Argentine Ornithology Volume I Part 25

+Cnipolegus hudsoni+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 541, pl. x.x.xi. (Rio Negro).

_Description._--Uniform dull black; a broad bar across the bases of the inner webs of the wing-feathers white; two outer primaries much pointed at their extremities; bill plumbeous, feet black: whole length 60 inches, wing 28, tail 26.

This species is at once distinguishable from the preceding (_C.

anthracinus_) by its smaller size and the peculiar narrowed outer remiges.

_Hab._ Northern Patagonia.

This species is found in the western provinces of the Argentine Republic, and, like _C. anthracinus_, which it closely resembles, is a summer visitor in Patagonia, where it makes its appearance in October.

The plumage is intense black, with the inner webs of the remiges at their base white, but the wing-band, which is over an inch in breadth, shows only when the bird flies. There is also a small white spot on the flank, scarcely visible, and excepting for this speck the bird at rest appears entirely black. When it flies the white band appears suddenly, producing a curious effect, for the wings are opened and shut successively and with great rapidity, making the white band appear like a succession of flashes. All the movements of the bird are eccentric to a degree. It selects a dead twig on the summit of a bush, and this perch it occupies during many hours every day. Occasionally it darts after a pa.s.sing insect, but I believe it feeds princ.i.p.ally on the ground, like _Lichenops perspicillatus_. At intervals it quits its perch very suddenly and revolves round it with the rapidity of a moth whirling round the flame of a candle, the wings producing a loud humming sound, and the bird uttering a series of sharp clicking notes. During this performance the white wing-band appears like a pale mist surrounding the bird. This fantastical dance over, it resumes its perch, and, until moved to a second display, sits as motionless as a bird carved out of jet.

128. CNIPOLEGUS CYANIROSTRIS (Vieill.).

(BLUE-BILLED TYRANT.)

+Cnipolegus cyanirostris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 457 (Mendoza): _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43; _Barrows, Bull. Nutt.

Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 141 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Uniform dull black; inner webs of the wing-feathers margined with dull white; bill plumbeous, feet dark brown: whole length 57 inches, wing 30, tail 56. _Female_ dark cinnamomeous brown, brighter on the head and rump; wings blackish, wing-coverts and secondaries edged with pale rufous; tail blackish brown, outer margins of outer rectrices and inner webs of all the rectrices, except the two middle, bright rufous; below pale fulvous, densely striated with blackish; bill and feet brown.

_Hab._ S. Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and La Plata.

In size this species of Black Tyrant is but slightly smaller than the one described, and the colour is also of an intense black, but the white wing-band is less conspicuous, the borders only of the inner webs of the quills being white. It also differs in having a bright blue beak and red eyes. Azara discovered it in Paraguay, and described the brown-plumaged female as a distinct species. He merely says that it sits on the summit of a bush and darts after pa.s.sing insects, but it will, no doubt, be found to possess some curious performing habits like the other species of the genus.

Mr. Barrows met with this species on the Lower Uruguay, in the month of September, and Burmeister obtained it near Mendoza.

129. CNIPOLEGUS CABANISI, Schulz.

(CABANIS'S TYRANT.)

+Cnipolegus cabanisi+, _Schulz, Journ. f. Orn._ 1882, p. 462.

_Description._--Nearly uniform olivaceous slate-colour; below rather paler; wings and tail black: whole length 60 inches, wing 34, tail 31. _Female_ brownish olive, below paler; wings blackish, slightly edged with rufous; tail black, with broad rufous margins to the inner webs, and narrow similar margins to the outer webs; bill and feet brown.

_Hab._ Tuc.u.man.

This is one of Herr Schulz's discoveries in Tuc.u.man. He met with it, in the month of January, in the mountainous districts of that province.

130. CNIPOLEGUS CINEREUS, Scl.

(CINEREOUS TYRANT.)

+Cnipolegus cinereus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43; _Doring, Journ. f. Orn._ 1878, p. 197 (Cordova); _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p.

357, pl. x. (Tuc.u.man, Salta).

_Description._--Dark cinereous, paler and more olivaceous on the back and wings; edges of wing-coverts and secondaries rather lighter; below paler, throat and breast blackish, like the head; inner margins of wing-feathers whitish; outer primaries ac.u.minated; bill plumbeous, feet black: whole length 46 inches, wing 22, tail 23. _Female_ brownish cinereous; cap and rump rufous; wings blackish, tips of coverts and edges of outer secondaries whitish; tail blackish, inner webs of all the lateral rectrices, except the tips, rufous; beneath whitish.

