Volume Ii Part 33 (1/2)

+Charadrius dominicus+, _Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A._ i. p. 139. +Charadrius fulvus america.n.u.s+, _Seebohm, Plovers_, p.

100.

_Description._--Above brownish black, with numerous irregular spots of yellow; forehead, superciliary stripe, and sides of neck white: beneath black; crissum whitish; axillaries smoky grey; bill black; feet dark grey: whole length 105 inches, wing 70, tail 28.

_Female_ similar. _Young_: beneath dirty white, with greyish freckles.

_Hab._ America.

This closely allied representative of the Golden Plover of Europe, from which it is distinguishable mainly by its rather larger size and smoky-grey axillaries, visits South America in autumn.

The American Golden Plover is abundant and well known to everyone by its native name _Chorlo_ throughout Southern Argentina. Its wild clear notes are first heard about the last week in August; and among the first comers many individuals are seen still wearing the nuptial dress. After their long journey from the Arctic regions they are lean and not worth shooting; two months later they become excessively fat, and are then much appreciated by _gourmets_. But although so regular in their arrival they do not regularly visit the same localities every season; the bird may be abundant in a place one year and scarce or absent altogether the next. During the spring, from September to December, they prefer open plains with short gra.s.s and in the neighbourhood of wet or marshy ground; at the end of December, when the giant thistle (_Carduus mariana_), which often covers large areas of country, has been burnt up by the sun and blown to the ground, they scatter about a great deal in flocks of from one to four or five hundred. At noon, however, they all resort to a lagoon or marshy place containing water, congregating day after day in such numbers that they blacken the ground over an area of several acres in extent; and at a distance of a quarter of a mile the din of their united voices resembles the roar of a cataract. As population increases on the pampas these stupendous gatherings are becoming more and more rare. Twenty-five years ago it was an exceptional thing for a man to possess a gun, or to use one when he had it; and if Chorlos were wanted, a Gaucho boy, with a string a yard long with a ball of lead attached to each end, could knock down as many as he liked. I have killed them in this way myself, also with the _bola perdida_--a ball at the end of a long string thrown at random into a cloud of birds.

The habits, flight, and language of the Golden Plover need not be spoken of here, as this bird has been so often and exhaustively described by North-American ornithologists. The only peculiarity it possesses which I have not seen mentioned, is its faculty of producing a loud sound, as of a horn, when a few pa.s.sing birds, catching sight of others of their kind on the ground below, descend violently and almost vertically to the earth with unmoving wings. This feat is, however, rarely witnessed; and on the first occasion when I heard the sound high above me, and looked up to see half a dozen Chorlos rus.h.i.+ng down from the sky, the sight almost took my breath away with astonishment.

The Golden Plover appears to be most abundant on the pampas between the thirty-fourth and thirty-sixth parallels of lat.i.tude, but how far south its range extends has not yet been ascertained. The return migration begins early in March, and yet Mr. Barrows met with it in the neighbourhood of Bahia Blanca and on the Sierra de la Ventana from February 8 to March 19. During most of this time he says it was abundant in flocks of from twenty to two hundred birds, which appeared to be moving uniformly _south_ or _south-west_.

388. EUDROMIAS MODESTA (Licht.).

(WINTER PLOVER.)

+Vanellus modestus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 502 (Pampas).

+Eudromias modesta+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 143; _iid. P. Z.

S._ 1868, p. 144 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 197 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 402 (Centr. Patagonia); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 313 (Entrerios); _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas de Zamora). +Charadrius modestus+, _Seebohm, Plovers_, p.

105.

_Description._--Above brownish cinereous; frontal band and superciliary stripe white; wings and central tail-feathers blackish; lateral tail-feathers white, the inner ones with an imperfect black subterminal band: beneath, throat cinereous, breast bright chestnut with a black band below; belly white; bill black, base of lower mandible yellowish; feet brown: whole length 75 inches, wing 53, tail 24. _Female_ similar. _Young_ without the rufous chest.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WINTER PLOVER. (Seebohm's 'Plovers,' p. 105.)]

_Hab._ Antarctic America.

This species in its gait, flight, and general appearance closely resembles the American Golden Plover, but is smaller than that bird, and its sober upper plumage is unrelieved with flecks of golden colour.

It breeds in South Patagonia and the Falklands, and migrates north in autumn, appearing on the pampas in April, and being met with there throughout the winter; hence the vernacular name _Chorlito de invierno_ (Little Winter Plover). In its winter dress the upper plumage is greyish drab colour; the breast dark brown; the belly white. It is shy and active in disposition, has a very rapid flight, and is seen in flocks varying greatly in number, from a dozen to two or three hundred individuals. When feeding the birds scatter very widely, running swiftly over the ground in all directions. When on the wing it frequently utters its cry, which has not the mellow tone of the Golden Plover's note, but it is wonderfully clear and far-reaching, and impresses the listener with its wildness and melancholy.

Their return migration takes place in August.

389. aeGIALITIS FALKLANDICA (Lath.).

(PATAGONIAN SAND-PLOVER.)

+aegialitis falklandica+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 143; _iid. P. Z.

S._ 1868, p. 144 (Buenos Ayres), et 1872, p. 549 (Rio Negro); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 402 (Centr. Patagonia); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 163 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 313 (Entrerios). +Charadrius falklandicus+, _Seebohm, Plovers_, p.

155.

_Description._--Above brown; front white; band across forehead and sides of head black, bordered with rufous; wings black, with bright shafts and white edges to the base of some of the inner primaries; central tail-feathers black, lateral white, with a more or less distinct subterminal blackish band, except on the outer pair: beneath white, crossed by two broad blackish bands on the breast; bill and feet black: whole length 70 inches, wing 50, tail 21.

_Female_ similar.