Dicholophus burmeisteri, Hartl. P. Z. S. 1860, p. 335; Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 506 (Rioja, Catamarca, Tucuman). Chunga burmeisteri, Scl. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 666, pl. xxxvi.; Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 141. Cariama burmeisteri, Salvin, Ibis, 1880, p. 364 (Tucuman).
Description.—A very slight frontal crest; plumage cinereous, the feathers crossed by very narrow bands of whitish and black; lores and long superciliary stripe white: beneath paler on the chest; lower belly and crissum fulvous white; wings brownish black, beneath with broad blackish bars; tail like the back, but with two broad black subterminal cross bands, except on the two middle rectrices; bill and feet black: whole length 28·0 inches, wing 12·0, tail 14·0. Female similar.
Hab. Northern Argentina.
This Cariama, which much resembles the Crested Cariama in general appearance though smaller in size, and distinguished by several structural characters, is one of the many discoveries of the distinguished naturalist whose name it appropriately bears. Dr. Burmeister first met with the “Chuñia,” as this bird is called by the natives, in the province of Tucuman during his travels in the northern parts of the Argentine Republic in 1859.
The Chuñia, he tells us, is naturally friendly to mankind, and is often kept tame in the courtyards of houses along with the domestic fowls, amongst which it stalks about, eating remnants of flesh and large insects, especially grasshoppers. At night it roosts upon the roofs of the corridors.
In a free state the Chuñia lives in the forests, running about in the bush in the daytime, and roosting in the summit of the large trees. The nest is placed in bushes, not very high, and the young birds are often taken when half-fledged and become quickly accustomed to captivity.
Dr. Burmeister first met with this bird at La Invernada between Tucuman and Catamarca[10], but tells us that it inhabits besides these two provinces the adjoining districts of La Rioja and Santiago del Estero. It is always easier to hear it than to see it, for its loud screaming voice may be recognized at a distance, but when approached in the bush it keeps a discreet silence.
Several examples of Burmeister’s Cariama have been received alive in the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London, from one of which an excellent figure has been taken by Mr. Smit (see P. Z. S. 1870, plate xxxvi.). The frontispiece of the present volume is a reduction of that figure by the same artist.
[10] See Burmeister, ‘Reise [durch] die La Plata-Staaten,’ ii. p. 195.