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

its habits:--"The male sometimes rises slowly and almost

vertically, with tail raised, and rapidly beating its wings, and looking

while ascending in this way more like a butterfly than a bird; and when

it has reached a height of ten or twelve yards, it drops obliquely to

the earth and perches on a stalk." He adds that the males are solitary,

but several females are sometimes seen near together, and that the

females are greatly in excess of the males.

123. ALECTRURUS RISORIUS (Vieill.). (STRANGE-TAILED TYRANT.)

 

+Alectrurus guira-yetapa+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43; _Durnford,

      Ibis_, 1878, p. 60 (Buenos Ayres). +Alectrurus risorius+,

      _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 140 (Entrerios).

      +Alectrurus psalurus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 457 (S.

      Luis).

 

    _Description._--Above black, rump grey; front varied with white;

    wings black, scapularies, outer margins of wing-feathers and coverts

    white; tail black, two outer rectrices much elongated, denuded at

    the base, with a broad inner and no outer vane; below white, broad

    band across the breast black; throat in the breeding-season bare of

    feathers and of a bright orange; bill yellowish; feet black: whole

    length 11·0 inches, wings 3·0; tail, outer rectrices 8·0, middle

    2·0. _Female_: above brown, wings varied with white; beneath white;

    breast-band pale brown; tail with the two outer rectrices slightly

    elongated and denuded, terminated with spatulations on the inner

    vane.

 

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

 

Azara named this species _Cola estraña_ (Strange-tail), but mentions

incidentally that its Guarani name is 'guira-yetapá' (Scissor-tail), a

term which the Indians apply indiscriminately to several species having

the same sort of tail.

 

The Guira-yetapá is a very curious little bird, with a black, white, and

grey plumage and the beak of a true Tyrant; but it differs from all its

congeners in having the skin of the chin, throat, and sides of the head

bare of feathers, and these parts in the breeding-season are a bright

orange colour. It is a feeble flier, its wings being very short, while

the two outer tail-feathers are abnormally long and peculiar in form.

Mr. Barrows says:--"The remarkable condition of the outer pair of

tail-feathers is interesting. In the male these two feathers reach a

length of nearly ten inches, the rest of the tail being about three

inches in length. The vane on the _inner_ side of each is wanting for

the first two inches, and then suddenly develops to a width of nearly

two inches, which it maintains almost to the tip, when it gradually

narrows. The vane on the _outer_ side of the shaft is only about

one-quarter of an inch wide, and is folded so tightly against the shaft

that it is quite inconspicuous. In the only two males of this species

which I have seen flying, these long feathers seemed to be carried

folded together _beneath_ the rest of the tail, and stretching out

behind like a rudder or steering-oar, their vanes at right angles to

the plane of the rest of the tail."

 

Mr. Gibson gives a different account, and says the flight is singularly

feeble, resembling the fluttering passage of a butterfly through the

air, while the tail streams out behind.

 

It inhabits Paraguay, Uruguay, and the eastern portion of the Argentine

Republic, ranging as far south as the pampas in the neighbourhood of

Patagonia. It is usually seen singly or in pairs; Azara says he saw a

flock of thirty individuals, but as they were all _females_, it may be

that in this species, as in _Lichenops perspicillata_, the females are

sometimes gregarious, and the males always solitary. It frequents open

places, such as the borders of marshes, or plains covered with tall

grasses, and perches in a conspicuous place, from which it darts at

passing insects like a Flycatcher.

 

Mr. Gibson found its nest on the ground amongst herbage, and describes

it as a neat structure of dried grass, containing three white eggs with

a faint cream-coloured tinge.

124. CYBERNETES YETAPA (Vieill.). (YETAPA TYRANT.)

 

+Cybernetes yetapa+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43; _White, P. Z. S._

      1882, p. 604 (Itapua, Misiones).

 

    _Description._--Above hoary grey, with lineiform blackish

    shaft-stripes; wings black, with large chestnut-brown patch

    occupying the outer webs of the inner primaries; tail of twelve much

    graduated feathers, black; outer web of external rectrices white;

    beneath same as above, but rather paler; throat and crissum white;

    patch on each side of the neck, and collar across the neck dark

    chestnut-brown; under wing-coverts and inner webs of wing-feathers

    white; bill pale brown; feet black: whole length 16·0 inches, wing

    5·0; tail, extreme rectrix 12·5, middle 2·6. _Female_ similar, but

    less bright.

