206 PTEROPTOCHID.E. 



227. RHINOCRYPTA LANCEOLATA, Geoflr. et d'Orb. 

 (GALLITO.) 



Rhinocrypta lanceolata, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 471 (Mendoza, San Juan, 

 Catamarca) ; Sol . et Salv. NomencL p. 76 ; Hudson, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 543 

 (Rio Negro) ; White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 614 (Catamarca). 



Description. Above, head and upper neck reddish brown with a fine white 

 shaft-stripe on each feather, the stripes being most conspicuous on the crest- 

 feathers ; lower neck, back, rump, and wings greyish olive ; tail blackish ; 

 beneath, throat and upper part of breast, grey, becoming pure white on the 

 middle of the belly ; sides of belly and flanks bright chestnut ; lower part of 

 belly and flanks and under tail-coverts like the back ; bill horn-colour, feet black : 

 whole length 8-2 inches, wing 3'3, tail 3'0. Female similar. 



Hab. Western and Southern Argentina and Patagonia. 



The vernacular name Gallito, or " Little Cock/' by which this 

 species is familiarly known in Patagonia, cannot fail to strike every one 

 who sees the bird as very appropriate, for it struts and runs on the 

 ground with tail erect, looking wonderfully like a small domestic fowl. 

 In the neighbourhood of Carmen, on the Rio Negro, it is very 

 abundant, and when I went there its loud deep chirrup, heard from 

 every side in the thicket, quickly arrested my attention, just as the 

 perpetual chirping of the Sparrows did when I first landed in England. 

 In the interior of the country it is not nearly so abundant, so that 

 man's presence has probably in some way affected it favourably. Its 

 habits amuse and baffle a person anxious to make its acquaintance; for 

 it scarcely possesses the faculty of flight, and cannot be driven up, but 

 it is so easily alarmed, so swift of foot, and so fond of concealment, 

 that it is most difficult to catch a sight of it. At the same time it is 

 extremely inquisitive, and no sooner does it spy an intruder in the bush 

 than the warning note is sounded, whereupon every bird within hearing 

 hops up into a thick thorn-bush, where it utters every three or four 

 seconds a loud hollow chirrup, and at intervals a violent scolding cry, 

 several times repeated. When approached they all scuttle away, 

 masked by the bushes, with amazing swiftness, to take refuge at a 

 distance, where the loud protest is again resumed but when the 

 pursuer gives up the pursuit in disgust and turns away, they immediately 

 follow him, so that he is perpetually encircled with the same ring of 

 angry sound, moving with him, coming no nearer and never allowing 

 its cause to be seen. 



On three or four occasions I have seen one rise from the ground and 

 fly several yards with a feeble fluttering flight ; but when closely pur- 

 sued in an open place they seem incapable of rising. They generally fly 



