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

whiter on the belly and

    crissum; bill black, with the base of the lower mandible yellowish;

    feet black: whole length 5·5 inches, wing 3·4, tail 2·4. _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,

Z. S._ 1882, p. 604 (Buenos Ayres); _Döring, 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 5·0 inches, wing

    2·8, tail 1·9. _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

grass, 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.

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

    3·3 inches, wing 2·1, tail 1·1. _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 (Tucuman). +Triccus

      margaritiventris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 456 (Paraná).

 

    _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, passing into pale

    cinereous on the sides; under wing-coverts pale yellowish, flanks

    tinged with olivaceous; bill hazel; feet red: whole length 4·5

    inches, wing 2·1, tail 1·9.

 

_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 Paraná by Prof. Burmeister, and by Durnford in Tucuman.

139. EUSCARTHMUS GULARIS (Temm.). (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 3·5

    inches, wing 1·8, tail 1·4. _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 4·5

    inches, wing 2·1, tail 2·3.

 

_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. xxxi.

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

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 4·0 inches, wing 2·0, tail 2·0. _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 _Tyrannidæ_. 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 passing insect

and captures it on the wing, especially soft insects, like moths and

butterflies, to which it