Argentine Ornithology Volume I Part 27

(RED-THROATED TYRANT.)

+Euscarthmus gularis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 45; _White, P. Z.

S._ 1882, p. 605 (Corrientes and Oran).

_Description._--Olive-brown; wings blackish, wing-coverts tipped and outer secondaries edged with yellowish white, forming two distinct bands; remiges and rectrices narrowly margined with olive; head above dark cinereous; lores and sides of the head surrounding the dark ear-coverts rufous; beneath white, sides of the breast greyish; chin and sides of throat rufous, like the lores; flanks and under wing-coverts tinged with yellowish: whole length 35 inches, wing 18, tail 14. _Female_ similar.

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

This bird was observed by White near Oran, and also in Misiones.

140. PHYLLOSCARTES VENTRALIS (Temm.).

(YELLOW-BELLIED TYRANT.)

+Phylloscartes ventralis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 46; _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 198 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Above uniform olive; ill-defined superciliaries whitish; ear-coverts dark; wings and tail blackish with olive margins; well-defined spots on the tips of the two rows of wing-coverts and outer webs of secondaries yellowish; below yellow, rather white on the throat and olivaceous on the sides; under wing-coverts pale yellow; bill and feet blackish: whole length 45 inches, wing 21, tail 23.

_Hab._ S.E. Brazil and Northern La Plata.

This species is stated to have been met with by Mr. Barrows among the low bushes bordering the streams of Entrerios. Graf v. Berlepsch has recorded its presence in Rio Grande do Sul (Zeitschr. ges. Orn. 1885, p. 131), so that this occurrence is not improbable.

141. HAPALOCERCUS FLAVIVENTRIS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).

(REED-TYRANT.)

+Arundinicola flaviventris+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 335, pl. x.x.xi.

fig. 1. +Hapalocercus flaviventris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii.

p. 456 (Mendoza); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 46; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 177 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 395 (Centr.

Patagonia); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 605 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 199 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Above mouse-brown; wings and tail rather darker, with edgings like the back; vertex more or less tinged with rufous; beneath yellow; under wing-coverts pale yellow; bill and feet black: whole length 40 inches, wing 20, tail 20. _Female_ similar.

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

This little bird is rarely met with in the desert pampas, but throughout the settled portion of the Buenos-Ayrean province it is one of the most common species of the _Tyrannidae_. It arrives from the north in September, and is very regular in its migrations, although apparently a very feeble flier. It frequents open grounds abounding in thistles, tall weeds, or bushes, and is consequently most abundant about houses.

It is extremely active, and occasionally darts after a pa.s.sing insect and captures it on the wing, especially soft insects, like moths and b.u.t.terflies, to which it is most partial. It subsists princ.i.p.ally, however, on small caterpillars and spiders, for which it searches diligently among the leaves, after the manner of the Wren. Although belonging to the songless division of the Pa.s.seres, this small Tyrant-bird possesses a formal song, which the male utters with great frequency, the only other member of the Tyrant-family that I am acquainted with which really sings being the Scarlet Tyrant (_Pyrocephalus rubescens_). The music of the Reed-Tyrant is weak but curious; it is composed of five brief percussive notes, distinctly metallic in sound, which may be imitated by gently and slowly striking _fa la mi sol fa_ on the highest keys of the piano. To utter this quaint little song the bird perches itself on the summit of a weed or bush, where it solicits attention with a little chipping prelude, and then jerks its head vigorously with each note, delivering its few drops of sound with all the a.s.surance of a master in the art of melody.

In October it builds a deep elaborate nest of fine dry gra.s.s, thistle-down, webs, feathers, and other soft materials, usually in the fork of a weed or thistle three or four feet from the ground. It lays four cream-coloured eggs, the colour deepening to grey at the larger end.

142. HABRURA PECTORALIS (Vieill.).

(THIN-TAILED TYRANT.)

+Pachyrhamphus minimus+, _Gould, Zool. Voy. Beagle_, iii. p. 61, pl.

xv. (Monte Video). +Habrura minima+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p.

40; _Cab. Journ. f. Orn._ 1878, p. 197 (Cordova); _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1879, p. 460 (Cordova).

_Description._--Above sandy brown, with a dark-greyish tinge on the head, which is subcrested and has the vertical feathers white at their bases; lores and eye-region whitish; wings and tail blackish, edged with sandy brown, which forms in some specimens well-marked wing-bands; beneath pale sandy ochraceous, more rufous on the flanks; throat more or less freckled with black; bill and feet dark brown: whole length 40 inches, wing 19, tail 17. _Female_ similar, but without the black markings on the throat.

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

Examples of this species were obtained by Dr. Doring near Cordova.

143. CULICIVORA STENURA (Temm.).

(NARROW-TAILED TYRANT.)

+Culicivora stenura+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 605 (Misiones).

_Description._--Above sandy brown, striated with black; head nearly black; lores and superciliaries white; wings and tail blackish with slight brownish edgings; below pale sandy buff, more brownish on the sides of the neck and flanks; bill and feet black: whole length 37 inches, wing 17; tail, ext. rectr. 13, med. 19.

_Hab._ S.E. Brazil.

An example of this species is stated by White to have been obtained by him at Itapua, Misiones, in July 1881, but there was possibly an error in its identification.

144. STIGMATURA BUDYTOIDES (d'Orb. et Lafr.).

(WAGTAIL TYRANT.)

+Stigmatura budytoides+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 46; _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 357 (Tuc.u.man, Salta).

_Description._--Above greyish olive; lores and short superciliary streak yellowish; wings blackish brown, tips of wing-coverts and outer margins of secondaries white; tail blackish, all the lateral rectrices crossed by a broad, white, median and second terminal band; under surface pale yellow; bill and feet black: whole length 50 inches, wing 21, tail 25.

_Hab._ Bolivia, Peru, Interior of Brazil, Northern La Plata.

Examples of this species were obtained by Durnford in Tuc.u.man and Salta.

145. STIGMATURA FLAVO-CINEREA (Burm.).

(LONG-TAILED TYRANT.)

+Phylloscartes flavo-cinereus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. 455 (Mendoza); _Doring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 42 (R. Negro, R.

Colorado). +Stigmatura flavo-cinerea+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 542 (Rio Negro); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 46; _White, P. Z.

S._ 1882, p. 606 (Catamarca).

_Description._--Above greyish olive, lores and superciliary stripe whitish; wings blackish, with whitish edgings to the coverts and outer secondaries; tail blackish; outer web of the external rectrix and broad tips of the four external pairs white; beneath pale yellow; bill and feet black: whole length 58 inches, wing 23, tail 30. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Argentine Republic, including N. Patagonia.

This little bird inhabits the Mendoza and Patagonian districts, and does not appear to be migratory, for on the Rio Negro I found it at all seasons. It is slender in form, with a long tail, its total length being six inches. The s.e.xes are alike in colour; the upper parts are yellowish grey, breast and belly light yellow. They are found living in pairs, all the year round, in thorn bushes, and are scarcely ever seen to rest, but hop incessantly from twig to twig, in a delicate, leisurely manner, seeking on the leaves for the minute caterpillars and other insects on which they live. While thus engaged they utter a variety of little chirping and twittering notes, as if conversing together, and occasionally the two birds unite their voices in a shrill, impetuous song.