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Show 40 ZOOLOGY OF TIIE YOYAGE OF TilE BEAGLE. excepting in its less size, slenderness of limbs, and less deeply forked tail; and the latter difference may perhaps be owing to youth. 1. HIRUNDO LEUCOPYGIA. Licltt. My specimens were obtained at Port Famine, in Tierra del Fuego, (February), and at Valparaiso, in Chile, (August to September). At Port Famine they build i.n holes in a cliff of earth. Mr. Gould says, "were it not for the bare legs of this little Martin, I should have some difficulty in discriminating between it and the one so well known as a summer visitor in our island." 2. HIRUNDO FRONTALIS. Go·ttld. H. vertice, pbtmis auricularibus, dorso et hmula pectomli nitide cmruleo viridescentibus, nota alba Sltpra nm·es, guld corporeque Sltbtus albicantibus, crisso niveo, alis caudaque fuscis vi1·idi tine tis, rost1'0 nigro, pedibus intense Jus cis. Long. tot. 4! unc. alce, 4!; cawl(JJ, 2; ta1·si, ~· Upper surface, with a greenish blue metalli~ gloss; which can faintly be perceived on the primaries and on the tail feathers. The short feathers over each nostril white, thus forming two small white marks; those over the ridge of bill pale brown, giving together the appearance of a narrow white band over the upper mandible. Entire under surface and lining of wings pure white. Tarsi rather darker than in H. leucopygia. Very slightly larger than H. leucopygia; upper mandible rather broader. Inches. j Total length . . . . . . • . . . . . 4 ll 4 Wings . . · . . . . . . . . . 4~ Habitat, Monte Video, (November). Tail . Tarsi Inches. Mr. Gould says, "this species is closely allied both to the common martin, and to the last species; from the former bird, however, its bare legs at once distinguish it, while it differs from the latter in being rather larger in size, in having an obscure white mark on the forehead, at the base of the bill, and in having the metallic lustre of the upper surface deep steel green, instead of purple, which is the prevailing colour of both Hi1·undo leucopygia and H. urbica." It is abundant on the northern bank of the Plata, and more common than the H. pu1purea, which frequents the same localities. It probably replaces on the eastern side of the continent, the H. leucopygia of Chile. BIRDS. 41 3. HmuNDO CYANOLEUCA. V£eill. It is nearly allied to the two latter species, but is readily distinguished from them by the absence of the white rump. I procured specimens in September, both from Valparaiso, and from Bahia Blanca (North Patagonia). At the latter place it built in holes in the same bank of earth with P. pmpurea. CYPSELUS UNICOLOR. Jard. C. unicolor. Jard. et Selby, Illust. Ornith. pl. 83. I obtained a specimen of this bird from St. Jago, Cape de Verd Islands. (September). It more resembled a swallow than a swift in the manner of its flight. I only saw a few of them. Insects occur so scantily over the bare and parched plains of basaltic lava, which compose the lower parts of the island of St. Jago, that it is surprising how these birds are able to find the means of subsistence. FAMILY.-HALCYONIDJE. HALCYON ERYTHRORHYNCHA, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1837. Alccdo Scnegalcnsis var. {3, Latl~. In January, during the first visit of the Beagle to St. J ago, in the Cape de Verd Islands, these birds were numerous. But in our homeward voyage, in the beginning of September, I did not see a single individual. As Mr. Gould informs me it is an African species ; it is probably only a winter visitant to this archipelago. lt lives in numbers in the arid valleys in the neighbourhood of Porto Praya, where it may be generally seen perched on the branch of the castor oil plant. I opened the stomachs of several, and found them filled with the wing cases of Orthopterous insects, the constant inhabitants of all sterile countries; and in the craw of one there was part of a lizard. It is tame and solitary; its flight is not swift and direct like that of the European kingfisher. In these respects, and especially G |
