3.2 CUCULID.E. 



268. GUIRA PIRIRIGUA (Vieill). 

 (GUIRA CUCKOO.) 



Guira piririgua, Sol. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 107 ; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 185 

 (Buenos Ayres) ; Gibson, Ibis, 1880, p. 8 (Buenos Ayres) ; White, P. Z. 8. 

 1882, p. 619 (Buenos Ayres) ; Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 26 (Entrerios) ; With- 

 ington, Ibis, 1888, p. 468 (Lomas de Zamora). Ptiloleptis guira, Burm. 

 La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 443. 



Description. Above dark brown, with white shaft-stripes ; head brown ; 

 wings reddish brown, passing into blackish brown on the outer secondaries ; 

 rump white ; tail white, at the base ochraceous, crossed by a very broad black 

 band, except the two central feathers, which are uniform brown : beneath 

 sordid white, throat and upper breast with long linear black shaft-stripes ; bill 

 and feet yellow : whole length 15-0 inches, wing 7'0, tail 8*0. Female similar. 



Hob. Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. 



" Piririgua" the specific term adopted by naturalists for this bird, is, 

 according to Azara, the vernacular name of the species in Paraguay. 

 He says that in that country it is abundant, but scarce in the Plata 

 district. No doubt it has greatly increased and extended its range 

 southwards during the hundred years which have elapsed since his time, 

 as it is now very common in Buenos Ayres, where its vernacular name 

 is Urraca (Magpie) . In the last-named country it is not yet quite in 

 harmony with its environment. Everywhere its habit is to feed exclu- 

 sively on the ground, in spite of possessing feet formed for climbing ; 

 but its very scanty plumage, slow laborious flight, and long square tail, 

 so unsuitable in cold boisterous weather, show that the species is a 

 still unmodified intruder from the region of perpetual summer many 

 degrees nearer to the equator. 



The Guira Cuckoo is about sixteen inches long, has red eyes and 

 blue feet, and an orange-red beak. The crown of the head is deep 

 rufous, and the loose hair-like feathers are lengthened into a pointed 

 crest. The back and rump are white, the wings and other upper 

 parts very dark fuscous, marked with white and pale brown. Under 

 surface dull white, with hair-like black marks on the throat and 

 breast. The tail is square, 9 to 10 inches long; the two middle feathers 

 dark brown, the others three-coloured yellow at the base, the middle 

 portion dark glossy green, the ends white ; and when the bird is flying 

 the tail, spread out like a fan, forms a conspicuous and beautiful 

 object. 



During the inclement winter of Buenos Ayres the Guira Cuckoo is 

 a miserable bird, and appears to suffer more than any other creature 

 from cold. In the evening the flock, usually composed of from a dozen 

 to twenty individuals, gathers on the thick horizontal branch of a tree 



