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

to the coverts and

    outer secondaries; tail blackish; outer web of the external rectrix

    and broad tips of the four external pairs white; beneath pale

    yellow; bill and feet black: whole length 5·8 inches, wing 2·3, tail

    3·0. _Female_ similar.

 

_Hab._ Argentine Republic, including N. Patagonia.

 

This little bird inhabits the Mendoza and Patagonian districts, and

does not appear to be migratory, for on the Rio Negro I found it at all

seasons. It is slender in form, with a long tail, its total length being

six inches. The sexes are alike in colour; the upper parts are yellowish

grey, breast and belly light yellow. They are found living in pairs, all

the year round, in thorn bushes, and are scarcely ever seen to rest, but

hop incessantly from twig to twig, in a delicate, leisurely manner,

seeking on the leaves for the minute caterpillars and other insects on

which they live. While thus engaged they utter a variety of little

chirping and twittering notes, as if conversing together, and

occasionally the two birds unite their voices in a shrill, impetuous

song. 

146. SERPOPHAGA SUBCRISTATA (Vieill.). (SMALL-CRESTED TYRANT.)

 

+Serpophaga subcristata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 454

      (Entrerios); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 47; _Durnford, Ibis_,

      1877, p. 177 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 606

      (Misiones); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 199

      (Entrerios).

 

    _Description._--Above cinereous, usually with a slight olivaceous

    tinge on the rump; crest-feathers white at their bases, tipped

    with cinereous, and slightly varied with black; wings blackish,

    wing-coverts tipped with whitish, forming two handsome bands; outer

    secondaries externally margined with the same colour; tail dark

    ashy; beneath ashy white, with more or less yellowish tinge on the

    belly and under wing-coverts; bill horn-colour; feet black: whole

    length 4·5 inches, wing 2·0, tail 2·1. _Female_ similar.

 

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

 

This species is one of the smallest members of our _Tyrannidæ_, its

total length being only four and a half inches. The sexes are alike; the

upper plumage is grey, with a greenish tinge on the back; the breast

paler grey, becoming pale yellow on the belly. There is a white

concealed spot under the loose feathers of the crown.

 

It is quite common in Buenos Ayres, and, probably, has a partial

migration, as it is most abundant in summer. In its habits it closely

resembles the species last described, being always found in pairs,

living in thickets, where they hop incessantly about, exploring the

leaves for small caterpillars, and always conversing in low, chirping,

and twittering notes. They also sing together a little confused song.

The nest is fastened to the slender twigs of a low bush, and is a deep,

cup-shaped and beautiful structure, composed of a great variety of soft

materials bound together with spiders' webs, the interior lined with

feathers or vegetable down, and the outside with lichen. The eggs are

two, bluntly pointed, and of a cream-colour.

147. SERPOPHAGA NIGRICANS (Vieill.). (BLACKISH TYRANT.)

 

+Serpophaga nigricans+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. 454 (Paraná);

      _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 47; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 177

      (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 606 (Misiones);

      _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 199 (Entrerios).

 

    _Description._--Above dull brownish cinereous; wings and tail

    blackish, the coverts and outer secondaries with slight edgings like

    the back; crest slight, with a well-marked white basal spot; beneath

    paler and rather purer cinereous; under wing-coverts pale cinereous;

    bill and feet dark horn-colour: whole length 4·7 inches, wing 2·3,

    tail 1·1. _Female_ similar, but vertical spot not so well marked.

 

_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, La Plata, and N. Patagonia.

 

This species differs markedly in habits, language, and appearance from

the last. In both sexes the colour is a uniform slaty grey; the tail,

which the bird incessantly opens and flirts like a fan, is black; as

in _S. subcristata_ there is a hidden spot of white under the loose

feathers forming the crest.

 

It frequents the borders of running streams, seldom being found far from

a water-course; and it alights as often on stones or on the bare ground

as on trees. Male and female are always seen together, for it pairs

for life, and the migration, if it has any, is only partial. It flits

restlessly along the borders of the stream it frequents, making repeated

excursions after small winged insects, taking them in the air, or

snatching them up from the surface of the water, and frequently

returning to the same stand. While thus employed it perpetually utters

a loud, complaining _chuck_, and at intervals the two birds meet, and,

with crests erect and flirting their wings and tails, utter a series of

trills and hurried sharp notes in concert.

