Argentine Ornithology Volume I Part 26

I once saw one drop like a stone from a height of fifty yards on to a Pigeon perched on a leafless tree. The Pigeon fell as if shot to the earth; the Tyrant-bird then released his hold; the Pigeon rushed away terrified through the trees, while its persecutor rose high up in the air and resumed its journey.

I have elsewhere spoken of the wars waged by this bird against other species, all seeking to gain possession of the large nest of _Anumbius acuticaudatus_. A hole in the trunk of a tree is also a favourite breeding-place. The nest is neatly built of slender twigs and leaves, and lined with horse-hair. The eggs are slightly oval, and densely marked with dark brown spots or stripes on a white or brownish-white ground.

133. MUSCISAXICOLA MACLOVIANA (Garn.).

(CHIN-SPOTTED TYRANT.)

+Muscisaxicola mentalis+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 541 (Rio Negro); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 44.

_Description._--Above cinereous, lores blackish, cap brown; tail-coverts and tail black, outer margins of outer tail-feather white; below pale cinereous, pa.s.sing into white on lower belly, crissum, and under wing-coverts; chin-spot brown: bill and feet black: whole length 61 inches, wing 41, tail 26. _Female_ similar, but chin-spot not so well marked.

_Hab._ Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Patagonia, and Falkland Islands.

This South-Patagonian species is one of a Chilian group of Tyrant-birds which resemble in their habits the _Saxicolae_ of Europe. The plumage is generally grey, with more or less rufous colour on the crown; they have long legs, and run swiftly on the ground, frequent open sterile situations, and perch only occasionally on trees.

The present bird is about seven inches long; the upper parts are dull grey, except the crown, which is dark chestnut; under surface light grey, and tail nearly black. In the month of June I met with these birds on the Rio Negro, on their arrival there from the south. They went in flocks of a dozen or twenty birds; they had a swift easy flight, were shy and restless in their manner, and uttered low plaintive whistling notes. When a flock alights on the ground the birds all instantly scatter, running rapidly about in all directions over the bare ground.

Occasionally one was seen to perch on some slight elevation, and dart like a Flycatcher after pa.s.sing insects.

Darwin saw this bird as far north on the Atlantic coast as Bahia Blanca.

He also found it at Tierra del Fuego, where it lives entirely on the sea-beaches; and in the sterile upper valleys of the Chilian Andes, at a height of ten thousand feet, where the last traces of vegetation occur and where no other bird lives.

134. MUSCISAXICOLA RUFIVERTEX, d'Orb. et Lafr.

(RED-TOPPED TYRANT.)

+Ptyonura rufivertex+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 461 (Mendoza).

_Description._--Above clear cinereous; lores and short superciliaries whitish; well-defined nape-patch bright rufous; wings brownish; upper tail-coverts and tail black, outer margin of outer rectrix white: below clear cinereous white, brighter on lower belly, crissum, and under wing-coverts; bill and feet black: whole length 65 inches, wing 40, tail 28. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Peru, Bolivia, Chili, and Western Argentina.

135. MUSCISAXICOLA MACULIROSTRIS, d'Orb. et Lafr.

(SPOT-BILLED TYRANT.)

+Muscisaxicola maculirostris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 44; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 395 (Centr. Patagonia). +Ptyonura maculirostris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 462 (Mendoza).

_Description._--Above greyish brown, lores and slight superciliaries whitish; tail-coverts and tail black, the outer web of the outer rectrix white; below pale greyish white, whiter on the belly and crissum; bill black, with the base of the lower mandible yellowish; feet black: whole length 55 inches, wing 34, tail 24. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Chili, Patagonia, Bolivia, Peru, and Western Ecuador.

Prof. Burmeister met with this species near Mendoza, in the mouths of the large torrents above the city. Durnford found it near the river Sengalen in Central Patagonia in December 1877.

136. CENTRITES NIGER (Bodd.).

(RED-BACKED TYRANT.)

+Centrites niger+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 458; _Scl. et Salv.

Nomencl._ p. 44; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 395 (Chupat); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 604 (Buenos Ayres); _Doring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 42 (R. Colorado); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn.

Cl._ viii. p. 142 (Entrerios, Pampas).