_Hab._ Northern Argentina.

131. LICHENOPS PERSPICILLATUS (Gm.).

(SILVER-BILL TYRANT.)

+Lichenops perspicillatus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 457 (La Plata to Mendoza); _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 141 (Buenos Ayres); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 43; _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 432 (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 21 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 604 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull.

Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 141 (Entrerios, Azul).

_Description._--Uniform black; primaries pure white, with black tips and bases; fleshy ring around the eye and bill yellow, feet black: whole length 56 inches, wings 35, tail 24. _Female_ above dark brown, with light brown edgings to the feathers; remiges chestnut, with dark-brown tips; wing-coverts dark brown with fulvous tips; beneath fulvous white, breast with dark striations; under wing-coverts fulvous; bill yellowish, feet black.

_Hab._ Southern Bolivia, S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, La Plata, Chili, and Patagonia.

Naturalists have said a great deal about the well-known Silver-bill (the most important member of my "_Spectacular_" group), the question as to whether the black and red birds are s.e.xes or two distinct species having long remained unsettled. Azara, writing in the last century, under the heading _Pico de Plata_, rightly described the red bird as the female of the black; but, unfortunately, in another part of his work he described the female again as a different species, naming it _Suiriri chorreado_.

Darwin also separated the s.e.xes, and gave the name of _Lichenops erythropterus_ to the red-plumaged bird. The following extract gives only a portion of his argument, and is interesting to read, even now, when the question has been finally set at rest, as it shows how much the two birds differ:--"The tail of _L. erythropterus_ is squarer and contains only ten feathers instead of twelve: the wing is 4/10 of an inch shorter; and the secondaries relative to the primaries are also shorter. The red colour on the primaries represents but does not correspond with the white on the black feathers of _L. perspicillatus_; and the secondaries in the two birds are quite differently marked.

In _L. erythropterus_ the third, fourth, and fifth primaries are the longest, and are equal to each other; the second is only a little shorter than the third. In _L. perspicillatus_ the third is rather shorter than the fourth and fifth; and the second is proportionately shorter relative to the third, so that the outer part of the wing in this species is more pointed than in _L. erythropterus_. The outer claw in the latter species is only in a small degree straighter than in the former; and this, considering that _L. perspicillatus_ is generally perched, and when on the ground can only hop, and that _L.

erythropterus_ feeds there entirely, and walks, is very remarkable."

When one considers the habits of the two birds, even where they are most abundant and seen continually, it is indeed difficult to believe that they are of the same species. They are never seen a.s.sociating together, even in the love-season, and when I have watched a pair actually engaged in constructing their nest, they appeared to keep as far apart as possible. More than that, the male, while unfriendly towards all other species, appears to cherish a special antipathy against the red bird; and when one comes near him never fails to pursue it with the greatest virulence from the neighbourhood. He is also strictly solitary, but the red birds frequently unite in small parties, especially in autumn, when I have often seen as many as a dozen together.

Altogether the Silver-bill has been a puzzle in the past, and it would now appear, from some recent observations made by Mr. Barrows, that we have not yet got to the end of all the curious points in its habits.

Without doubt it is migratory. Its range extends from Paraguay to Patagonia, where it is not common. In Paraguay and the hotter parts of the Argentine country it is probably stationary; in Buenos Ayres, where it is most abundant, many individuals remain all the year in sheltered places, and the migration appears to become more definite the further south we get. Mr. Barrows travelled south across the pampas in the autumn, and says:--"The species was met with at all points visited, but south of the Azul not a single male in the black plumage was seen, though the brown birds (presumably females or young) were met with almost every day for nine weeks, and frequently in large numbers. Of course I began to suspect that the males must moult into a brown suit after nesting, as do our Bobolinks and many other birds, but I shot specimens at various times, and all proved to be either females or young males, and as I was confident that at Concepcion black males were to be found through the year, I was at a loss for an explanation, and am so still."

The male Silver-bill is entirely black, there is nothing in nature blacker than its plumage; and, to enhance the effect, the beak is of a very delicate primrose-yellow, which at a little distance appears white, hence the vernacular name. The eye, and broad free skin surrounding it, which is ruffed like an Elizabethan collar, are of the same faint primrose hue. The secondary wing-quills are pure white, but the white is only displayed when the bird flies. The female has the naked skin encircling the eye, but its colour, as also that of the beak, is much darker than in the male. Entire upper plumage dark brown; secondaries chestnut; lower parts fawn-colour, marked with brown. The young males are at first like the females in colour, and do not acquire the black plumage until the end of the summer.

