. To the River Plate and back; the narrative of a scientific mission to South America . chaja. This great bird, as large asa swan, is remarkable because of the fact that the wingsare each armed \sith two large spurs, and it is thereforesometimes called the Spur-winged Goose. It used tobe until quite recently verycommon on the pampas southof Buenos Aires, and, thoughthe flesh is excellent, it wasrarely killed by the peopleof Spanish descent, who, unliketheir cousins, the Italians, arenot given to the wholesale de-struction of birds. The rapidincrease of Italian immigra-tion into Argentina bodes
. To the River Plate and back; the narrative of a scientific mission to South America . chaja. This great bird, as large asa swan, is remarkable because of the fact that the wingsare each armed \sith two large spurs, and it is thereforesometimes called the Spur-winged Goose. It used tobe until quite recently verycommon on the pampas southof Buenos Aires, and, thoughthe flesh is excellent, it wasrarely killed by the peopleof Spanish descent, who, unliketheir cousins, the Italians, arenot given to the wholesale de-struction of birds. The rapidincrease of Italian immigra-tion into Argentina bodes illfor the preservationof its splen-did avifauna, and the CrestedScreamer is doomed to exter-mination unless it is speedily domesticated, which can easily be done. It lendsitself to domestication more readily than most water-fowls, and it ought to be preserved in this way. Thebird is one of the most remarkabk of the anserinegroup on account of its singular habits. , These havebeen described by Hudson, and I cannot forbear givinga brief extract from his interesting account. He says:. Fig. 14.—Crested Screamer{Chaunia chavaria). tS> The screamer is a very heavy bird, and rises from the groundlaboriously, the wings, as in the case of the swan, making a 184 To the River Plate and Back loud noise. Nevertheless it loves soaring, and will rise inan immense spiral until it wholly disappears from sight inthe zenith, even in the brightest weather; and consideringits great bulk and dark color, the height it ultimately attainsmust be very great. On sunny windless days, especially inwinter and spring, they often spend hours at a time in thesesublime aerial exercises, slowly floating around and aroundin vast circles and singing at intervals. How so heavy andcomparatively short-winged a bird can sustain itself forsuch long periods in the thin upper air to which it rises hasnot yet been explained. The voice is very powerful. When disturbed, or whenthe nest is approached, both b
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbrazild, bookyear1913
