 482 (Parana, Tuc.u.man); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 30; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 171 (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 19 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 598 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 129 (Concepcion).
_Description._--Above grey; wing- and tail-feathers blackish grey; head all round, crest, and throat brilliant scarlet, the scarlet extending downwards to the chest; below white, the white colour extending up the sides of the neck; nape spotted with white: total length 80 inches, wing 40, tail 35. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina.
This well-known species is perhaps the finest Finch the Argentines have.
The entire upper plumage is clear grey, the under surface pure white; but its chief glory is its crest, which, with the anterior part of the head and the throat, is of the most vivid scarlet. The song has little variety, but is remarkably loud, and has that cheerful ring which most people admire in their caged pets, possibly because it produces the idea in the listener's mind that the songster is glad to be a prisoner. As a cage-bird this Finch enjoys an extraordinary popularity; and a stranger in Buenos Ayres, seeing the numbers that are exposed for sale by the bird-dealers in the markets of that city, might fancy that a Cardinal in a cage is considered a necessary part of the _menage_ of every house in the country. This large supply of caged birds comes from South Brazil, Paraguay, and the north-eastern part of the Argentine country, where the Cardinals are most abundant and unite in large flocks. Probably they are not snared, but taken when young from the nest, as most of the birds exposed for sale are in immature plumage.
The Cardinal in a wild state is found as far south as the province of Buenos Ayres, but it is there a scarce bird. It breeds, Mr. Gibson writes, at the end of October, and makes a shallow nest of twigs, vine-tendrils, and horse-hair. The eggs are four; ground-colour white or tinged with faint brown or greenish, and spotted with brown, more densely at the large end.
55. PAROARIA CAPITATA (d'Orb. et Lafr.).
(LESSER CARDINAL FINCH.)
+Paroaria capitata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 482; _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 30; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 598.
_Description._--Above black; head bright scarlet, the black and red divided by white, crescent-shaped marks on the neck, narrowing to a point on the nape; throat black, the black extending downward to the chest; below white; bill and feet yellowish horn-colour: total length 66 inches, wing 30, tail 26.
_Hab._ Paraguay and Bolivia.
Dr. Burmeister tells us this species is not uncommon near Parana, where it occurs in small flocks on the river-bank, and is often seen on the stones at the river's edge.
56. CORYPHOSPINGUS CRISTATUS (Gm.).
(RED-CRESTED FINCH.)
+Coryphospingus cristatus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 30; _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 354 (Salta); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 598 (Salta).