(GUIRA CUCKOO.)
+Guira piririgua+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 107; _Durnford, Ibis_,
1877, p. 185 (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 8 (Buenos
Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 619 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows,
Auk_, 1884, p. 26 (Entrerios); _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 468
(Lomas de Zamora). +Ptiloleptis guira+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_,
ii. p. 443.
_Description._--Above dark brown, with white shaft-stripes; head
brown; wings reddish brown, passing into blackish brown on the outer
secondaries; rump white; tail white, at the base ochraceous, crossed
by a very broad black band, except the two central feathers, which
are uniform brown: beneath sordid white, throat and upper breast
with long linear black shaft-stripes; bill and feet yellow: whole
length 15·0 inches, wing 7·0, tail 8·0. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.
"_Piririgua_," the specific term adopted by naturalists for this bird,
is, according to Azara, the vernacular name of the species in Paraguay.
He says that in that country it is abundant, but scarce in the Plata
district. No doubt it has greatly increased and extended its range
southwards during the hundred years which have elapsed since his time,
as it is now very common in Buenos Ayres, where its vernacular name
is _Urraca_ (Magpie). In the last-named country it is not yet quite
in harmony with its environment. Everywhere its habit is to feed
exclusively on the ground, in spite of possessing feet formed for
climbing; but its very scanty plumage, slow laborious flight, and long
square tail, so unsuitable in cold boisterous weather, show that the
species is a still unmodified intruder from the region of perpetual
summer many degrees nearer to the equator.
The Guira Cuckoo is about sixteen inches long, has red eyes and blue
feet, and an orange-red beak. The crown of the head is deep rufous, and
the loose hair-like feathers are lengthened into a pointed crest. The
back and rump are white, the wings and other upper parts very dark
fuscous, marked with white and pale brown. Under surface dull white,
with hair-like black marks on the throat and breast. The tail is square,
9 to 10 inches long; the two middle feathers dark brown, the others
three-coloured--yellow at the base, the middle portion dark glossy
green, the ends white; and when the bird is flying the tail, spread out
like a fan, forms a conspicuous and beautiful object.
During the inclement winter of Buenos Ayres the Guira Cuckoo is a
miserable bird, and appears to suffer more than any other creature from
cold. In the evening the flock, usually composed of from a dozen to
twenty individuals, gathers on the thick horizontal branch of a tree
sheltered from the wind, the birds crowding close together for warmth,
and some of them roosting perched on the backs of their fellows. I have
frequently seen them roosting three deep, one or two birds at the top to
crown the pyramid; but with all their huddling together a severe frost
is sure to prove fatal to one or more birds in the flock; and sometimes
several birds that have dropped from the branch stiff with cold are
found under the trees in the morning. If the morning is fair the flock
betakes itself to some large tree, on which the sun shines, to settle
on the outermost twigs on the northern side, each bird with its wings
drooping, and its back turned towards the sun. In this spiritless
attitude they spend an hour or two warming their blood and drying the
dew from their scanty dress. During the day they bask much in the sun,
and towards evening may be again seen on the sunny side of a hedge or
tree warming their backs in the last rays. It is owing, no doubt, to
fecundity, and to an abundance of food that the Guira Cuckoo is able to
maintain its existence so far south in spite of its terrible enemy the
cold.
With the return of warm weather this species becomes active, noisy, and
the gayest of birds; the flock constantly wanders about from place to
place, the birds flying in a scattered desultory manner one behind the
other, and incessantly uttering while on the wing a long complaining
cry. At intervals during the day they also utter a kind of song,
composed of a series of long modulated whistling notes, two-syllabled,
the first powerful and vehement, and becoming at each repetition lower
and shorter, then ending in a succession of hoarse internal sounds like
the stertorous breathing of a sleeping man. When approached all the
birds break out into a chorus of alarm, with notes so annoyingly loud
and sustained, that the intruder, be it man or beast, is generally glad
to hurry out of ear-shot. As the breeding-season approaches they are
heard, probably the males, to utter a variety of soft low chattering
notes, sounding sometimes like a person laughing and crying together:
the flock then breaks up into pairs, the birds becoming silent and
very circumspect in their movements. The nest is usually built in a
thorn-tree, of rather large sticks, a rough large structure, the inside
often lined with green leaves plucked from the trees. The eggs are large
for the bird, and usually six or seven in number; but the number varies
greatly, and I have known one bird lay as many as fourteen. They
are elliptical in form and beautiful beyond comparison, being of an
exquisite turquoise-blue, the whole shell roughly spattered with white.
The white spots are composed of a soft calcareous substance, apparently
deposited on the surface of the shell after its complete formation: they
are raised, and look like snow-flakes, and when the egg is fresh laid
may be easily washed off with cold water, and are so extremely delicate
that their purity is lost on the egg being taken into the hand. The
young birds hatched from these lovely eggs are proverbial for their
ugliness, _Pichon de Urraca_ being a term of contempt commonly applied
to a person remarkable for want of comeliness. They are as unclean as
they are ugly, so that the nest, usually containing six or seven young,
is pleasant neither to sight nor smell. There is something ludicrous
in the notes of these young birds, resembling, as they do, the shrill
half-hysterical laughter of a female exhausted by over-indulgence in
mirth. One summer there was a large brood in a tree close to my home,
and every time we heard the parent bird hastening to her nest with food
in her beak, and uttering her plaintive cries, we used to run to the
door to hear them. As soon as the old bird reached the nest they would
burst forth into such wild extravagant peals and continue them so long,
that we could not but think it a rare amusement to listen to them.
According to Azara the Guira Cuckoo in Paraguay has very friendly
relations with the Ani (_Crotophaga ani_), the birds consorting together
in one flock, and even laying their eggs in one nest; and he affirms
that he has seen nests containing eggs of both species. These nests were
probably brought to him by his Indian collectors, who were in the habit
of deceiving him, and it is more than probable that in this matter they
were practising on his credulity; though it is certain that birds of
different species do sometimes lay in one nest, as I have found--the
Common Teal and the Tinamou for instance. I also doubt very much that
the bird is ever polygamous, as Azara suspected; but it frequently
wastes eggs, and its procreant habits are sometimes very irregular and
confusing, as the following case will show:--
A flock numbering about sixteen individuals passed the winter in the
trees about my home, and in spring scattered about the plantation,
screaming and chattering in their usual manner when about to breed. I
watched them, and found that after a time the flock broke up into small
parties of three or four, and not into couples, and I could not detect
them building. At length I discovered three broken eggs on the ground,
and on examining the tree overhead found an incipient nest composed of
about a dozen sticks laid crossways and out of which the eggs had been
dropped. This was in October, and for a long time no other attempt at a
nest was made; but wasted eggs were dropped in abundance on the ground,
and I continued finding them for about four months. Early in January
another incipient nest was found, and on the ground beneath it six
broken eggs. At the end of that month two large nests were made, each
nest by one pair of birds, and in the two fourteen or fifteen young
birds were reared.
When taken young the Guira Cuckoos become very tame, and make bold,
noisy, mischievous pets, fond of climbing over and tugging at the
clothes, buttons, and hair of their master or mistress. They appear to
be more intelligent than most birds, and in a domestic state resemble
the Magpie. I knew one tame that would carry off and jealously conceal
bits of bright-coloured ribbon, thread, or cloth. In a wild state their
food consists largely of insects, which they sometimes pursue running
and flying along the ground. They also prey on mice and small reptiles,
and carry off the fledglings from the nests of Sparrows and other small
birds, and in spring they are frequently seen following the plough to
pick up worms.