(RED-BILLED GROUND-FINCH.)
+Embernagra platensis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 485 (Paraná);
_Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 140 (Buenos Ayres), 1872, p.
548 (Rio Negro), _iid. Nomencl._ p. 32; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877,
p. 172 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 600 (Buenos
Ayres, Corrientes); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 40 (R.
Colorado, R. Negro); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 132
(Concepcion, Entrerios).
_Description._--Above dull olive-green, striped with blackish; wings
silky olive-green, the inner webs of the feathers black; edge of
wings yellow; tail-feathers dull olive-green; beneath, throat and
breast grey; belly buff; beak bright red; feet pinkish horn-colour:
total length 8·8 inches, wing 3·7, tail 3·8. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ South Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.
In this Finch the plumage is alike in both sexes. Above it is dusky
olive-green, beneath grey; the beak is of a fine bright red. In
Argentina this bird is most common in the littoral forests along the
Plata, but ranges as far south as the Rio Negro in Patagonia. It does
not migrate, nor associates in flocks; but the sexes are faithful, and
the male and female are invariably together, and appear to be very fond
of each other's society. They have a loud, sharp alarm chirp or cry,
which bursts from the bird with the startling suddenness of a sneeze
from a human being; also a confused unmelodious song, which always
reminds me, in its hurry, vehemence, and peculiar sound, of the gobbling
of a turkey-cock. They are not shy, but when approached sit jerking
their tails about, and uttering loud chirps as if greatly excited. The
flight is very curious; the bird springs up with great suddenness, and
with tail erect, and the long legs dangling down like a Rail's, proceeds
by a series of irregular jerks, violently shutting and opening its
wings. They breed on the ground under the grass, and conceal their nest
so well that I doubt whether the parasitical _Molothrus_ ever finds it.
I have, at all events, never seen them followed by the young of
_Molothrus_ demanding food.
As a rule, small seed-eating birds are beneficially affected by the
presence of man; thus our common _Zonotrichia_ and other sparrows and
finches have become excessively numerous in the most thickly-settled
districts. With the Red-billed Finch, however, just the contrary has
happened; and since I have known this species it has disappeared from
many localities where it was once quite common. Azara's name for this
species, _Habia de bañado_, signifies that it is a marsh bird; but
though now found chiefly in marshy situations, it was once common enough
over the entire pampas region, before the great plains were settled
on by Europeans. The bird is very badly protected by nature against
raptorial species, owing to its very conspicuous red beak, its habit of
perching on the summit of tall plants and other elevated positions, its
loud impetuous voice, which invites attention, and the weak eccentric
flight, which challenges pursuit. It is essential to its safety that it
should have, in the open country it frequents, a dense grass cover into
which it can plunge on the slightest alarm. Where cattle are introduced,
the original pampas-grass, which afforded the suitable conditions,
disappears, giving place to the soft, perishable grasses, clovers,
and thistles of Europe. Where these changes take place, the bird
cannot escape from its enemies and quickly disappears; while many
Dendrocolaptine species inhabiting the same situations are saved by
their inconspicuous protective colouring, sharp wedge-like bodies, and
swift mouse-like motions on the ground. In marshy places on the pampas,
abounding with long aquatic grasses and reed-beds, the Red-bill still
maintains its existence, but from its old habitat on the open grassy
plains, where it was once the dominant Finch, it has utterly vanished.