(SOLITARY PIGEON.)
+Peristera frontalis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 497 (Paraná,
Tucuman). +Leptoptila megalura+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 626
(Salta) (?). +Leptoptila chalcauchenia+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._
1869, p. 633; _iid. Nomencl._ p. 133; _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p.
363 (Salta); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 275 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above greyish brown; head and nape plumbeous; back
of neck with the feathers edged with iridescent bronzy green; tail
blackish, broadly tipped with white; central rectrices like the
back: beneath pale vinaceous; middle of throat, belly, and crissum
white; under surface of wings bright chestnut; bill black; feet
yellowish: whole length 10·0 inches, wing 5·7, tail 4·8. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ Argentine Republic.
This Dove, which is a southern form of a widely distributed group of
species of the genus _Engyptila_, formerly called _Leptoptila_, inhabits
the woods of the Plata district, and never, like other Pigeons, seeks
the open country to feed. It is solitary, although, where many birds
live in close proximity, three or four may be sometimes seen in company.
It spends a great deal of time on the ground, where it walks about
under the trees rather briskly, searching for seeds and berries. Their
song is a single uninflected and rather melodious note, which the bird
repeats at short intervals, especially in the evening during the warm
season. Where the birds are abundant the wood, just before sunset,
becomes vocal with their curious far-sounding notes; and as this evening
song is heard as long as the genial weather lasts, it is probably not
related to the sexual instinct. The nest is a simple platform; the eggs
are two and white, but more spherical in shape than those of most other
Pigeons.
Order XII. GALLINÆ.
Fam. XLII. CRACIDÆ, or CURASSOWS.
Of the great Order of Gallinaceous Birds, so useful to mankind,
two forms only are found in South America--the Toothed Partridges
(_Odontophorinæ_) and the Curassows (_Cracidæ_). No member of the former
group has as yet been ascertained to occur in Argentina; and of the
Curassow family (one of the most characteristic types of Neotropical
forest-life) only four species are with certainty known to be found
within our limits out of a total of some fifty known species. But the
Cracidæ are essentially tree-birds, and can only be looked for in
forest-countries.