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Show 412 MR. P. L. SCLATER ON DARWIN'S RHEA. [June 3, scarce and little-known auimal, and we are much indebted to Col. Ross for the present pair, which appear to be about three-parts grown. 3. Two Swainson's Long-tailed Jays (Calocitta formosa), purchased May 24. In 1877 we had a single specimen of this fine Corvine bird in the Society's Aviaries. The present examples have been acquired from the Jardin d'Acclimatation in Paris, where a small consignment of them has lately been received. Mr. Sclater laid on the table two young specimens of Darwin's Rhea (Rhea darwini), obtained by Mr. A. A. Lane at Cancoa, in the Province of Tarapaca, during his recent visit to that district, while employed by Mr. H. Berkeley James, F.Z.S., to collect birds in various parts of Chili. Mr. Sclater made the following remarks:- " It was long ago stated by Dr. Philippi (see his Catalogue of Chilian Birds, An. Univers. de Chile, xxxi. p. 270, 1868) that Darwin's Rhea is found in the vicinity of Mendoza; and the same author (Ornis, iv. p. 159) has mentioned this species as of common occurrence in the desert of Atacama, on the eastern side of the Andes, and ascending to the high plateau. Mr. H. Berkeley James has likewise assured m e that a Rhea occurs in this district, though he was not certain as to the species1. " The specimens I now exhibit, along with the larger adult, but imperfect specimen, received from the same collector, have set this question finally at rest. It is now certain that Rhea darwini, so far from being confined to the portion of Patagonia south of the Rio Negro, as has been generally supposed, extends, like many other species of birds, along the eastern base of the Andes into the north of the Argentine Republic, and thence crosses the chain into the province of Tarapaca (20° JN. lat.), which now belongs to Chili." Mr. Sclater exhibited the flat skin of a Zebra, received from Berbera, Northern Somali-Land, by Herr Menges, and kindly for- 1 Mr. James writes as follows : - " In a sporting excursion to the Cordillera of Tarapaca some fifteen years ago, I came across some Rheas which were very wild, and it was impossible to distinguish the species ; it was at an altitude of about 12,000 feet, on a sandy plain utterly destitute of vegetation, and what the birds fed upon I cannot imagine. " Mr. Lane, when sending the skin shown at the meeting, makes no remark as to how he procured it; he mentions, however, that he had bought two young birds from the Indians, which he kept alive for some time; when they succumbed he preserved the skins and sent them to me. " Rhea-skins make up into very pretty rugs, and large numbers are brought from the neighbourhood of Mendoza in the Argentine Republic, acros9 the Cordillera, into Central Chili. The Patagonian Indians also, in the Straits of Magellan, trade in them; but I have never known skins brought to the coast from the interior of Tarapaca."-June 1, 1890. |
