Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/616

 596 PLANT CUTTER PLATA the characters are essentially the same, except in the incapability of turning the outer toe backward. It embraces the single genus opis- thocomus (Hoffm.), and the single species 0. cristatus (Lath.) or the hoazin ; this is about 18 in. long, greenish above, with longitudinal white stripes on the back of the neck and shoulders ; the forehead and long crest chest- nut, as well as the primaries and abdomen ; breast lighter, with an orange tint ; secondaries and tertiaries edged with white; tail long, green tipped with light buff ; bare space round eyes blue, legs red, and bill yellow. It lives in small flocks on the banks of the rivers of Bra- zil and Guiana, feeding chiefly on the leaves of the arum arborescens (Linn.), which give to the flesh a musky odor rendering it unpalata- ble. This singular bird was placed by Linnaeus and by many later authors among the galli- naceous birds, which it resembles even in its gait ; it is now ranked among the perchers. PLANT CUTTER, a conirostral bird, the type of the subfamily phytotomince, by some placed with the finches and by others with the chat- terers. In the single genus phytotoma (Mol.) the bill is short, strong, conical, broad at the base, with arched culmen and lateral margins finely serrated ; wings moderate, the quills from the third to the fifth equal and longest ; tail moderate and even ; tarsi strong,- shorter than the middle toe, and covered with transverse scales; toes long and slender, hind one long, and all armed with curved claws ; the intestine is short, an exception to the rule in vegetable feeders. Only a few species are described, in temperate South America, in woody and dry regions, often visiting cultivated fields ; they live in pairs or in small flocks, and do consid- erable mischief in orchards and gardens by cut- ting off buds, fruits, and plants with their ser- Plant Cutter (Phytotoma rara). rated bills, destroying, as if in mere wanton- ness, much more than is required for food ; they also eat insects. The flight is short and low, and the notes very disagreeable, resem- bling the grating of the teeth of saws rubbed over each other. The best known species is the P. rara (Mol.) of Chili; it is about the size of a thrush, brown above, each feather edged with lighter ; top of head rufous brown, which color prevails in the lower parts; tail rufous, with a terminal dark brown bar ; wings dark brown, the primaries with a white bar, and the wing coverts edged with the same. The nest is made in high trees. PLANTIGRADES, a division of carnivorous mammals, so named because the whole foot, including the tarsus and metatarsus, is applied to the ground in walking. The toes are longer than in the digitigrade division, the form heav- ier, and the diet more vegetable ; they have a greater facility for raising themselves on their hind feet, for clasping, climbing, and digging ; the small extent of the lumbar region renders them less supple and agile ; they are generally slow in their movements, and nocturnal in habit. The distinctions between these divi- sions are not entirely definite, and some ani- mals are intermediate between the two, and therefore semi-plantigrade ; these divisions may be represented respectively by the bears, the dogs and cats, and the civets and weasels. Be- sides the bears, the plantigrades embrace the glutton or wolverene, badger, raccoon, coaiti, kinkajou or potto, and the panda or wah. PLANT LOUSE. See APHIS. PLAQUEMINES, a S. E. parish of Louisiana, at the extremity of the state, bordering on the gulf of Mexico, and including the delta of the Mississippi, by which it is intersected ; area, about 1,000 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 10,552, of whom 6,845 were colored. It has a low and level surface, nowhere more than 10 ft. above the gulf, and a large portion is occupied by marshes. The chief productions in 1870 were 55,280 bushels of Indian corn, 7,723 hogsheads of sugar, 421,562 gallons of molasses, and 8,639,026 Ibs. of rice. There were 914 horses, 1,648 mules and asses, 1,116 milch cows, 2,236 other cattle, and 1,111 swine. Capital, Point a la Hache. PLASSEY, Battle of. See CLIVE. PLASTER OF PARIS. See GYPSUM PLATA, La. See ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. PLATA, Rio de la (Silver river), a river (or more properly an estuary) of South America, between Uruguay and the Argentine Republic, having Montevideo, the capital of the former, on its N. bank near the entrance, and Buenos Ayres, the capital of the latter, on its S. bank near the head. It is formed by the junction of the Parana with the Uruguay, whose waters empty through it into the Atlantic. From the confluence of these rivers to about 120 m. be- low it has all the distinctive features of a fresh- water estuary ; it then widens abruptly into a bay, 130 m. wide and 50 m. long, to a line drawn from Este point to Rasa point, the N". E. and S. W. limits of the entrance, where the water discharged by the rivers begins to mingle with the ocean. The estuary has a general di- rection of N. W. by W. and S. E. by E., and its width varies from 55 to 21 m. The northern