Bulletin - United States National Museum - si-pddr - Smithsonian ...

BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 69
On September 25 I examined a young screamer about half grown,
but still rather helpless, in the possession of an Indian boy. The
bird gave a low whistling, piping call.
In the vicinity of Lavalle, Buenos Aires, screamers were common
from October 27 to November 9, and after my experience with them
in the Chaco it seemed strange to find them walking about in marshy
spots among scattered bands of sheep. The flight of screamers
is strong, and tliey rise heavily with loud swishing wings. I saw
them occasionally soaring in circles high in the air. At the Estan-
cia Los Yngleses I was told that 50 had gathered to feed in a small
tract of alfalfa and that it had been necessary to drive them away to
prevent damage. On November 6, after a severe storm, an imma-
ture bird washed ashore on the beach below Cape San Antonio. I
supposed that it had been blown out to sea during a heavy gale and
drowned.
In Uruguay screamers were seen at the Laguna Castillos, near
San Vicente, on January 31, and the Arroyo Sarandi (Paso Alamo)
February 2. A few w^ere noted near Lazcano on February 6 and
8. The birds were very wary here and were much hunted. Their
flesh is dark and coarse fibered, but I found it palatable. The
species is known universally as Cfiaja^ a name given in imitation of
the common call.
The adult male collected in Formosa on August 16 weighed 6.7
pounds. The soft parts were colored as follows: Maxilla and tip
of mandible blackish brown No. 3; rest of mandible olive gray,
shading to pale olive gray at base; bare space about eye vandyke
red, shading to dull Indian purple on chin, rami of mandible and
space behind nostrils ; iris orange cinnamon ; tarsus and toes alizarine
pink, slightly darker toward crus; nails black. At Kilometer 80,
west of Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay, I killed a female on September
13 and a pair on September 17. These were all in partial molt. In
one. new growth covering the larger spur on the wing had pushed
thef', older covering away so that on one wing the sheath slipped off
as I handled it. The wing spurs vaiy in development and may be
more perfect in young individuals than in older ones, in vrhich they
may have suffered more or less injury.
Order ANSERIFORMES
Family ANATIDAE
CYGNUS MELANCORIPHUS (Molina)
Anas Melancoripha Molina, Sagg. Stor. Nat. Chili, 1782, p. 234. (Cbile.)
The beautiful black-necked swan was recorded October 28, 1920,
and again on November 16, near Lavalle, Buenos Aires. At General
Roca three were observed resting in backwater from an eddy on the
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