(CRESTED SCREAMER.)
+Palamedea chavaria+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 506 (Paraná).
+Chauna chavaria+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 128; _iid. P. Z.
S._ 1868, p. 145 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 63
(Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 165 (Buenos Ayres);
_Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 272 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Slaty grey, blacker on the back; chin, neck, and
cheeks whitish; a naked ring round the neck; nape crested; belly
whitish; feet red: whole length 32·0 inches, wing 19·0, tail 8·0.
_Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Southern Brazil, Paraguay, and La Plata.
This majestic bird, called _Chajá_ in the vernacular, is common
throughout the Plata district, in marshes and on the open level country
abounding in water and succulent grasses, and ranges south to the
neighbourhood of Bahia Blanca. It is most abundant on the pampas south
of Buenos Ayres city, and on that vast expanse of perfectly level, green
country the bird is seen at its best; it is there an important feature
in the landscape; its vocal performances are doubly impressive on
account of the profound silence of nature, and its singularity--the
contrast between its aerial habit and ponderous structure--strikes one
more forcibly where the view is so unobstructed and the atmosphere so
pure.
The Crested Screamer, like most of the larger birds and mammals in every
part of the globe to which European emigration is attracted, is probably
doomed to rapid extermination. My observations of the bird, in that
portion of the pampas where it is most abundant, date back some years,
to a time when the inhabitants were few and mainly of Spanish race,
never the destroyers of bird-life. The conditions had become extremely
favourable to this species. It is partially aquatic in its habits; and
in desert places is usually found in marshes, wading in the shallow
water, and occasionally swimming to feed on the seeds and succulent
leaves of water-loving plants. After the old giant grasses of the
pampas had been eaten up by the cattle, and the sweet grasses of
Europe had taken their place, the Screamers took kindly to that new
food, preferring the clovers, and seemed as terrestrial in their
feeding-habits as Upland Geese. Their food was abundant, and they
were never persecuted by the natives. Their flesh is very dark, is
coarse-grained but good to eat, with a flavour resembling that of wild
duck, and there is a great deal of meat on a bird with a body larger
than that of a Swan. Yet no person ever thought of killing or eating the
Chajá; and the birds were permitted to increase to a marvellous extent.
It was a common thing a few years ago in the dry season to see them
congregated in thousands; and so little afraid of man were they that I
have often ridden through large scattered flocks without making the
birds take wing.
A curious thing about the Screamer is that it pairs for life, and yet is
one of the most social of birds. But if a large flock is closely looked
at, the birds are invariably seen methodically ranged in pairs. Another
curious thing is that, notwithstanding the formidable weapons they
possess (each wing being armed with two large spurs), they are extremely
pacific in temper. I have never been able to detect even the slightest
approach to a quarrel among them; yet it is hard to believe that they
do not fight sometimes, since weapons of offence are usually found
correlated with the disposition to use them. Captive birds, however, can
be made to fight; and I have known Gauchos take them for the pleasure of
witnessing their battles. They are very easily tamed, and in that state
seem to show greater docility and intelligence than any of our domestic
birds; and become so attached to their home that it is quite safe to
allow them to fly about at will. They associate, but do not quarrel,
with the poultry. They are quick to distinguish strangers from the
people of the house, showing considerable suspicion of them, and
sometimes raising a loud alarm at a stranger's approach. Towards dogs
and cats they are often unfriendly; and when breeding it is dangerous
for a strange person to approach the nest, as they will sometimes attack
him with the greatest fury.
The Screamer is a very heavy bird, and rises from the ground laboriously,
the wings, as in the case of the Swan, making a loud noise. Nevertheless,
it loves soaring, and will rise in an immense spiral until it wholly
disappears from sight in the zenith, even in the brightest weather;
and considering its great bulk and dark colour, the height it ultimately
attains must be very great. On sunny windless days, especially in winter
and spring, they often spend hours at a time in these sublime aerial
exercises, slowly floating round and round in vast circles, and singing
at intervals. How so heavy and comparatively short-winged a bird can
sustain itself for such long periods in the thin upper air to which it
rises has not yet been explained.
The voice is very powerful. When disturbed, or when the nest is
approached, both birds utter at intervals a loud alarm-cry, resembling
in sound the anger-cry of the Peacock, but twice as loud. At other times
its voice is exercised in a kind of singing performance, in which male
and female join, and which produces the effect of harmony. The male
begins, the female takes up her part, and then with marvellous
strength and spirit they pour forth a torrent of strangely-contrasted
sounds--some bassoon-like in their depth and volume, some like
drumbeats, and others, long, clear, and ringing. It is the loudest
animal-sound of the pampas, and its jubilant martial character strongly
affects the mind in that silent melancholy wilderness.
The Screamers sing all the year round, at all hours, both on the ground
and when soaring; when in pairs the two birds invariably sing together,
and when in flocks they sing in concert. At night they are heard about
nine o'clock in the evening, and again just before dawn. It is not
unusual, however, to hear them singing at other hours.
The nest is a large fabric placed among the low rushes and water-lilies,
and is sometimes seen floating on the water, away from its moorings. The
eggs are five, pointed at one end, pure white, and in size like the
eggs of the domestic goose. The young are clothed in yellow down like
goslings, and follow the parents about from the date of hatching.
Fam. XL. ANATIDÆ, or DUCKS.
The Anatidæ or Waterfowl are a well-known family of universal
distribution over the earth's surface. As shown in an article published
in the Zoological Society's 'Proceedings' for 1876[8], upwards of 60
species of this group of birds are found in the Neotropical Region, and
of these about 22 occur in the Argentine Republic. Amongst the Argentine
species are some of the finest and most ornamental of the whole family,
such as the Black-necked Swan, the Ashy-headed Goose, and the Chiloe
Wigeon--all well known from their introduction and acclimatization in
Europe.
[8] "A Revision of the Neotropical Anatidæ," by P. L. Sclater and O.
Salvin, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 358.
It may be remarked that nearly all the Argentine members of this family
belong to Antarctic forms, and are specifically different from those met
with in North America.