(BURMEISTER'S CARIAMA.)
+Dicholophus burmeisteri+, _Hartl. P. Z. S._ 1860, p. 335; _Burm.
La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 506 (Rioja, Catamarca, Tucuman). +Chunga
burmeisteri+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 666, pl. xxxvi.; _Scl. et
Salv. Nomencl._ p. 141. +Cariama burmeisteri+, _Salvin, Ibis_,
1880, p. 364 (Tucuman).
_Description._--A very slight frontal crest; plumage cinereous, the
feathers crossed by very narrow bands of whitish and black; lores
and long superciliary stripe white: beneath paler on the chest;
lower belly and crissum fulvous white; wings brownish black, beneath
with broad blackish bars; tail like the back, but with two broad
black subterminal cross bands, except on the two middle rectrices;
bill and feet black: whole length 28·0 inches, wing 12·0, tail 14·0.
_Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Northern Argentina.
This Cariama, which much resembles the Crested Cariama in general
appearance though smaller in size, and distinguished by several
structural characters, is one of the many discoveries of the
distinguished naturalist whose name it appropriately bears. Dr.
Burmeister first met with the "Chuñia," as this bird is called by the
natives, in the province of Tucuman during his travels in the northern
parts of the Argentine Republic in 1859.
The Chuñia, he tells us, is naturally friendly to mankind, and is often
kept tame in the courtyards of houses along with the domestic fowls,
amongst which it stalks about, eating remnants of flesh and large
insects, especially grasshoppers. At night it roosts upon the roofs of
the corridors.
In a free state the Chuñia lives in the forests, running about in the
bush in the daytime, and roosting in the summit of the large trees. The
nest is placed in bushes, not very high, and the young birds are often
taken when half-fledged and become quickly accustomed to captivity.
Dr. Burmeister first met with this bird at La Invernada between Tucuman
and Catamarca[10], but tells us that it inhabits besides these two
provinces the adjoining districts of La Rioja and Santiago del Estero.
It is always easier to hear it than to see it, for its loud screaming
voice may be recognized at a distance, but when approached in the bush
it keeps a discreet silence.
[10] See Burmeister, 'Reise durch die La Plata-Staaten,' ii. p. 195.
Several examples of Burmeister's Cariama have been received alive in
the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London, from one of which an
excellent figure has been taken by Mr. Smit (see P. Z. S. 1870, plate
xxxvi.). The frontispiece of the present volume is a reduction of that
figure by the same artist.
Order XV. LIMICOLÆ.
Fam. XLVI. PARRIDÆ, or JACANAS.
The Jacanas are a tropical group of birds with a somewhat general
resemblance to the Rails, but with their toes enormously elongated, so
as to enable them to move with facility over water-plants on the surface
of lakes and ponds. In essential structure, however, they are now
ascertained to be most nearly allied to the Plovers.
One genus of Jacanas (_Parra_) is peculiar to America, and a single
species of this genus occurs in the Argentine Republic.