Totanus bartramia, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 503 (Mendoza). Actiturus bartramius, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 146; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 199 (Buenos Ayres); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 315 (Entrerios); Withington, Ibis, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas de Zamora). Bartramia longicauda, Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 296. Totanus bartrami, Seebohm, Plovers, p. 376.
Description.—Above blackish, feathers edged with yellowish brown; rump black; wing-coverts yellowish brown, barred with black; primaries blackish: beneath white; breast and flanks ochraceous, spotted and barred with black; under surface of wings barred with white and black; bill yellowish, tip black; feet yellow: whole length 10·0 inches, wing 6·3, tail 3·1. Female similar.
Hab. North America, migrating south to Buenos Ayres.
Bartram’s Sandpiper is another of those species which breed in North America, and extend their winter-migrations far into the Southern Hemisphere. It differs, however, from its fellow-migrants, which visit the Argentine country, in its wide and even distribution over all that portion of the pampas where the native coarse grasses which once covered the country have disappeared, an area comprising not less than 50,000 square miles. It begins to arrive as early as September, coming singly or in small parties of three or four; and, extraordinary as the fact may seem when we consider the long distance the bird travels, and the monotonous nature of the level country it uses as a “feeding area,” it is probable that every bird returns to the same spot year after year; for in no other way could such a distribution be maintained, and the birds appear every summer evenly sprinkled over so immense a surface.
On the pampas the bird is called Chorlo solo, on account of its solitary habit, but more commonly “Batitú,” an abbreviation of the Indian name Mbatuitui. In disposition it is shy, and prefers concealment to flight when approached, running rapidly away through the long grass or thistles, or concealing itself behind a tussock until the danger is past, or often, where the herbage is short, crouching on the ground like a Snipe. It runs swiftly and pauses frequently; and while standing still with head raised it jerks its long tail up and down in a slow measured manner. When driven up it springs aloft with a sudden wild flight, uttering its loud mellow-toned cry, composed of three notes, strongly accented on the first and last; and sometimes, when the bird is much alarmed, the first note is rapidly repeated several times like a trill. After flying a very short distance it drops to the ground again, agitating its wings in a tremulous manner as it comes down. In this motion of the wings, also in many of its gestures, on the ground, its skulking habits, and reluctance to fly it is more like a Rail than a Snipe. It also, Rail-like, frequently alights on trees and fences, a habit I have not remarked in any other Limicoline species.
It inhabits the pampas from September until March; but early in February the great return-migration begins, and then for two months the mellow cry of the Batitú is heard far up in the sky, at all hours, day and night, as the birds wing their way north. In some seasons stragglers are found throughout the month of April, but before the winter arrives not one is left.
[407.] TRYNGITES RUFESCENS (Vieill.).
(BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER.)
Tryngites rufescens, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 146; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 200 (Buenos Ayres); Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 305; Saunders, Yarrell’s Birds, iii. p. 435. Tringa rufescens, Seebohm, Plovers, p. 446.
Description.—Above dark brownish black, each feather widely edged with buff; wings blackish, narrowly tipped with white, the inner half of the inner web whitish reticulated with black; tail blackish, the outer rectrices lighter, each with subterminal black crescent and white terminal edge: beneath buff, darker on the throat and breast, and edged with whitish, lighter on flanks and belly; under primary-coverts barred and reticulated with black, like the inner web of the primaries, and forming a marked contrast with the rest of the under surface of the wing, which is pure white: whole length 7·7 inches, wing 5·3, tail 2·5. Female similar.