Argentine Ornithology: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Birds of the Argentine Republic, Volume 1 |
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Argentine Ornithology: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Birds of the Argentine ... Philip Lutley Sclater No preview available - 1999 |
Common terms and phrases
Argentine Republic Azara badius Barrows Bay-wings beak belly beneath bill and feet bill black bird Bolivia bonariensis Brazil breast breeding bright brown Buenos Ayres Bull Burm bush Catamarca chestnut cinereous colour Concepcion Cordova Cow-bird crissum d'Orb dark Description.-Above Döring Durnford edged Entrerios et Salv feathers feet black Female similar FINCH flanks flight flocks frequently fulvous grass grey ground habits horn-colour Ibis inner webs insects instinct La-Plata Reise Lafr length 5.0 inches male Mendoza Misiones Molothrus Neotropical nest Nomencl Northern Argentina notes Nutt olive-green outer pale paler pampas Paraguay Paraná parasitical Patagonia perch Plata plumage rectrices remiges Rio Negro rufoaxillaris rufous rump Salta Salv singing song South species spots stripe superciliaries Synallaxis tail black tail blackish tail-coverts tail-feathers throat tinged total length tree Tucuman TYRANT upper Uruguay uttered Vieill viii whitish whole length wing-coverts wing-feathers wings and tail wings blackish yellow yellowish young Zool
Popular passages
Page 161 - They are not gregarious, but once every day, just before the sun sets, all the birds living near together rise to the tops of the trees, calling to one another with loud, excited chirps, and then mount upwards like rockets to a great height in the air ; then, after whirling about for a few moments, they precipitate themselves downwards with the greatest violence, opening and shutting their tails during their wild zig-zag flight, and uttering a succession of sharp, grinding notes. After this curious...
Page 151 - It is seen about the houses in pairs, but no more than one pair at a time at one dwelling, perched upon some projection, whence it darts off into the air at passing insects. The snap of its beak, as it dashes at the flies, can be heard a long way off. Its cry is peculiar and piteous. There is no perceptible difference in plumage between the male and female.
Page 84 - ... already mentioned, must have been acquired little by little through the slowly accumulating process of -natural selection, but subsequently to the formation of the original parasitical inclination and habit. I am inclined to believe that M. bonariensis lost the nest-making instinct by acquiring that semiparasitical habit, common to so many South- American birds, of breeding in the large covered nests of the Dendrocolaptidas.
Page 80 - Molothrus differs from the true offspring of its foster parents in its habit of quitting the nest as soon as it is able, trying to follow the old bird, and placing itself in the most conspicuous place it can find, such as the summit of a stalk or weed, and there demanding food with frequent and importunate cries. Thus the little Flycatcher had acquired the habit of perching on the back of its charge to H.
Page 76 - ... the best chance of being preserved; for though the Cowbird never distinguishes its own eggs, of which indeed it destroys a great many, a larger proportion escape in a nest where many eggs are indiscriminately broken. 2. The vitality or tenacity of life appears greater in the embryo Cowbird than in other species; this circumstance also, in relation to the egg-breaking habit and to the habit of laying many eggs in a nest, gives it a further advantage. I have examined nests of the Scissortail, containing...
Page 89 - Cowbirds constantly visited the nest; but 1 was particularly interested in a pair of Screaming Cowbirds that had also begun to grow fond of it, and I resolved to watch them closely. As they spent so much of their time near the nest, showing great solicitude when I approached it, I strongly hoped to see them breed in it, if the Bay-wings could only be got rid of. The Screaming...
Page 169 - ... the road ; the reason for this being, no doubt, that the bird keeps a cautious eye on the movements of people near it while building, and so leaves the nest opened and unfinished on that side until the last, and there the entrance is necessarily formed. When the structure has assumed the globular form with only a narrow opening, the wall on one side is curved inwards, reaching from the floor to the dome, and at the inner extremity an aperture is left to admit the bird to the interior or second...
Page 79 - It is not, then, to be wondered at that the foster-parents of the young Molothrus so readily respond to its cries, understanding the various expressions denoting hunger, fear, pain, as well as when uttered by their own offspring. But the young Molothrus never understands the language of its foster-parents as other young birds understand the language of their real parents, rising to receive food when summoned, and concealing themselves or trying to escape when the warning note is given.
Page 83 - ... scared at the obscurity within. But after retiring a little space she will return again and again, as if fascinated with the comfort and security of such an abode. It is amusing to see how pertinaciously they hang about the ovens of the Oven-birds, apparently determined to take possession of them, flying back after a hundred repulses, and yet not entering them even when they have the opportunity. Sometimes one is seen following a Wren or a Swallow to its nest beneath the eaves, and then clinging...
Page 94 - ... combatants has made his adversary turn his weapons against himself, and so seems to have an infinite advantage. It is impossible for him to suffer defeat; and yet, to follow out the metaphor, he has so wormed about and interlaced himself with his opponent that as soon as he succeeds in overcoming him lie also must inevitably perish.