_Description._--Above and below deep black: whole of back except the rump and scapularies chestnut; bill and feet black; under wing-coverts and wings below black: whole length 50 inches, wing 28, tail 19. _Female_ above brown, back fulvous red; tail black; below ashy brown.

_Hab._ Patagonia, Chili, and Argentina.

The little Red-backed Tyrant comes nearest to _Muscisaxicola mentalis_ in habits, but does not perch on bushes and trees, and is less gregarious than that bird. It is the smallest of all those varied members of the _Tyrannine_ family which have abandoned forests and marshes and the pursuit of insects on the wing, to live on the wintry uplands of Patagonia, and on the sterile plains bordering on the Andes.

The male is only five and a quarter inches long. The entire plumage of the male is intensely black, except the back, which is bright chestnut.

The inside of the mouth and tongue are vivid orange-yellow. The chestnut colour on the female is pale, the rest of the plumage grey, except the quills, which are dark.

Its summer home is in the southern portion of Patagonia, but its nesting-habits are not known. In March it migrates north, and is very common everywhere on the pampas throughout the winter. They arrive in small parties of three or four, or in little loose flocks of about a dozen individuals, travelling with a swift low flight. Males, females, and young, grey like the last, arrive together; shortly after arriving the young males become mottled with black, and before leaving acquire the adult plumage. They appear to leave in spring all together, but from a note by Durnford it would appear that the males travel in advance of the females. He says:--"Males of this species were common at Chupat throughout September and during the first few days of October. On the 5th of the latter month I observed the first females, which gradually increased in number."

The Little Red-backs inhabit open unsheltered plains, and have so great a predilection for bare ground on which they can run freely about, that on their arrival on the pampas, where the earth is thickly carpeted with gra.s.s, they are seen attaching themselves to roads, sheep-pens, borders of streams, vizcacha villages, and similar places. They are exceedingly restless, running swiftly over the ground, occasionally darting into the air in pursuit of small flies, and all the flock so scattered that there will be a dozen yards between every two birds. Mr. Barrows describes their lively habits very well:--"I think this is one of the most restless birds I ever saw. You cannot depend upon him to be in the same place two consecutive half-seconds. He runs like a Sanderling, and whenever he keeps his feet still by accident, his wings are flirted in a way that shows his anxiety to be off. Several are usually found together, and sometimes a loose flock of a hundred or more is seen. They are very strong on the wing, sometimes mounting rapidly for several hundred feet, if suddenly startled, and after a few moments spent in circling like a Snipe, they drop again almost as suddenly as a shot, and as if from the very clouds."

137. PLATYRHYNCHUS MYSTACEUS (Vieill.).

(BROAD-BILLED TYRANT.)

+Platyrhynchus mystaceus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 44; _White, P.

Z. S._ 1882, p. 605 (Misiones).

_Description._--Above olive, darker on the head; coronal patch bright yellow; lores, eye-region, and ear-coverts pale yellowish; mystacal stripe blackish; wings and tail blackish edged with olive-brown; below clear fulvous, much whiter on the throat; upper mandible blackish, lower whitish; feet pale yellowish: whole length 33 inches, wing 21, tail 11. _Female_ similar, but no coronal patch.

_Hab._ Guiana, Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern La Plata.

A single example of this species was obtained by White in the forest near San Javier, Misiones.

138. EUSCARTHMUS MARGARITACEIVENTRIS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).

(PEARLY-BELLIED TYRANT.)

+Todirostrum margaritaceiventer+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 316 (Corrientes). +Euscarthmus margaritaceiventris+, _Scl. et Salv.

Nomencl._ p. 45; _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 357 (Tuc.u.man). +Triccus margaritiventris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 456 (Parana).

_Description._--Above olive-green, wings and tail blackish edged with olive-green; whole head above, including sides and back of neck, dark cinereous; beneath pearly white, pa.s.sing into pale cinereous on the sides; under wing-coverts pale yellowish, flanks tinged with olivaceous; bill hazel; feet red: whole length 45 inches, wing 21, tail 19.

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

This species, discovered by d'Orbigny in Corrientes, was also met with near Parana by Prof. Burmeister, and by Durnford in Tuc.u.man.

139. EUSCARTHMUS GULARIS (Temm.).