Bird lore - Project Puffin

25irb=1Lore
A Bi-Monthly Magazine
Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETIES
Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN
Contributing Editor, MABELOSGOOD WRIGHT
Published by D. APPLETON & CO.
Vol. XVIII Published December 1.1916 No. 6
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
Price in the United States. Canada and Mexico, twenty cents
a number, one dollar a year, postage paid.
COPYRIGHTED, 1916, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN
Bird-Lore's Motto:
A Bird in the Bush Is Worth Two in the Hand
Continuing our outline of the work of
the American Museum's expedition in
South America (See the two preceding
numbers of Bird-Lore), after completing
our reconnaissance in the Urubamba Val-
ley of Peru, we were resident for a short
time at Tirapata, on the 'puna' or table-
land of that country, about forty miles
north of Lake Titicaca, at an altitude of
12,500 feet. The country is treeless, indeed
without a vestige of arborescent
vegetation; nevertheless, Passeres, which
here could not very appropriately be
called 'perching birds,' were abundant.
Sparrows and Pipits, for example, we
know are terrestrial, but we do not think
of Flycatchers as living on and near the
ground, and, stranger still, we should not
expect to find Woodpeckers where there
are no woods.
However, several species of Flycatchers
were common at Tirapata and a Flicker
was one of the most characteristic birds of
the region. While differing in color from
both our North American Flickers, the
Peruvian bird resembles them in general
pattern, and is unmistakably a true mem-
ber of the genus Colaptes. It has the
white rump and the bounding flight of our
species, but its notes would not be recog-
nized as those of a Flicker, and it nests,
like a Kingfisher, in holes in banks.
The presence of a Flicker in South
America is one of the thousand and more
problems which puzzle the brains of the
zoological geographer. The genus is not
Editorial 379
found north of Peru nor south of (luate-
mala. Why it should be nesting in the
intervening region, who can say? But we
may be sure that a Woodpecker was never
evolved in a treeless region, and hence we
conclude that Colaptes is a comparatively
recent arrival in the Andean tableland.
Certain lagoons near Tirapata were
thronged with water-fowl of many species.
There were Ducks, Geese, Coots, (lallinu-
les and Grebes, and, more surprising even
than the occurrence of Flickers, was the
presence of large numbers of Flamingoes.
We are so accustomed to think of these
birds as inhabitants of the tropics that it
is difficult to believe they are permanent
residents of the upper Temperate Zone
where frost, snow and ice are found in
half the months of the year.
Leaving Tirapata, the expedition visited
La Paz, Bolivia to establish relations with
the authorities of the national museum of
that city. From this point Mr. Cherrie
went directly to Buenos Aires and thence
ascended the Paraguay River to continue
the work begun when he was a member
of the Roosevelt Expedition, while the
writer returned to the Pacific Coast at
Arica and sailed from this point to Val-
paraiso. While not so abundant off the
coast of Chile as off the Coast of Peru,
birds were seen in great numbers between
Arica and Valparaiso harbor, where a
small Penguin was one of the most common
species. The Museums of Santiago,
Mendoza, Buenos Aires- and Rio Janeiro
all were found to contain much valuable
material, and through the kind assistance
of officers of these institutions opportuni-
ties were given to study, not only the spe-
cimens under their charge, but living
birds in the surrounding country.
The most productive trip of this kind
was made to the Organ Mountains west
.of Rio Janeiro, where remains were found
of the Subtropical fauna, which once, no
doubt, was highly developed in this now
much-eroded mountain system.
In returning to the United States, two
weeks were passed in Barbados, and some
interesting data secured concerning the
migration of shorebirds.