Volume I Part 34 (2/2)

182. UPUCERTHIA LUSCINIA (Burm.).

(WARBLING EARTH-CREEPER.)

+Ochetorhynchus luscinia+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 464 (Mendoza, Parana). +Upucerthia luscinia+, _Scl. et Salv.

Nomencl._ p. 62; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 610 (Catamarca); _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 358 (Salta).

_Description._--Above earthy brown; front, lores, and rim round the eye bright rufous; wings blackish, outer webs more or less edged with rufous earthy brown; tail earthy brown, lateral rectrices tinged with rufous; below pale cinereous with a slight rufescent tinge; throat clear white; under wing-coverts and inner margins of the wing-feathers cinnamon-red; bill hazel, paler at the base; feet pale brown: whole length 75 inches, wing 30, tail 31. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Argentina.

Professor Burmeister was the first discoverer of this species, which he tells us is common near Mendoza, in Parana, and in the neighbouring pampas. In Parana he found it nesting under the roof of his house and feeding upon insects. The eggs are pure white. It is the _Ruisinor_ or ”Nightingale” of the natives, whence he gave it the specific name _luscinia_--a strange name for any species in the shrill-voiced Dendrocolaptine family.

183. CINCLODES FUSCUS (Vieill.).

(BROWN CINCLODES.)

+Cinclodes fuscus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 62; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 179 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 610 (Catamarca); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 205 (Entrerios and Pampas). +Cinclodes vulgaris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 463 (Mendoza, Parana).

_Description._--Above dark earthy brown, lores and superciliaries whitish; wings blackish, with a broad transverse cinnamomeous bar; outer tail-feathers blackish, broadly tipped with pale cinnamomeous white; beneath pale cinereous, with a cinnamomeous tinge; throat white, slightly spotted with blackish; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 73 inches, wing 40, tail 30. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Argentina, Chili, Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador.

This homely little species differs considerably from most Dendrocolaptine birds in colour and habits; and being of a uniform dull, fuscous hue, its appearance is most uninteresting. It inhabits the whole of Patagonia, but is migratory, possessing, what is rare in this family, a powerful flight. In winter it is common all over the pampas and the Plata district, ranging north to Paraguay. It is always found near water, its favourite hunting-ground being the borders of a stream. On the ground its motions are quick and lively, but when perching on a tree it sits motionless in one position, and when attempting to move appears to lose its balance. These birds cannot be called strictly gregarious, but where abundant they are fond of gathering in loose flocks, sometimes numbering one or two hundred individuals, and when thus a.s.sociating are very playful, frequently pursuing and wheeling about each other, and uttering a sharp, trilling note. On a warm day in winter they are occasionally heard attempting to sing, the bird darting up vertically into the air and pouring out with great energy a confused torrent of unmelodious sounds.

Their habits, so much less sedate and strikingly in contrast with those of most of the birds in this family, are no doubt due to the greater powers of flight possessed by _Cinclodes_.

184. CINCLODES BIFASCIATUS, Sclater.

(WHITE-WINGED CINCLODES.)

+Cinclodes bifasciatus+, _Sclater, P. Z. S._ 1858, p. 448.

_Description._--Above earthy brown with a rufescent tinge on the back, superciliaries white; wings blackish, with a white bar on the secondaries and a second white bar on the inner primaries; tail blackish, outer rectrices tipped with white; beneath white, pa.s.sing into greyish cinnamomeous on the flanks and crissum; bend of the wing and under wing-coverts white; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 80 inches, wing 40, tail 33.

_Hab._ Bolivia and Eastern Argentina.

Weisshaupt obtained examples of this species in the vicinity of Mendoza, from one of which our description is taken.

185. HENICORNIS PHNICURUS (Gould).

(DARK-TAILED HENICORNIS.)

+Henicornis phnicurus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 62; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 395 (Central Patagonia).

_Description._--Above earthy brown, slight superciliary line white, edges of outer secondaries, lower back, and upper tail-coverts bright ferruginous red; tail black, outer webs of outer tail-feathers and slight external edging of the others bright ferruginous; beneath, throat and breast pure white, belly cinereous, flanks tinged with rufous; crissum bright ferruginous; bill dark horn-colour, base of lower mandible yellowish; feet horn-colour: whole length 75 inches, wing 33, tail 30.

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