The bird ranges over the whole of the Argentine Republic, and, according to Gay, is also common throughout Chili, where it is known as the _Colegial_ (Collegian or learned person), on account of its stiff grave manner, black dress, and spectacled appearance.

The male is a solitary bird, and feeds chiefly on the ground, running rapidly about in open places like a _Muscisaxicola_. It is also frequently seen perched conspicuously on the summit of a tall stalk or bush, and occasionally making a dart into the air after pa.s.sing insects, showing in this habit his relationship with the Tyrant-birds. But he perches on an elevation less to watch for insects than for the purpose of his curious spectacular performance. This highly eccentric habit is strikingly like that of _Cnipolegus hudsoni_; and I have no doubt that all the _Cnipolegi_ possess similar habits. Both birds perch on a conspicuous place, upright, motionless, and looking more like grotesque little automata than living things; they both also leave the perch suddenly, as if shot from it by means of a steel spring. This singularly sudden movement, and the motion of the wings, rapid as in the Humming-bird, or shut and opened alternately and exhibiting the white wing-colour in a series of flashes, seems related to the conspicuous white mark. In both species, also, the wings make a humming sound during flight. The motions of the Silver-bill are, however, in some respects different from those of the _Cnipolegus_. Springing from its perch at intervals, it darts vertically to a height of about fifteen yards, then turns a summersault, uttering at the same moment a shrill-sounding little cry, after which it drops down again and alights on its perch suddenly, as if jerked back to it, and there remains stiff, erect, and motionless as before.

The nest is made of dry gra.s.s in a thistle-bush or clump of reeds, and is rather deep and cup-shaped. The eggs are four in number, white, and spotted at the larger end with dark red.

132. MACHETORNIS RIXOSA (Vieill.).

(SHORT-WINGED TYRANT.)

+Machetornis rixosa+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 458 (Parana); _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 142; _iid. Nomencl._ p. 44; _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1874, p. 173 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 177 (Buenos Ayres); _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 357 (Salta); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 142 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Above brownish olive; wings and tail brown, the latter terminated by a yellowish band; middle of cap occupied by a scarlet crest; beneath bright yellow, paler on the throat; bill and feet black: whole length 72 inches, wing 39, tail 35. _Female_ similar, but rather duller. Young without the scarlet crest.

_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and La Plata.

This species, found in the open districts throughout South America, from Venezuela to Buenos Ayres, where it is quite common, has very interesting habits. It is seven inches and a half long, has a plump body, short wings, and long legs. The upper plumage is light brown, the throat, breast, and belly yellow, and the male has a concealed crest of a bright orange-red colour.

It resembles the true Tyrants in disposition, in its shrill piercing language, and in the habit of perching and breeding in trees. On the other hand, like the long-legged _Myiotheretes_, that lives on the open plains, it feeds exclusively on the ground, over which it runs with a speed possessed by few perching species. The general impression one forms is that in manners and appearance the Short-winged Tyrant is quite unlike any other species, though all its habits are to be found in one or other of the various groups comprising the _Tyrannidae_.

These birds have no migration, but pair for life, and always remain on the same spot, and will continue to breed in the same hole for many years, even where they are frequently deprived of their eggs. Azara saw them sometimes uniting in small flocks in Paraguay; in Buenos Ayres they are always seen in pairs, or, after the young have left the nest, in families. They prefer to live near a human habitation, where there are trees: even one tree, in which they can breed and find shelter at night, will be sufficient to attach them to a dwelling, so great is their partiality for the clean-trodden ground where they can freely run about and catch insects. They haunt the cattle-pens, and become extremely familiar with the cows, horses, and sheep, following them to the pasture-grounds, where they are often seen perched on the back of a horse or other domestic animal, or stationed close to its nose on the ground, watching for insects. On the bare ground they run about with wonderful swiftness, and are able to overtake and capture flying insects without rising. The male and female invariably hunt together, and at intervals fly to some favourite perch to indulge in a duet composed of loud, rapid, shrill notes, somewhat metallic in sound. Though able to fly swiftly when in pursuit of a pa.s.sing hawk or other bird, at other times their flight is strangely slow; the round body, short blunt wings and tail giving the bird a somewhat curious appearance as it progresses laboriously through the air. I have frequently seen them make the most unprovoked a.s.saults on birds of an inoffensive kind; possibly they are in these attacks moved by a playful rather than by a vindictive spirit.