Zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, under the command of Captain Fitzroy, R.N., during the years 1832 to 1836, v.2

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128 ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 3. HIATICULA SEMIPALMATA. G. R. Gray. Tringa. semipa.lrna.ta., Temm. Charadrius semipalma.tus, Caup. Isis. 1825, p. 1375, t. 14. Wagl. Syst. Av. sp. 23. Bonap. Am. Orn. iv. pl. 25, f. 4. Galapagos Archipelago. HlEMA1'0PUS PALLIATus. Temm. Rio Plata. EanETTA LEUCE. Bonap. Arden Lcuce, Ill. Ardea Egretta., Wils. Am. Om. pl. 61, f. 4. My specimen was procured at Maldonado. I saw it also in Patagonia. AnDEA HERODIAS. Linn. Galapagos Archipelago. Frequents the sea-coast and salt-lagoons. There are no fresh water pools in any of these islands. 1. N YCTICORAX VIOLACEUS. Bonap. Ardea violacea, Linn. Ardca callocepha.la., Wa,ql. Syst. Av. Mr. G. R. Gray has thought it advisable to give the following description of this specimen, from the Gallapagos Archipelago. It appears to be a young bird, and is small in all its dimensions. Upper part blackish-grey; each feather marked down the middle with a broad stripe of black, and tinged on the margins with shining bronze-brown ; beneath the body blueish-grey, with the front of the neck, top of the head, and margins of the feathers on the thighs rufous ; the sides of the head and throat deep black, the former divided in the middle on each side with a patch of white ; the bill black, and feet of a pale reddish colour. 2. N YCTICORAX AMERICAN US. Bonap. Ardca nycticorax, Wil1. (young bird.) Valparaiso, Chile. THERISTICUS MELANOPS. Wagl. Ibis mela.nops, Latl1. llist. ix. pl. 150. This bird frequents the desert gravelly plains of Patagonia, as far south as lat. 48°: in the British Museum there are specimens which Captain Clapperton brought from central Africa; so that this bird has an extraordinarily wide range. It generally lives in pairs, but during part of the year in small flocks. Its cry is :er~ singular and loud: when it is heard at a distance it closely resembles the netghmg of the guanaco. I opened the stomach of two specimens, and found in them remains of lizards, cicadre, and scorpions. It builds in rocky cliffs on the BIRDS. 129 sea-shore: egg dirty white, freckled with pale reddish-brown; its circumference over longer axis is seven inches. The legs are carmine and scarlet-red: iris scarlet-red. lnis ( FALCINELLus) OnDI. Bonap. Tantalus 1\lcxicanus, Ord. Joum. Aca.d. Phil. Tantalus chalcoptcrus1 Temm. Ibis Fa.lcinellus, Bonap. Am. Orn. iii . My specimen was obtained at the Rio Negro: it is very numerous in large flocks on the vast swampy plains between Bahia Blanca and Buenos Ayres. Its flight when soaring is singularly graceful; the whole flock moving in precise concert. 1. N UMENIU8 HUDSONICUS. Lat/t. Numenius lludsonicus, Latlt, Ind. Om. ii. 712. This curlew is very abundant on the tidal mud-banks of Chiloe. When the flock rises, each bird utters a shrill note. Buenos Ayres. 2. NuMENIVS BREVIROSTRis: Licht. Numcnius brovirostris, Licht. Cat. 75, sp. 774 a. Lll'tiOSA HuosoNICA. Swains. Scolopax Hudsonica., Lath. Ind. Om. ii. 720. My specimens were obtained from the Falkland Islands and from Chiloe, where it frequented the tidal mud-banks in flocks. 1. ToTANus FLAVIPES. Vieill. Totnnus flavipes, Vieill. Ency. :M:oth. 1106. Yellow shanks snipo, Penn. Arct. Zool. ii. 468. ------- Wills. Am. Orn. pl. 58. f. 4. Monte Video, Rio Plata. 2. ToTANus MACROPTERUS. G. R. Gra!J. Tringa macroptera, Spi;r;. A v. n. sp. pl. 92. Monte Video, Rio Plata.