 

_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Northern Argentina.

 

Azara found this singular species not uncommon in Paraguay, and since

his brief notice of it in the 'Apuntamientos' nothing concerning its

habits has been recorded. It has a somewhat laboured flight, he says;

lives in pairs or families, frequenting low or marshy grounds, where

it perches on the summit of the reeds or bushes, and flies down to the

ground to capture insects. It also occasionally dashes after passing

insects, taking them on the wing. It has a loud whistle, which it

utters frequently without any variation.

125. SISOPYGIS ICTEROPHRYS (Vieill.). (YELLOW-BROWED TYRANT.)

 

+Sisopygis icterophrys+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 141; _Scl. et

      Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 176 (Buenos

      Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 29 (Buenos Ayres): _White, P. Z.

      S._ 1882, p. 604 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._

      viii. p. 141 (Entrerios). +Tænioptera icterophrys+, _Burm.

      La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 460 (Paraná).

 

    _Description._--Above bright olive-green, head rather greyish, lores

    and superciliary stripes yellow; wings blackish, broad ends of

    coverts and outer edges of secondaries dirty white; tail blackish;

    beneath bright yellow, sides of breast and flanks olivaceous; under

    wing-coverts whitish; bill dark horn-colour; feet black: whole

    length 6·1 inches, wing 3·5, tail 2·7. _Female_ similar, but less

    bright.

 

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

of Bolivia and Peru.

 

This small and pretty Tyrant-bird is quite common in the woods along

the Plata, and is also seen a great deal in orchards and groves in the

cultivated districts. In Buenos Ayres it is a summer visitor, appearing

there in October, and is a shy, solitary bird, which catches insects on

the wing, and rarely visits the ground.

 

The nest is placed in a tree, ill-concealed, and very shallow: it

is built of fine sticks, and lined with fine grass, horse-hair, and

feathers. The eggs are four, pointed, pale cream-colour, with large dark

red spots, chiefly at the larger end.

 

The only language of this species is a very low plaintive whistle,

uttered as a faint protest when the nest is approached.

 

The upper plumage is olive-green; the entire under surface and a stripe

on the side of the head pure yellow; wing and tail-quills dark. Total

length 6-1/4 inches.

126. CNIPOLEGUS ANTHRACINUS, Heine. (ASHY-BLACK TYRANT.)

+Cnipolegus anthracinus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43; _Salv.

      Ibis_, 1880, p. 356 (Salta); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._

24 (Patagonia). +Cnipolegus aterrimus+, _White, P. Z. S._

      1882, p. 604 (Misiones). +Cnipolegus hudsoni+, _White, P. Z. S._

      1883, p. 39 (Cordova)? +Myiarchus fasciatus+, _Leybold, J. f. O._

      1865, p. 402 (Mendoza), ♀.

 

    _Description._--Above dull black, a broad bar across the vanes of

    the inner webs of the wing-feathers white; bill plumbeous; feet

    black: whole length 6·3 inches, wing 3·5, tail 3·0. _Female_ ashy

    brown; rump, upper tail-coverts, and basal portions of tail bright

    rufous; wings blackish, with two white transverse stripes; beneath

    pale fulvous, white on the belly; bill and feet black.

 

_Hab._ Northern Argentina.

 

Unfortunately very little is yet known about the habits of these

interesting little Tyrant-birds, for which I should like to suggest the

common name "_Spectacular_," for reasons I shall say more about when

I come to describe the _Lichenops perspicillatus_, a species which

undoubtedly belongs to this peculiar well-defined group. The plumage of

the male is, in most cases, intensely black, and there is a pure white

bar on the remiges, hidden when the bird is perched, and when it flies

made doubly conspicuous by the peculiar motion of the wings. In all the

known species the female has a dull brown plumage, lined or mottled with

dusky tints, and with some portion of the wing-quills marked with rufous

or chestnut colour.

 

The Ashy-black Tyrant inhabits the Mendoza district, and is also a

summer visitor in Patagonia, where it was obtained by Dr. Döring.

Speaking of its habits, he says the male is solitary, perches on the

summit of a bush or dry twig, emits at intervals a song or call composed

of two syllables, plaintive and flute-like in character, and uttered

while the bird rises up a few feet into the air. During this performance

the white bands on the wings are displayed conspicuously and a humming

sound is produced. 

127. CNIPOLEGUS HUDSONI, Scl. (HUDSON'S BLACK TYRANT.)