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

it made its

appearance in October. The sexes are alike. The entire upper plumage is

dull grey with a pale rufous tinge; throat, breast, and belly pale buff

tinged with grey. It is a solitary bird, restless in manner, has a swift

flight, and sits on a stalk or other slight elevation, from which it

darts down to seize any insect it spies on the ground. Its only language

is a very low whistling note.

117. TÆNIOPTERA RUBETRA (Burm.). (CHAT-LIKE TYRANT.) [Plate VII.]

 

+Tænioptera rubetra+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 461 (Mendoza);

      _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 541 (Rio Negro); _Scl. et Salv.

      Nomencl._ p. 42; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 34, et 1878, p. 394

      (Patagonia).

 

    _Description._--Above sandy brown, lores and superciliaries white;

    wings black, greater coverts and outer secondaries edged with

    whitish, lesser coverts like the back; tail black, outer web of the

    outer tail-feathers and tips of others white; below white, with

    black striations on the sides of the throat and on the breast;

    flanks, under wing-coverts, and inner webs of the primaries deep

    rufous; two outer primaries acuminated: whole length 7·5 inches,

    wing 4·7, tail 3·2. _Female_ rather paler, throat and breast washed

    with ochraceous, and outer primaries not acuminated.

 

_Hab._ Interior of Argentine Republic and Patagonia.

 

I have met with this bird at all seasons of the year in Patagonia on the

Rio Negro, and think it probable that it has no migration. It is seen in

flocks of twenty or thirty individuals, and in its lively actions when

on the wing, and in its habit of perching on a bush or elevation of some

kind, from which it pounces down on an insect seen on the ground, it

resembles other _Tæniopteræ_; but it runs about on the ground a

great deal, and in this respect is more like a _Myiotheretes_ or

_Muscisaxicola_. In its colour it also diverges widely from the typical

_Tæniopteras_ in their black and white Dominican plumage. The whole

upper parts are light chestnut, with a white mark on the side of the

head; wings and tail dark, tipped with pale rufous; throat, breast, and

belly whitish rufous, with dark lines on throat and bosom. The chestnut

hue in the female is paler and mixed with grey.

 

 

OCHTHŒCA LEUCOPHRYS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).

 

(WHITE-BROWED TYRANT.)

 

  +Ochthœca leucophrys+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 42; _White, P.

S._ 1882, p. 603 (Catamarca).

 

    _Description._--Above dark cinereous, rump rufescent; wings black,

    cross-bands on wing-coverts and edges of outer secondaries rufous;

    tail blackish, outer web of external rectrix white; beneath pale

    cinereous; lower belly, crissum, and under wing-coverts white; bill

    and feet black: whole length 5·2 inches, wing 3·0, tail 2·7.

 

_Hab._ Bolivia and Northern Argentina.

 

A single specimen of this bird was obtained by White at Fuerte de

Andalgala, Catamarca, in September 1880, during a snow-storm.

119. SAYORNIS CINERACEA (Lafr.). (ASHY TYRANT.)

 

+Sayornis cineracea+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43. +Aulanax

      latirostris+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1879, p. 335 (Tucuman).

 

    _Description._--Above dark cinereous; head sooty black; wings and

    tail blackish, outer margins of the wing-coverts and secondaries and

    outer web of the external tail-feather white; below sooty black,

    middle of belly and under wing-coverts white, flanks and crissum

    dark cinereous; bill and feet black: whole length 9·5 inches, wing

    3·4, tail 3·1. _Female_ similar.

 

_Hab._ Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and N. Argentina.

 

Examples of this wide-ranging species, obtained by Döring in Tucuman,

are referred by Dr. Cabanis to his subspecies "_latirostris_," which

seems to us hardly distinct from _S. cineracea_.

+Phytotoma rutila+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 451 (Paraná,

      Mendoza, Cordova, Tucuman, Catamarca); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._

60; _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 537 (Rio Negro); _Barrows,

      Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 203 (Entrerios); _White, P. Z. S._

      1882, p. 609 (Catamarca).

 

    _Description._--Above plumbeous, with slight darker shaft-spots;

    front of head bright red; wings and tail blackish, two well-marked

    wing-bars and tips of all lateral rectrices white; beneath bright

    red; flanks plumbeous; under wing-coverts whitish: whole length 7·0

    inches, wing 3·5, tail 3·3. _Female_: above grey, densely striated

    with black; beneath dirty white, with dense black striations, belly

    and crissum fulvous.

 

_Hab._ Argentine Republic.

