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

or other domestic animal, or stationed close to its nose on the

ground, watching for insects. On the bare ground they run about with

wonderful swiftness, and are able to overtake and capture flying insects

without rising. The male and female invariably hunt together, and at

intervals fly to some favourite perch to indulge in a duet composed of

loud, rapid, shrill notes, somewhat metallic in sound. Though able to

fly swiftly when in pursuit of a passing hawk or other bird, at other

times their flight is strangely slow; the round body, short blunt wings

and tail giving the bird a somewhat curious appearance as it progresses

laboriously through the air. I have frequently seen them make the most

unprovoked assaults on birds of an inoffensive kind; possibly they are

in these attacks moved by a playful rather than by a vindictive spirit.

I once saw one drop like a stone from a height of fifty yards on to a

Pigeon perched on a leafless tree. The Pigeon fell as if shot to the

earth; the Tyrant-bird then released his hold; the Pigeon rushed away

terrified through the trees, while its persecutor rose high up in the

air and resumed its journey.

 

I have elsewhere spoken of the wars waged by this bird against other

species, all seeking to gain possession of the large nest of _Anumbius

acuticaudatus_. A hole in the trunk of a tree is also a favourite

breeding-place. The nest is neatly built of slender twigs and leaves,

and lined with horse-hair. The eggs are slightly oval, and densely

marked with dark brown spots or stripes on a white or brownish-white

ground.

133. MUSCISAXICOLA MACLOVIANA (Garn.). (CHIN-SPOTTED TYRANT.)

 

+Muscisaxicola mentalis+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 541 (Rio

      Negro); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 44.

 

    _Description._--Above cinereous, lores blackish, cap brown;

    tail-coverts and tail black, outer margins of outer tail-feather

    white; below pale cinereous, passing into white on lower belly,

    crissum, and under wing-coverts; chin-spot brown: bill and feet

    black: whole length 6·1 inches, wing 4·1, tail 2·6. _Female_

    similar, but chin-spot not so well marked.

 

_Hab._ Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Patagonia, and Falkland Islands.

 

This South-Patagonian species is one of a Chilian group of Tyrant-birds

which resemble in their habits the _Saxicolæ_ of Europe. The plumage is

generally grey, with more or less rufous colour on the crown; they have

long legs, and run swiftly on the ground, frequent open sterile

situations, and perch only occasionally on trees.

 

The present bird is about seven inches long; the upper parts are dull

grey, except the crown, which is dark chestnut; under surface light

grey, and tail nearly black. In the month of June I met with these birds

on the Rio Negro, on their arrival there from the south. They went in

flocks of a dozen or twenty birds; they had a swift easy flight, were

shy and restless in their manner, and uttered low plaintive whistling

notes. When a flock alights on the ground the birds all instantly

scatter, running rapidly about in all directions over the bare ground.

Occasionally one was seen to perch on some slight elevation, and dart

like a Flycatcher after passing insects.

 

Darwin saw this bird as far north on the Atlantic coast as Bahia Blanca.

He also found it at Tierra del Fuego, where it lives entirely on the

sea-beaches; and in the sterile upper valleys of the Chilian Andes, at a

height of ten thousand feet, where the last traces of vegetation occur

and where no other bird lives.

134. MUSCISAXICOLA RUFIVERTEX, d'Orb. et Lafr. (RED-TOPPED TYRANT.)

 

+Ptyonura rufivertex+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 461 (Mendoza).

 

    _Description._--Above clear cinereous; lores and short

    superciliaries whitish; well-defined nape-patch bright rufous; wings

    brownish; upper tail-coverts and tail black, outer margin of outer

    rectrix white: below clear cinereous white, brighter on lower belly,

    crissum, and under wing-coverts; bill and feet black: whole length

    6·5 inches, wing 4·0, tail 2·8. _Female_ similar.

 

_Hab._ Peru, Bolivia, Chili, and Western Argentina.

 

 

MUSCISAXICOLA MACULIROSTRIS, d'Orb. et Lafr.

 

(SPOT-BILLED TYRANT.)

 

  +Muscisaxicola maculirostris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 44;

      _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 395 (Centr. Patagonia). +Ptyonura

      maculirostris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 462 (Mendoza).

 

    _Description._--Above greyish brown, lores and slight superciliaries

    whitish; tail-coverts and tail black, the outer web of the outer

    rectrix white; below pale greyish white, 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.)