534 MR. W. H. HUDSON ON PATAGONIAN BIRDS. [Apr. 16, 



3. On the Birds of the Rio Negro of Patagonia. By 

 W. H. Hudson, C.M.Z.S. With Notes by P. L. 

 Sclater, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., Secretary to the Society. 



[Eeceived March 12, 1872.] 



(Plate XXXI.) 



I wrote a few days ago to inform Mr. Sclater that I had returned 

 from Patagonia, and had determined to send to 'him all the speci- 

 mens, or at least duplicates of all the species collected, as well as 

 my notes on them. I now forward them ; and as I cannot here 

 learn the names of some of the species of which I am most anxious 

 to speak, I have numbered these, so that it will be necessary to refer 

 to the specimens themselves to ascertain their scientific names. 



My observations have been confined to the valley of the Rio 

 Negro and to the adjacent high grounds. I advanced altogether 

 not much over a hundred miles from the sea. 



I met with one hundred and twenty-six species of birds altogether 

 on the Rio Negro ; but of these, ninety-three are also found in the 

 Buenos-Ayrean pampas. Most of the species common to Buenos 

 Ayres and Patagonia are resident land birds in the latter locality. 

 Seven or eight of them are summer visitors from the north, and as 

 many more are Patagonian species that visit Buenos Ayres in 

 winter. I therefore met with only thirty-three species peculiar to 

 Patagonia ; and as some of these are very rarely seen, I did not suc- 

 ceed in obtaining them all. This is certainly a very insignificant 

 number ; but in a country with an excessively dry climate, the water- 

 courses few and widely separated, an arid sandy soil, and scanty, 

 dwarfish vegetation, it is impossible that there should be many 

 species of birds. Still, had I been enabled to advance one or two 

 hundred miles further, I am confident that this collection would 

 have exhibited a far greater variety, as the country becomes much 

 more thickly wooded in the interior. I did not succeed in obtaining 

 specimens of the Avestruz petise {Rhea darwini). It is called by 

 the Indians " Molu Chincpie," meaning " Dwarf Chinque," the 

 name of the common species being Chinque. They are found over 

 the whole country, from the Rio Negro to the Straits of Magellan, 

 and are also met with, but rarely, north of the river. They were 

 formerly exceedingly numerous along the Rio Negro ; but a few years 

 ago their feathers rose to an exorbitant price. Guachos and 

 Indians found that hunting the Ostrich was their most lucrative 

 employment ; and consequently these noble birds were pursued 

 unceasingly, and slaughtered in such numbers that they have been 

 nearly exterminated wherever the nature of the country admits of 

 their being chased. I was so anxious to obtain specimens of this 

 bird that I engaged ten or twelve Indians, by offering a liberal 

 reward, to hunt for me ; they went out several times, but failed to 

 capture a single adult bird. 



