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Social Nesting Habits of Guira Guira

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Social Nesting Habits of Guira Guira t72 DAVIS,Social Habits of Guira I.I' AukOct. SOCIAL NESTING HABITS OF GUIRA GUIRA BY DAVID E. DAVIS INTRODUCTION THE life historyof Guira guira wasstudied as part of a seriesof researcheson the socialnesting habits of the Crotophaginae,a sub- family of cuckoos.Guira belongsto a monotypicgenus, whose rangeextends from the mouth of the Amazon,the camposof Brazil, southto BahiaBlanca in Argentina. Davis (1940)gives a briefsum- mary of the Crotophaginaeand of the little which was known of the habitsof Guira. The primaryproblems in this studyare the con- siderationof the developmentof the flockhabit and of the manifesta- tion of territorialism.These two problemsare discussedbriefly in this paper; a correlationwith the other membersof the subfamily is reserved for a future time. The greaterpart of the work wasdone in the provinceof Entre Rios, Argentina, with someobservations at Saladasin Corrientesand at Formosa. Through the kindnessof Mr. C. H. Smyth,whose knowl- edgeof the birdsand eggswas invaluable in my work, I wasable to stay at severalestancias belonging to the Bovril Company. I am greatlyindebted to Messrs.C. H. Smyth,Cecil Holland, R. J. Stir- ling, A. S. Dean, and M. Kelly for their generoushospitality, an art among the Anglo-Argentines. The land in Entre Rios,called 'campo,' is gentlyrolling and,where not clearedfor cultivation, is coveredwith leguminoustrees, spaced at intervalsand having the characteristicmushroom shape and lacy foliageof savannavegetation. In the campothere is no undergrowth but a lush growthof grasses.Through this savannathe investigator may easilywalk for miles,but, unlessthe sun is kept in view, may get lost becausein everydirection the vegetationand topographyare identical. SOCIAL BEHAVIOR Flock behavior.--Likeother membersof the subfamily,the birds habituallylive in flocks,spend the day togetherand sleepat night in the sametree. Shortlyafter dawn they file out fromthe sleeping tree to sun themselvesin preparationfor the day'sactivities. Soon the flock,looking for food,scatters about over a wide area,although in mostinstances the variousmembers are within calling distanceof one another. In the eveningthe birds return singly or in small groupsto the sleepingplace, usually a tall thickly foliagedtree. Fre- Vol.•94o 57] a DAVIS,Social Habits o! Guira 473 quently beforeentering the sleepingtree, even as late as after sunset, the birds collectin one particular tree just outsidethe sleepingplace and then all fly in together,using the rattling call and hoppingabout until settled for the night. Theseflocks, however, are not exclusiveorganizations of fixed com- position. The number of birds composingthe flock varies,as is shownfor exampleby the data on Stirling'sgroup. From the 11th to the 19th of November,1939, the daily count of the birds which sleptin the sleepingtree was as follows: 8, 10,?, 7, 8, 9, 6, 8, 6. These changesin compositionof the flockare not entirelydue to newcomers for sometimescertain birds may sleepout in the woodsas shown by the observationof November29: "Two birdsfeeding in 'campo' abouthalf-way to the windmill. Eventuallyone went to the corral (thesleeping place for thegroup). The otherwas joined by a third from the northwest.They sat around,then flew to the north and werejoined by a fourthbird whichcame from near the corralbut was not the first bird. The three birds sat for a long time and then one went into the corral. The other two slept outside. This ex- plainsthe irregularityin numberssleeping in the pareisotrees." Changesin compositionof the flockcan alsotake placeby the additionof newcomersas shownby the followingobservations, giv- ing the fielddata concerning the appearanceof wanderingstrangers. November9, at dawn, "one bird went directlyfrom the sleepingtree to the southand far over the 'arroyo'to the other side,at leasta mile,non-stop flight." November10: "Three birds out by thewind- mill, flewfrom tree to tree,sometimes together, often separated, ap- parentlylooking for a placeto sleep.One carrieda snake(ten incheslong) all the time. After sunsetthe birdswere still flying from tree to tree. I suspectthat theywere looking for a placeto establishthemselves." December 5: "Two birds of the Golf Course groupignored a stranger which sat in thetop of a treeand called." A furtherpoint concerning the organizationof the flockis that thereis a definitetendency for thebirds to remaintogether in pairs, althoughsince the sexes are indistinguishable in the field, no con- clusionscan be drawn as to the sexes. Thus, on November12, "two wentout of thesleeping tree long before the others and went in a differentdirection (from the others)."November 18: "Two pairs wentout, followed by fourbirds." Laterthat day "I foundtwo birds nearthe highway.They wentabout one-half mile to the westand werejoined by two othersfrom the west. Then the four wenteast for a mile beforestopping." Summarizing these observations, it may DAVIS,Social Habits o! Guira LI' AukOct. be said that the flock is a looselyknit organization,whose members tend to associatein pairs. Territorialism.