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



the Plata States, and again we met with it south of the Rio 

 Colorado, and in the vicinity of the Rio Negro it is abundant ; ours 

 were on the high bushy grounds. But before speaking further of 

 this species I will give a rapid sketch of its congener of the Pampas, 

 the Perdiz grande *. 



This bird is common on the Buenos-Ayrean plains, wherever the 

 long grasses abound. I do not know how far north it extends ; but 

 south it is common as far as the Colorado. South of this river it 

 becomes very rare, and disappears before the Rio Negro is reached. 

 This bird has no cover but the giant grasses, through which it pushes 

 like a Rail ; and wherever the country is settled it soon disappears, 

 so that it is now extinct over a vast portion of this province. 



It is solitary in its habits, conceals itself in the grass very closely, 

 and flies with great reluctance. I doubt if there is anywhere a 

 bird with such a sounding flight as this ; and I can only compare 

 the whirr of its wings to the rattling of a light vehicle driven at 

 great speed over a hard road. From the moment it rises till it 

 again alights there is no cessation in the rapid vibration of the 

 wings ; but like a ball thrown by the hand the bird goes gradually 

 sloping towards the earth, the distance it is able to accomplish at a 

 flight being from 1500 to 2000 yards. This flight it can repeat 

 when driven up again as many as three times, after which the bird 

 can rise no more. The call of the Perdiz grande is heard at all 

 seasons of the year ; on pleasant days, and invariably near sunset, 

 it is uttered while the bird sits concealed in the grass, many birds 

 answering each other ; for though I call the Perdiz grande a soli- 

 tary bird (they rarely being seen in company), several individuals 

 are mostly found living near each other. The song or call is com- 

 posed of five or six long notes, with a mellow, flute-like sound, and 

 so impressively uttered and sweetly modulated that it is, perhaps, 

 the sweetest bird-music heard in the Pampas. 



The Perdiz grande lays five large and almost round eggs, of a 

 dark wine-purple colour. 



The Martineta, from its size and mottled plumage, somewhat 

 resembles the Perdiz grande, the most apparent exterior difference 

 being the redder plumage and longer bill of the latter, and the long, 

 slender crest of the former, which, when excited, the bird carries 

 direct forward, like a horn. There is, however, an anatomical dif- 

 ference between the species of far more consequence. The structure 

 of the intestinal canal in the Martineta is most extraordinary, and 

 totally unlike that of any other bird I have ever dissected ; the 

 canal divides near the stomach into a pair of great ducts that extend 

 almost the entire length of the abdominal cavity, and are thickly 

 set with rows of large membranous clam-shaped protuberances. 



The Martineta frequents the elevated tablelands, and are found 

 where patches of scattered dwarf scrub occur among the close 

 thickets, and subsist on seeds and berries. They are extremely 

 fond of dusting themselves, and form circular nest-like hollows in 

 the ground for that purpose ; these hollows are deep and neatly made, 

 * Rhgnchotus rufescJns, Temm. — P. L. S. 



