The Zoology of the Voyage of H.m.s. Beagle [vol. 3 of 5]

PART III.. Birds,

BIRDS,

BY JOHN GOULD, ESQ. F.L.S.

LONDON: PUBLISHED BY SMITH, ELDER AND CO. 65, CORNHILL. MDCCCXLI.

LONDON: PRINTED BY STEWART AND MURRAY OLD BAILEY.

BIRDS,

=Described by=

JOHN GOULD, ESQ. F.L.S.

WITH

A NOTICE OF THEIR HABITS AND RANGES,

BY CHARLES DARWIN, ESQ. M.A. F.R.S. SEC. GEOLOG. SOC.

AND WITH AN ANATOMICAL APPENDIX,

BY T. C. EYTON, ESQ, F.L.S.

ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS COLOURED ENGRAVINGS.

CORRIGENDA.

I am indebted to Mr. G. R. Gray for the following remarks and corrections:—

Page 13, to Milvago ocrocephalus, Spix. add

Polyborus ocrocephalus, Jard. & Selby’s III. t. 5.

Alter 7, 8, 9, & 10, to 5, 6, 7, & 8.

Page 15, Milvago leucurus, add

Falco Australis, Jard. & Selby’s III. Orn. n. s. pl. 24.

Page 49, Serpophaga, Gould, is probably synonymous with Euscarthmus, Pr. Max.

Page 56, Agriornis, Gould, is synonymous with Dasycephala of Swainson, and Tamnolanius, of Lesson; the species therefore should be

sp. 1. D. lividus, G. R. Gray.

Thamnophilus lividus, Kittl. Voy. de Chili, pl. 1.

Tyrannus gutturalis, Eyd. & Gerv. &c.

sp. 2. D. striata, G. R. Gray.

Agr. striatus, Gould.

Agr. micropterus, juv. Gould, sp. 3.

Page 57, sp. 4. D. maritima, G. R. Gray.

Agr. maritimus, G. R. Gray, &c.

Page 66, The generic appellation of Opetiorhynchus, was adopted after the subjection of Mr. Gould; since its publication, however, I have considered that it might cause confusion with Furnarius, of Vieillot, as it is Temminck’s name for the identical same division, therefore only a synonym, and am on that ground induced to change and propose the name of Cinclodes, which has been adopted by a Continental writer. The species should be altered thus:—

Page 66, Sp. 1. Cinclodes vulgaris, G. R. Gray.

Page 67, sp. 2. C. Patagonicus, G. R. Gray, List of the Genera of Birds.

sp. 3. C. antarcticus, G. R. Gray.

Cinclodes fuliginosus, Less.

Page 68, sp. 4. C. nigrofumosus, G. R. Gray.

Page 69, Eremobius, being previously employed, it is changed to Enicornis, G. R. Gray. The species to

En. phœnicurus, G. R. Gray, List of the Genera of Birds.

Page 70, Rhinomya, being also previously employed; it is therefore changed to Rhinocrypta, G. R. Gray. The species to

R. lanceolata, G. R. Gray.

Page 76, for Synallaxis major, Gould, read Anumbius acuticaudatus, G. R. Gray.

Furnarius annumbi, Vieill.

L’Anumbi, Azara, No. 222.

Anthus acuticaudatus, Less.

Anumbius anthoides, D’Orb. & Lafr.

Page 94, Fringilla fruticeti, Kittl. gives place to

Fringilla erythrorhyncha, Less. Voy. Thetis, ii. p. 324.

LIST OF PLATES.

Plate I. Milvago albogularis.

II. Craxirex Galapagoensis.

III. Otus Galapagoensis.

IV. Strix punctatissima.

V. Progne modestus.

VI. Pyrocephalus parvirostris.

VII. —— nanus.

VIII. Tyrannula magnirostris.

IX. Lichenops erythropterus.

X. Fluvicola Azaræ.

XI. { Xolmis variegata, in place of { Tænioptera variegata.

XII. Agriornis micropterus.

XIII. —— leucurus.

XIV. Pachyramphus albescens.

XV. —— minimus.

XVI. Mimus trifasciatus.

XVII. —— melanotis.

XVIII. —— parvulus.

XIX. { Uppucerthia dumetoria, in place of { Upercerthia dumetaria.

XX. { Opetiorhynchus nigrofumosus, in place of { Opetiorhynchus lanceolatus.

XXI. Eremobius phœnicurus.

XXII. { Anumbius acuticaudatus, in place of { Synallaxis major.

XXIII. Synallaxis rufogularis.

XXIV. —— flavogularis.

XXV. Limnornis curvirostris.

XXVI. —— rectirostris.

XXVII. Dendrodamus leucosternus.

XXVIII. Sylvicola aureola.

XXIX. Ammodramus longicaudatus.

XXX. { Ammodramus Manimbè, in place of { Ammodramus xanthornus.

XXXI. Passer Jagoensis.

XXXII. Chlorospiza melanodera.

XXXIII. —— xanthogramma.

XXXIV. { Aglaia striata, in place of { Tanagra Darwinii.

XXXV. Pipilo personata.

XXXVI. Geospiza magnirostris.

XXXVII. —— strenua.

XXXVIII. —— fortis.

XXXIX. —— parvula.

XL. Camarhynchus psittaculus.

XLI. —— crassirostris.

XLII. Cactornis scandens.

XLIII. —— assimilis.

XLIV. Certhidea olivacea.

XLV. Xanthornus flaviceps.

XLVI. Zenaida Galapagoensis.

XLVII. Rhea Darwinii.

XLVIII. Zapornia notata.

XLIX. —— spilonota.

L. Anser melanopterus.

ADVERTISEMENT.

