BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 127 



At Lavalle, Buenos Aires, limpkins were noted on November 

 2 and 9, and several were recorded on November 16 when crossing 

 to Santo Domingo. On February 2, 1921, I killed an adult male 

 (preserved as a skeleton) at the Paso Alamo on the Arroj'o Sa- 

 randi, north of San Vincente, eastern Uruguay. In the marshes 

 bordering the Rio Cebollati near Lazcano, Uruguay, the birds were 

 fairly common from February 6 to 9, and at Rio Negro, Uruguay, 

 I found them from February 15 to 18. 



In the Chaco limpkins ranged in open, rush-grown marshes, prob- 

 ably because the season was winter and water holes and swamps 

 had become dry in wooded sections. Similar regions were inhabited 

 on the pampas as these formed the only tracts in this area suited 

 to the habits of this species. Elsewhere limpkins frequented wooded 

 swamps, areas that seemed better suited to their needs. In traversing 

 the open country the birds flushed frequently from small openings 

 among the rushes, rising with the peculiar flight that marks them 

 as far as they can be seen. When the bird is not hurried the wings 

 are extended at an angle of 45° above the back, and are stroked 

 quickly at short intervals down to the level of the body, but little 

 or no farther, and then raised again. At the highest point of 

 elevation there is a distinct pause before the wing is brought down 

 again, so that the bird sails for a few feet with stiffly held raised 

 wings. The whole wing motion suggests that of some huge but- 

 terfly save that the line of flight is direct rather than erratic. 

 When startled the birds flap away as any crane or stork might with 

 neck extended and legs trailed behind. 



In dense wooded swamps my attention was frequently attracted to 

 limpkins by abrupt explosive or clattering notes that often resembled 

 the syllables koy kop or kawp. The ordinary call of car-r-r-rau car- 

 r-r-rau, that gives this and the northern limpkin their common name 

 throughout their range in the West Indies and Latin America, may 

 be heard for a great distance. Two or three individuals calling at 

 once may cause a tremendous noise; in fact one might well believe 

 that the chorus was produced by a considerable congregation of birds 

 concealed in the bushes. 



Limpkins often sought elevated perches in the tops of low trees or 

 rested concealed among heavier growth, where they turned the head 

 from side to side and at short intervals twitched the tail upward 

 with a quick jerk that suggested a similar motion common among 

 rails. Their food consisted mainly of large fresh-water snails 

 {Avipullaria insularum d'Orbigny). Empty shells of these mol- 

 lusks were found in abundance resting on the mud, with the opening 

 upward and the thin, corneous operculum lying a few inches away, 

 where it had dropped after it had been pulled away. At rest the 

 birds appear remarkably ibislike. 



