Peristera frontalis, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 497 (Paraná, Tucuman). Leptoptila megalura, White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 626 (Salta) (?). Leptoptila chalcauchenia, Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S. 1869, p. 633; iid. Nomencl. p. 133; Salvin, Ibis, 1880, p. 363 (Salta); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 275 (Entrerios).
Description.—Above greyish brown; head and nape plumbeous; back of neck with the feathers edged with iridescent bronzy green; tail blackish, broadly tipped with white; central rectrices like the back: beneath pale vinaceous; middle of throat, belly, and crissum white; under surface of wings bright chestnut; bill black; feet yellowish: whole length 10·0 inches, wing 5·7, tail 4·8. Female similar.
Hab. Argentine Republic.
This Dove, which is a southern form of a widely distributed group of species of the genus Engyptila, formerly called Leptoptila, inhabits the woods of the Plata district, and never, like other Pigeons, seeks the open country to feed. It is solitary, although, where many birds live in close proximity, three or four may be sometimes seen in company. It spends a great deal of time on the ground, where it walks about under the trees rather briskly, searching for seeds and berries. Their song is a single uninflected and rather melodious note, which the bird repeats at short intervals, especially in the evening during the warm season. Where the birds are abundant the wood, just before sunset, becomes vocal with their curious far-sounding notes; and as this evening song is heard as long as the genial weather lasts, it is probably not related to the sexual instinct. The nest is a simple platform; the eggs are two and white, but more spherical in shape than those of most other Pigeons.
[Order XII. GALLINÆ.]
[ Fam. XLII. CRACIDÆ, or CURASSOWS.]
Of the great Order of Gallinaceous Birds, so useful to mankind, two forms only are found in South America—the Toothed Partridges (Odontophorinæ) and the Curassows (Cracidæ). No member of the former group has as yet been ascertained to occur in Argentina; and of the Curassow family (one of the most characteristic types of Neotropical forest-life) only four species are with certainty known to be found within our limits out of a total of some fifty known species. But the Cracidæ are essentially tree-birds, and can only be looked for in forest-countries.
[365.] CRAX SCLATERI, G. R. Gray.
(SCLATER’S CURASSOW.)
Crax alector, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 500. Crax sclateri, Gray, List of Gallinæ, p. 14 (1867); Scl. Trans. Zool. Soc. ix. p. 28, pls. xliv. & xlv.; Burm. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 702.