--It is debatable whether the area occupiedby a flock of Guira may be calleda territory,in the strict meaningof the term. Nevertheless,for the presentthe term 'territory'will be used, not only becauseof supportingevidence from the speciesconcerned but also becauseof the fact that the other membersof the subfamily clearlyare territorial. The territoryof a group may extendover a largearea, in somecases more than onemile in diameter. The exact configurationof the territorydepends on the ecologicalconditions; the typicalterritory possesses a sleeping place, consisting of sometall densetrees, usually around an estancia,and a feedingarea in the typicalcampo. The birdsspread out overthis area, one day in one part and anotherday in anotherpart. The evidencein favor of calling this area a territory consistsof observationson the defenseof the area. Typical but brief chasing of the typedescribed for Crotophagaani (Davis,1940) was seen on two occasions.Thus, on November 19, "several birds chasedtwo or three birdsabout one-half mile out into the campo";and againon December8, I "sawa bird chaseanother away and then go to the quinta(sleeping place)." As further evidence, on November28, "! tried to drivefive of Stirling'sbirds to the Windmillgroup and later tried to drivetwo birdsin that direction. Eachtime the birdscircled overmy headand returned." This observanceof the boundaries indicatesthat a true territoryis maintained.Characteristic defense of territorywas observed on severaloccasions. On December3, "manybirds were sitting and calling all overthe area. Several birds flewback and forth and fromplace to place. Three birdsdrove two birds out to the east and then returned. The fighting was not severeand the chasing short." Also on December22, ! "sawa bird driveanother across the roadand away;then return. The pursuit was serious but not fierce." Althoughthese observations indicate a definite territory for each group,on the other hand several observations showthat these terri- toriesare not as strictly delimited as is thecase in Crotophagaani. Thuson December 3, ! sawone group enter the territory of another groupand spend some time feeding before leaving of theirown volition. On December17, while watchingthe nest of a groupat dawn,! sawa birdfrom another group come down to thenest and sit in the same tree as a bird which owned the nest, without any molestationfrom the ownerof the territory. Furthermoreon several Vol.•94o57] a DAVIS,Social Habits o! Guira 475 occasionsbirds came from a long distanceand mingled with the flock and even slept in the sametree. A reconciliationof theseconflicting observations perhaps can be basedon the fact that the membersof one flockmay simultaneously build more than one nest in the territory. For example,on No- vember 30, two nests were found within 200 meters of each other and certainlywithin the territoryof one group. One of thesenests, containingeggs about one-halfincubated, was owned by a pair of birds. The other nest, containingyoung which left the nest when I climbed the tree, was attendedby about five birds. Of thesefive birds only three were solicitous;one of thesethree drove away another bird although pursuing it for only a short distance. Another case of simultaneousnesting within one territory was observedat the Dixon estancia. One nest, in a palm tree, contained four young about three daysold in addition to one partly incubatedegg. The other nest containedfour cold eggs. From informationprovided by the ownersof the estancia,it is absolutelycertain that this latter nest, whichwas high up in an araucariatree about25 metersfrom the first nest, was built after the palm-tree nest. It is certain that human interference did not cause the desertion of the araucaria nest for both nestswere in a garden where the birds were accustomedto human beingsand even to dogs. AlthoughI sawonly two birds in the area,a few dayspreviously there had beenthree. There is thus no doubt that birds of the samegroup built two nestswhich were co•xistent. A third case of co•xistent nests was encountered at the Dean estancia. Somemembers of a colonyof eighteenbirds built one nest,subsequently deserted, in whicheighteen eggs were laid, while membersof the groupwere incubatingat a nest containing fourteeneggs. In additionto thesecases, both Hudson (Sclater and Hudson,1889) and Daguerre(1924) report that pairs may separate off from the flockto build simultaneously.Hudson describes the his- toryof a colonywhich broke up intogroups of threeor
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