[398.] RHYNCHÆA SEMICOLLARIS (Vieill.).
(PAINTED SNIPE.)
Rhynchæa hilarii, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 504 (Rio Paraná). Rhynchæa semicollaris, Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 144 (Buenos Ayres); iid. Nomencl. p. 145; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 199 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 403 (Chupat); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 314 (Entrerios); Seebohm, Plovers, p. 459, pl. xix.; Withington, Ibis, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas de Zamora).
Description.—Above dark brown; head black, with a central and two lateral longitudinal bands of buffy white; wings ashy blackish, spotted with buffy white and barred with black; coverts with large oval spots of clear white: beneath, throat and breast dark brownish, with a conspicuous white neck-collar on each side; belly white, flanks tinged with buffy; bill greenish, reddish at tip; feet flesh-colour: whole length 8·0 inches, wing 4·1, tail 2·0. Female similar, but slightly larger and more brightly coloured.
Hab. Southern parts of South America, from Peru to Patagonia.
In the Argentine provinces this bird is called Dormilon (Sleepy-head), in allusion to its dull habits, which are like those of a nocturnal species. It passes the daylight hours concealed in dense reed-beds, rising only when almost trodden on; the flight is feeble and erratic, the rapid wing-flutterings alternating with intervals of gliding, and after going a short distance the bird drops again like a Rail into the rushes. From its behaviour on the ground, also in flying, when it appears dazed with the light, I have no doubt that it is altogether nocturnal or crepuscular in its habits. It is solitary and resident, and may be met with in small numbers in every marsh or stream in the Plata district, where its favourite reed-beds afford it cover. It appears to have no cry or note of any kind, for even when frightened from its nest and when the eggs are on the point of hatching it utters no sound. The eggs never exceed two in number and are placed on the wet ground, often without any lining, among the close grass and herbage near the water. They are oblong and bluntly pointed at the smaller end, and have a white ground-colour, but so densely marked and blotched with black that in some cases they appear to be almost wholly of that colour, or like black eggs flecked with white.
[399.] TRINGA MACULATA, Vieill.
(PECTORAL SANDPIPER.)
Tringa maculata, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 145; iid. P. Z. S. 1873, p. 455; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 43 (Chupat), et 1878, p. 68 (Buenos Ayres); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 314 (Entrerios); Saunders, Yarrell’s Birds, iii. p. 368. Actodromas maculata, Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 232. Tringa acuminata pectoralis, Seebohm, Plovers, p. 443.
Description.—Above brown, varied with black; superciliaries whitish; rump and middle upper tail-coverts blackish, lateral upper tail-coverts white: beneath white; neck and breast pale greyish streaked with blackish: whole length 8·5 inches, wing 5·1, tail 2·4, bill 1·1. Female similar.