like swallows, they continued to fly backwards and forwards,
close before me. Occasionally when leaving the surface of
the water their flight was wild, irregular, and rapid; they
then also uttered loud harsh cries. AVhen these birds are
fishing, the length of the primary feathers of the wings is
seen to be quite necessary, in order to keep the latter dry.
AA’hen thus employed, their forms resemble the symbol by
which many artists represent marine birds. The tail is much
used in steering their irregular course.
Thesebirds are common farinland along the course of the llio
Parana; it is said they remain during the whole year, and breed
in the marshes. During the day they rest in flocks on the grassy
plaius, at some distance from the water. Being at anchor, as
I have said, in one of the deep creeks between the islands of
the Parana, as the evening drew to a close, one of these
scissor-beaks suddenly appeared. The water was quite still,
and many little fish were rising. The bird continued for a
long time to skim the surface, flying in its wild and irregular
manner up and down the narrow canal, now dark with the
growing night and the shadows of the overhanging trees. At
Monte Ahdeo I observed that some large flocks during the
day remained on the mud-banks at the head of the harbour,
in the same manner as on the grassy plains near the Parana;
and every evening they took flight direct to seaward. From
these facts, I suspect that the Rhyncops generally fishes by
night, at which time many of the lower animals come most
abundantly to the surface. M. Lesson states that he has
seen these birds opening the shells of the mactrss, buried in
the sand-banks on the coast of Chile: from their weak bills,
with the lower mandible so much produced, their short legs
and long wings, it is very improbable that this can be a
general habit.
In our course down the Parana, I only observed three
other birds, whose habits are worth mentioning. One is a
small kingfisher {Alcedo Americana) ; it has a longer tail than
the European species, and hence does not sit in so stiff and
upright a position. Its flight also, instead of being direct
and rapid, like the course of an arrow, is weak and undulatory,
as among the soft-liilled birds. It utters a low note,
like the clicking together of tw’O small stones. A small
green parrot,* with a gray breast, appears to prefer the tall
trees on the islands, to any other situation, for its building-
place. A number of nests are placed so close together, as
to form one great mass of sticks. These parrots always
live in flocks, and commit great ravages on the cornfields.
I was told, that near Colonia 2500 were killed in
the course of one year. A bird (Milvidus forficatm)
wnth a forked tail, terminated by two long feathers, and
named by the Spaniards scissor-tail, is very common near
Buenos Ayres. It commonly sits on a branch of the omhu
tree, near the house, and thence takes a short flight in pursuit
of insects, and returns to the same spot. AA’hen
on the wing, it presents, in its manner of flight and
general apjiearance, a caricature-likeness of the common
swallow. It has the power in the air of turning very
shortly, and in so doing, opens and shuts its tail, sometimes
in a horizontal or lateral, and sometimes in a vertical
direction, just like a pair of scissors. In structure, this bird
IS a true tyrant-flycatcher, although in its habits certainly
allied to the swallows.
O c t o b e r 1 6 t h .—Some leagues above Rozario the western
shore was bounded by perpendicular cliffs, which extended
in a long line to below San Nicholas. Hence the coast more
resembled that of the sea, than that of a fresh-water river.
It IS a great drawback to the scenery of the Parana, that,
from the soft nature of its banks, the water is very muddy’
The Uruguay, flowing through a granitic country, is much
clearer; and I am told, that wdiere the two channels unite at
the head of the Plata, the ivaters may for a long distance be
distinguished by their black and red colours. In the evening,
the wind not being quite fair, as usual we immediately
moored, and the next day, as it blew rather freshlv, though
* L a jeu n e Veuve o f A z a ra , L a th am G e n . H is t., vol. ii,, p. ig o .
M 2