: Argentine Ornithology, Volume I (of 2) by P. L Sclater, W. H Hudson (books to read in your 20s female .txt) 📖

viii. p. 138 (Entrerios). +Xolmis

      variegata+, _Darw. Zool. Voy. Beagle_, iii. p. 54 (Santa Fé).

 

    _Description._--Above cinereous; rounded summit of head black,

    broad front and band encircling the black of the head white; wings

    blackish, upper coverts cinereous, edgings of middle and greater

    coverts and of outer secondaries whitish; tail blackish, margins of

    outer webs of external tail-feathers white; beneath white; under

    wing-coverts and a large portion of the inner webs of the remiges,

    except of the two outer primaries, white; bill and feet black; whole

    length 7·8 inches, wing 4·6, tail 3·1. _Female_ similar.

 

_Hab._ Argentine Republic, Uruguay, and Paraguay.

 

In this species the sexes are alike. The crown is black and composed

of loose feathers; the forehead, and a broad line over the eye which

extends nearly round the head, also all the under plumage, pure white;

neck and back clear grey; quills black.

 

This Tyrant is a solitary bird, though often many individuals are found

within call of each other, and they sometimes even unite in a loose

flock. It is found throughout the Argentine country, ranging south to

the Rio Negro, in Patagonia, but abounds most on the Buenos-Ayrean

pampas, where it performs a partial migration. Most of the _Tæniopteræ_

seek their food by preference on the bare level ground, or where the

vegetation is most scanty. This species varies somewhat in habits, and

seldom runs on the ground, and chiefly inhabits the desert plains,

where the large grasses flourish. On one occasion when I was with an

expedition on the pampas for several weeks, every day a number of these

birds would gather and follow us; perched here and there on the tall

grasses with their bosoms toward us, they often looked at a distance

like large white flowers. Old gauchos have told me that fifty years ago

they were abundant all over the pampas, but have disappeared wherever

the giant grasses have been eaten down, and have given place to a

different vegetation.

 

Their note is a long, low whistle, the usual language of the

_Tæniopteræ_; but in this species it is very like a human whistle, on

account of which the bird is named _Boyero_ (ox-driver) on the pampas.

One severe winter great numbers of them appeared in the neighbourhood

of Buenos Ayres, and it was amusing to see the dogs thrown into a great

state of excitement by the low whistling notes heard perpetually from

all sides. Every few moments they would start up and stare about them

to ascertain where the deceptive call came from, and in spite of many

disappointments they would occasionally all rush away, loudly barking,

into the plantation, convinced that some person there was whistling to

call them.

 

The Black-Crown makes a somewhat shallow nest in a bush or large clump

of grass, and lays four white eggs, with large dark red spots, chiefly

at the big end.

 

I cannot refrain from quoting a passage from Mr. Barrows's paper,

descriptive of the lively temper and habits of this bird:--

 

"This species frequently persecutes smaller birds in a way which seems

to imply pure love of mischief. One afternoon in July, when the river

had fallen some feet after an unusual rise, I was walking along the

lines of drift left by the falling water, and watching the different

birds which were picking up insects or other food from the wind-rows.

A score or two of the little chestnut-backed _Centrites_ were running

about, and here and there a _Tænioptera_ was looking quietly on.

Suddenly I heard a chirp of distress, and looking up saw one of

these small birds apparently making every effort to escape from a

_Tænioptera_, which was following in full chase. The two birds were

hardly a length apart and both going at full speed, doubling and dodging

in a way that would have done credit to a bat. The chase lasted perhaps

for half a minute, when the smaller bird alighted, and at once the other

also alighted and began running about unconcernedly and picking up food.

But the instant the smaller one made a start his enemy was at his heels

(or more properly his tail) again, and he was forced to alight. This was

repeated so often that I was on the point of shooting the pursuer,

when, without any notice, he flew quietly off, and resumed his usual

demeanour. It looked like a case of simple spite, for even if there were

twenty other birds about, one seemed to be followed without regard to

the rest."

 

I have often watched _Tæniopteræ_ of different species, also

_Myiotheretes rufiventris_ behaving in a similar way, and agree with Mr.

Barrows that it is "an _amusement_ in which the larger bird indulges

simply for the pleasure derived from the exercise of his power."

114. TÆNIOPTERA DOMINICANA (Vieill.). (DOMINICAN TYRANT.)

 

+Tænioptera dominicana+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 460

      (Entrerios); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 42; _Durnford, Ibis_,

      1877, p. 176 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 38

      (Buenos Ayres); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 42 (Azul,

      Currumalan); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 139

      (Entrerios, Pigué, Pampas).

 

    _Description._--Above pure white; wings black, with a broad whitish

    subapical band across the first six primaries, beyond which the

    tips are blackish; tail black; beneath pure white: whole length 8·0

    inches, wing 4·6, tail 4·2. _Female_ similar, but head above and

    back cinereous.