 

I found this curious little bird quite common in Patagonia, where

the natives call it _Chingolo grande_, on account of its superficial

resemblance to the common Song-Sparrow (_Zonotrichia pileata_). The

colouring of the sexes differs considerably, the forehead and under

surface of the male being deep brick-red; the upper parts dull grey,

with a bar on the wing and the tips of the rectrices white; while in the

female the upper parts are yellowish grey, obscurely mottled, and the

breast and belly buff, with dark spots. In both sexes the eye is yellow,

and the feathers of the crown pileated to form a crest.

 

This bird is usually seen singly, but sometimes associates in small

flocks; it is resident, and a very weak flier, and feeds on tender buds

and leaves, berries and small seed. The male is frequently seen perched

on the summit of a bush, and, amidst the dull-plumaged species that

people the grey thickets of Patagonia, the bright red bosom gives it

almost a gay appearance. When singing, or uttering its alarm notes when

the nest is approached, its voice resembles the feeble bleatings of a

small kid or lamb. When approached it conceals itself in the bush, and

when flying progresses by a series of short jerky undulations, the wings

producing a loud humming sound.

 

The nest is made in the interior of a thorny bush, and built somewhat

slightly of fine twigs and lined with fibres. The eggs are four,

bluish-green in colour, with brownish flecks.

 

This species is found throughout the Argentine country, in dry, open

situations, abounding with a scanty tree and bush vegetation.

 

 

 

 

Suborder III. _TRACHEOPHONÆ._

120. FLUVICOLA ALBIVENTRIS (Spix). (WHITE-BELLIED TYRANT.)

+Fluvicola albiventris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43; _Durnford,

      Ibis_, 1878, p. 59 (Buenos Ayres).

 

    _Description._--Above black; front half of head, narrow band across

    the rump, and slight edgings to wing-coverts and outer secondaries

    white; below white; bill and feet black: whole length 5·5 inches,

    wing 2·8, tail 2·2. _Female_ similar.

 

_Hab._ Amazonia, Bolivia, and Argentine Republic.

 

The small black-and-white Tyrant is not uncommon in the marshes and on

the river-margins in the Plata district, its spring migration extending

south to Buenos Ayres. Like the Kingfisher, it haunts the water-side and

is found nowhere else. It has a shy, retiring disposition, concealing

itself in the close thickets overhanging a stream, so that one does

not often see it, notwithstanding its conspicuous white plumage. When

disturbed it emits a series of low ticking notes, or darts swiftly out

from the thicket, showing itself for a moment over the water before

disappearing once more into its hiding-place.

 

D'Orbigny says it makes a purse-shaped nest, of slender twigs, moss, and

feathers neatly interlaced, and lays four white eggs, spotted at the

large end with brown. 

121. ARUNDINICOLA LEUCOCEPHALA (Linn.). (WHITE-HEADED TYRANT.)

 

+Arundinicola leucocephala+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 334 (Corrientes).

 

    _Description._--Black; whole head and neck and a patch on the flanks

    white; bill horn-colour, base of lower mandible white; feet black:

    whole length 5·0 inches, wing 2·5, tail 1·8. _Female_ above

    cinereous; front and sides of head whitish; tail black; beneath

    white, flanks and under wing-coverts cinerascent.

 

_Hab._ Colombia and southwards to Argentina.

 

This species, which is of wide distribution, was met with in Corrientes

by d'Orbigny.

122. ALECTRURUS TRICOLOR, Vieill. (COCK-TAILED TYRANT.)

 

+Alectrurus tricolor+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43.

 

    _Description._--Above black, rump greyish; sides of the head,

    scapularies, lesser wing-coverts, and outer margins of secondaries

    white; tail black, outer rectrix on each side produced, expanded,

    fan-shaped; below white, patch on each side of the breast (forming

    an incomplete collar) black; bill horn-colour; feet black: whole

    length 7·2 inches, wing 2·8; tail, outer rectr. 2·5, middle rectr.

    1·5. _Female_: above brown, rump and lesser wing-coverts pale;

    beneath dirty white, sides of breast brown.

 

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

 

This species generally resembles the one next described, and has, like

it, a black, white, and grey plumage. But the tail, although strange, is

constructed on a different pattern. The total length of the bird is five

and a half inches, the tail being only two and a half. The two outer

tail-feathers have remarkably stout shafts, with broad coarse webs, and

look like stumps of two large feathers originally intended for a bigger

bird, and finally cut off near their base and given to a very small

one. In the male these two feathers are carried vertically and at right

angles to the plane of the body, giving the bird a resemblance to a

diminutive cock; hence the vernacular name 'Gallito,' or Little Cock, by

which it is known.

 

I have not observed this species myself, but Azara has the following

paragraph about