When I presented my collection of Birds to the Zoological Society, Mr. Gould kindly undertook to furnish me with descriptions of the new species and names of those already known. This he has performed, but owing to the hurry, consequent on his departure for Australia,—an expedition from which the science of Ornithology will derive such great advantages,—he was compelled to leave some part of his manuscript so far incomplete, that without the possibility of personal communication with him, I was left in doubt on some essential points. Mr. George Robert Gray, the ornithological assistant in the Zoological department of the British Museum, has in the most obliging manner undertaken to obviate this difficulty, by furnishing me with information with respect to some parts of the general arrangement, and likewise on that most intricate subject,—the knowledge of what species have already been described, and the use of proper generic terms. I shall endeavour in every part of the text to refer to Mr. G. R. Gray’s assistance, where I have used it. As some of Mr. Gould’s descriptions appeared to me brief, I have enlarged them, but have always endeavoured to retain his specific character; so that, by this means, I trust I shall not throw any obscurity on what he considers the essential character in each case; but at the same time, I hope, that these additional remarks may render the work more complete.

The accompanying illustrations, which are fifty in number, were taken from sketches made by Mr. Gould himself, and executed on stone by Mrs. Gould, with that admirable success, which has attended all her works. They are all of the natural size with the exception of four raptorial birds, a goose and a species of Rhea. As the dimensions of these latter birds are given, their proportional reduction will readily be seen. I had originally intended to have added the initial letter of my name to the account of the habits and ranges, and that of Mr. Gould’s to the description of the genera and species; but as it may be known that he is responsible for the latter, and myself for the former, this appeared to me useless; and I have, therefore, thought it better to incorporate all general remarks in my own name, stating on every occasion my authority, so that wherever the personal pronoun is used it refers to myself. Finally, I must remark, that after the excellent dissertation, now in the course of publication, on the habits and distribution of the birds of South America by M. Alcide D’Orbigny, in which he has combined his own extended observations with those of Azara, my endeavour to add anything to our information on this subject, may at first be thought superfluous. But as during the Beagle’s voyage, I visited some portions of America south of the range of M. D’Orbigny’s travels, I shall relate in order the few facts, which I have been enabled to collect together; and these, if not new, may at least tend to confirm former accounts. I have, however, thought myself obliged to omit some parts, which otherwise I should have given; and, after having read the published portion of M. D’Orbigny’s great work, I have corrected some errors, into which I had fallen. I have not, however, altered any thing simply because it differs from what that gentleman may have written; but only where I have been convinced that my means of observation were inferior to his.

BIRDS.

FAMILY—VULTURIDÆ.

SARCORAMPHUS GRYPHUS. Bonap.

Vultur gryphus, Linn. —— ——, Humb. Zoolog. p. 31. Sarcoramphus Condor, D’Orbigny. Voy. Ois. Condor of the inhabitants of South America.

The Condor is known to have a wide range, being found on the west coast of South America, from the Strait of Magellan, throughout the range of the Cordillera, as far, according to M. D’Orbigny, as 8° north latitude. On the Patagonian shore, the steep cliff near the mouth of the Rio Negro, in latitude 41°, was the most northern point where I ever saw these birds, or heard of their existence; and they have there wandered about four hundred miles from the great central line of their habitation in the Andes. Further south, among the bold precipices which form the head of Port Desire, they are not uncommon; yet only a few stragglers occasionally visit the sea-coast. A line of cliff near the mouth of the Santa Cruz is frequented by these birds, and about eighty miles up the river, where the sides of the valley were formed by steep basaltic precipices, the Condor again appeared, although in the intermediate space not one had been seen. From these and similar facts, I believe that the presence of this bird is chiefly determined by the occurrence of perpendicular cliffs. In Patagonia the Condors, either by pairs or many together, both sleep and breed on the same overhanging ledges. In Chile, however, during the greater part of the year, they haunt the lower country, near the shores of the Pacific, and at night several roost in one tree; but in the early part of summer they retire to the most inaccessible parts of the inner Cordillera, there to breed in peace.

With respect to their propagation, I was told by the country people in Chile, that the Condor makes no sort of nest, but in the months of November and December, lays two large white eggs on a shelf of bare rock. Certainly, on the Patagonian coast, I could not see any sort of nest among the cliffs, where the young ones were standing. I was told that the young Condors could not fly for a whole year, but this probably was a mistake, since M. D’Orbigny says they take to the wing in about a month and a half after being hatched. On the fifth of March (corresponding to our September), I saw a young bird at Concepcion, which, though in size only little inferior to a full-grown one, was completely covered by down, like that of a gosling, but of a blackish colour. I can, however, scarcely believe that this bird could have used, for some months subsequently, its wings for flight. After the period when the young Condor can fly, apparently as well as the old birds, they yet remain (as I observed in Patagonia) both roosting at night on the same ledge, and hunting by day with their parents: but before the young bird has the ruff round its neck white, it may often be seen hunting by itself. At the mouth of the Santa Cruz, during part of April and May, a pair of old birds might be seen every day, either perched on a certain ledge, or sailing about in company with a single young one, which latter, though full fledged, had not its ruff white.

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