 

_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentine Republic.

 

This bird ranges from South Brazil and Paraguay to the southernmost

pampas of Buenos Ayres. Its total length is eight inches. The wings

and tail are black, the former barred with white; all the rest of the

plumage in the male is pure white; in the female the upper parts are

grey.

 

It is to some extent migratory, and usually goes in flocks of a dozen or

twenty birds, and frequents open situations where there are bushes and

trees, also plains covered with giant grasses. They are more social in

their habits than _T. coronata_, but in other respects closely resemble

it, and are exceedingly active lively birds, and when the flock is on

the wing continually pursue each other in a playful manner.

 

Mr. Barrows observed them in autumn on the Pigué (southern pampas)

preparing for their migration. "Late in March," he says, "we found them

in large scattered flocks, which collected in one place toward evening,

and went through a series of aerial evolutions accompanied with vocal

exercises of a varied and entertaining kind, lasting half an hour or

more.

 

"I presume this was in preparation for their northward (or westward?)

migration, as we did not see them again after leaving this spot."

115. TÆNIOPTERA IRUPERO (Vieill.). (WIDOW TYRANT.)

 

+Tænioptera irupero+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 141 (Buenos

      Ayres); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 42; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 603

      (Catamarca, Misiones); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 42

      (R. Colorado); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 139

      (Entrerios). +Tænioptera mœsta+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii.

460.

 

    _Description._--Above and beneath pure white; wings with the

    primaries black except the innermost, which are white at their

    bases and tipped with black, and secondaries which have narrow

    black shafts; broad end of the tail black; bill and feet black;

    two outer primaries acuminated: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 4·3,

    tail 3·2. _Female_ similar.

 

_Hab._ Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentine Republic, and Bolivia.

 

This pretty species is found throughout the Argentine country, and is

well known to the natives, and usually called _Viudita_ (Little Widow),

on account of its mourning colours. It is also sometimes curiously named

_Anjelito de las Animas_, from a superstitious notion due to the intense

whiteness of its plumage and to its supposed habit of frequenting

graveyards. In both sexes the entire plumage is snowy white, except the

primaries and the tip of the tail, which are black. In habits it is

more sedentary than other _Tæniopteræ_, and obtains its food chiefly by

patiently watching the surface of the ground for its insect prey. Its

marvellously white plumage, and the habit of sitting motionless on the

summit of a bush or tree, make it a most conspicuous object, so that it

is strange to find such a bird existing in districts which abound in

raptorial species; for Hawks, I have frequently noticed, will always

single out a white or conspicuously coloured bird for pursuit, and

though the Little Widow, like the other members of its genus, is swift

and strong of wing, the feeble and the young must often fall victims to

their shining white plumage.

 

The Little Widow is a solitary bird, and not nearly so lively and

playful in manner as _T. coronata_ and _T. dominicana_, its surpassing

whiteness being its most interesting feature. Its nesting-habits are

unlike those of other _Tæniopteræ_, for it breeds only in holes, usually

in the bole or branch of a tree; but sometimes it takes possession of

the oven of _Furnarius rufus_ to lay in. The nest is composed chiefly of

feathers and contains four eggs, creamy white, with a few very minute

red spots, irregularly distributed. Mr. Dalgleish says, "Some eggs have

only two or three spots, none have more than eight or ten."

 

Mr. Barrows says:--"The adults have several of the primaries remarkably

attenuated. Young birds appear to acquire these attenuate primaries only

after a complete moult. But I took one specimen which showed one or more

primaries with tips of ordinary shape but with a line apparently _worn_

into the vane of the inner web, so as to mark out distinctly the

attenuate tip, and it seemed as if a little more wearing would cut out

a piece which would leave the primary as in the old bird."

116. TÆNIOPTERA MURINA (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (MOUSE-BROWN TYRANT.)

 

+Tænioptera murina+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 541 (Rio Negro);

      _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 42; _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 38

      (Cordova). +Pyrope murina+, _Cab. Journ. f. Orn._ 1878, p. 196

      (Cordova).

 

    _Description._--Above sandy cinereous, whitish round the eyes; wings

    and tail blackish with whitish edgings; below much paler, throat

    whitish with slight black striations; belly and crissum tinged with

    ochraceous; under wing-coverts and flanks pale ochraceous; bill

    horn-colour; feet black; two outer primaries acuminated: whole

    length 7·0 inches, wing 4·0, tail 2·9. _Female_ similar, but outer

    primaries normal.

 

_Hab._ Western Argentina and North Patagonia.

 

This species inhabits the Mendoza district, and migrates south in

spring. I met with it on the Rio Negro, in Patagonia, where