(CACHILA PIPIT.)
+Anthus correndera+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 8; _Hudson, P. Z.
S._ 1873, p. 771 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 32
(Chupat), p. 168 (Buenos Ayres), 1878, p. 392 (Central
Patagonia); _Sclater, Ibis_, 1878, p. 362; _White, P. Z. S._
1882, p. 594 (Buenos Ayres); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._
p. 37 (Azul); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 87
(Concepcion, Entrerios); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 610. +Anthus
rufus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 474 (Mendoza, Paraná);
_Durnford, Ibis_, 1876, p. 158.
_Description._--Above pale sandy buff, mottled with black centres
to the feathers; wing- and tail-feathers dark brown, edged with
buff, the penultimate tail-feather with a white tip, the outer
tail-feather almost entirely white; neck and breast sandy buff, with
large triangular black spots; flanks buff, streaked with black;
abdomen and under tail-coverts isabelline; bill dusky grey; feet
pink: total length 6·0 inches, wing 2·9, tail 2·3. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Paraguay, Argentina, Patagonia, and Chili.
Azara's only reason for calling this bird _La Correndera_ was because he
thought it resembled a Tit-Lark known by that name in his own country,
but of which he merely had a confused recollection. It is therefore to
be regretted, I think, that _correndera_ has been adopted as a specific
name by naturalists instead of "Cachila," the vernacular name of the
bird, familiar to every one in the Argentine country. Azara's Spanish
bird was probably _Anthus pratensis_, which closely resembles _A.
correndera_ in general appearance, and has, moreover, as wide a range in
the northern as the last-named species has in the southern hemisphere.
In the volume on Birds in the 'Voyage of the Beagle,' it is said that a
species of _Anthus_ ranges further south than any other land-bird, being
the only land-bird found on Georgia and South Orkney (lat. 61° S.).
In colour and language, possibly also in size, the Cachila is variable.
It is a very common bird, widely and plentifully distributed over the
pampas, found alike on marshy and dry grounds, but rare in the region of
giant grasses. While abundant, it is also very evenly dispersed, each
bird spending its life on a very circumscribed plot of earth. Those
frequenting marshy or moist grounds are of a yellowish-cream colour,
thickly mottled and striped with fuscous and black, and have two narrow
parallel pure white marks on the back, very conspicuous when the bird is
on the ground. The individuals frequenting high and dry grounds are much
paler in hue, appearing almost grey, and do not show the white marks on
the back. They also look larger than the birds on marshy lands; but this
appearance is probably due to a looser plumage. The most strongly-marked
pale and dark-plumaged variations may be found living within a few
hundred yards of each other, showing how strictly each bird keeps to
its own little "beat"; for this difference in coloration is, no doubt,
due entirely to the amount of moisture in the ground they live on.
The Cachilas are resident, living in couples all the year round, the
sexes being faithful. Several pairs frequent a small area, and sometimes
they unite in a desultory flock; but these gatherings are not frequent.
In the evening, at all seasons, immediately after the sun has set, the
Cachilas all rise to a considerable height in the air and fly wildly
about, chirping for a few minutes, after which they retire to roost.
When approached they frequently rise up several feet from the ground and
flutter in the air, chirping sharply, with breast towards the intruder.
This is a habit also found in Synallaxine species inhabiting the grassy
plains. But, as a rule, the Cachilas are the tamest of feathered
creatures, and usually creep reluctantly away on their little pink
feet when approached. If the pedestrian is a stranger to their habits
they easily delude him into attempting their capture with his hat, so
little is their fear of man.
To sing, the Cachila mounts upwards almost vertically, making at
intervals a fluttering pause, accompanied with a few hurried notes. When
he has thus risen to a great height (but never beyond sight as Azara
says) he begins the descent slowly, the wings inclining upwards; and,
descending, he pours forth long impressive strains, each ending with a
falling inflection or with two or three short throat-notes as the bird
pauses fluttering in mid-air, and then renewed successively until, when
the singer is within 3 or 4 feet of the earth, without alighting he
reascends as before to continue the performance. It is a very charming
melody, and heard always on the treeless plains when there is no other
bird-music, with the exception of the trilling and grasshopper-like
notes of a few Synallaxine species. But in character it is utterly
unlike the song of the Sky-Lark with its boundless energy, hurry, and
abandon; and yet it is impossible not to think of the Sky-Lark when
describing the Cachila, which, in its manners, appearance, and in its
habit of soaring to a great height when singing, seems so like a small
copy of that bird.
The Cachila rears two broods in the year; the first is hatched about the
middle of August, that is, one to three months before the laying-season
of other Passerine species. By anticipating the breeding-season their
early nests escape the evil of parasitical eggs; but, on the other hand,
frosty nights and heavy rains are probably as fatal to as many early
broods as the instinct of the _Molothrus bonariensis_, or Cow-bird, is
to others at a later period.
The second brood is reared in December, the hottest month, and in that
season a large proportion of their nests contain parasitical eggs.
The nest is placed in a slight hollow in the ground, under a tussock of
grass, and is sometimes elaborately made and lined with horsehair and
fine grass, and sometimes with a few materials loosely put together.
During the solstitial heats I have frequently found nests with frail
shades, built of sticks and grass, over them, the short withered grass
affording an insufficient protection from the meridian sun. The eggs are
four, elongated, with a dirty white and sometimes a dull bluish ground,
thickly spotted with dusky brown and drab. In some eggs the spots are
confluent, the whole shell being of a dull brownish-drab colour.
The manners of this species, where I have observed it, are always the
same; it lives on the ground on open plains, where the herbage and grass
is short, and never perches on trees. The song varies considerably in
different districts.