 

The nest is generally placed beneath an overhanging bank, attached

to hanging roots or grass, a few inches above the water; but it is

sometimes placed in a bush growing on the borders of a stream. It is a

neat, cup-shaped, but rather shallow structure, thickly lined inside

with feathers. The eggs are four, pointed, white or pale cream-colour,

with black and grey spots at the large end.

148. ANÆRETES PARULUS (Kittl.). (TIT-LIKE TYRANT.)

 

+Anæretes parulus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 455 (Mendoza);

      _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 543 (Rio Negro); _Scl. et Salv.

      Nomencl._ p. 47; _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 30 (Cordova);

      _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 395 (Centr. Patagonia); _Döring, Exp.

      al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 43 (R. Negro, R. Colorado).

 

    _Description._--Above cinereous, with an olivaceous tint on the

    lower back; head black, front varied with white, elongated vertical

    crest black, sometimes varied with white; wings blackish, with

    slight whitish tips to the coverts and whitish margins to the

    outer secondaries; tail blackish, outer webs of external rectrices

    whitish; below pale straw-colour, white on the throat; throat and

    breast with numerous and well-marked black striations; bill and

    feet black: whole length 4·0 inches, wing 1·9, tail 1·8. _Female_

    similar, but crest shorter.

 

_Hab._ Argentine Republic, including Patagonia, Chili, Bolivia, Peru,

and Andes of Ecuador.

 

This small bird is only four and a half inches long; in both sexes

the colour on the upper parts is dull grey, on the throat and breast

ash-coloured; the belly pale yellow. It has the distinction of a slender

curling Lapwing-like crest, composed of a few narrow, long, black

feathers. The eye is white. It is found in the thorny thickets on the

dry plains of Mendoza, and is also common in Patagonia. In its habits

it closely resembles _Serpophaga subcristata_; lives always in pairs,

perpetually moves about in a singularly deliberate manner while

searching through the bush for small insects, the two birds always

talking together in little chirping notes, and occasionally bursting out

into a little shrill duet. It builds a deep, neat nest of fine dry grass

and lined with feathers, in a low thorn, and lays two white eggs.

149. ANÆRETES FLAVIROSTRIS, Scl. et Salv. (YELLOW-BILLED TIT-TYRANT.)

 

+Anæretes flavirostris+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1876, p. 355; 1879,

613.

 

    _Description._--Above brownish olive; head black, mixed with white

    and surmounted by narrow elongated black crest-feathers; wings

    blackish, outer web of external rectrix whitish; beneath pale

    stramineous, throat and breast white, densely striated with black;

    under wing-coverts white; bill yellowish, with a black tip; feet

    black: whole length 4·2 inches, wing 2·1, tail 2·0.

 

_Hab._ Bolivia and N. Argentina.

 

A specimen of this species was procured, at Cosquin, near Cordova, by

White.

150. CYANOTIS AZARÆ, Naum. (MANY-COLOURED TYRANT.)

 

+Cyanotis azaræ+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 47; _Durnford, Ibis_,

      1877, p. 177 (Buenos Ayres, Centr. Patagonia); _Gibson, Ibis_,

      1880, p. 32 (Buenos Ayres); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p.

      43 (R. Colorado, R. Negro); _Barrows, Nutt. Bull. Orn. Cl._ viii.

200 (Entrerios, Carhué, Pampas).

 

    _Description._--Above dark bronzy green; head black; superciliaries

    yellow; vertical spot crimson; wings black; broad tips of the lesser

    wing-coverts and broad edgings of some of the secondaries white,

    forming a large white bar on the wing; tail black, greater part of

    outer pair of rectrices and outer web and broad tip of next pair and

    narrow tips of third pair white; beneath bright ochreous yellow;

    chin whitish; crissum crimson; incomplete band across the lower

    breast black; under wing-coverts white; bill black; feet dark

    flesh-colour: whole length 4·2 inches, wing 2·1, tail 1·7. _Female_

    similar.

 

_Hab._ La Plata, Chili, and Western Peru.

 

This charming little bird is variously called by the country people

All-coloured or Seven-coloured. Azara called it "The King"--a name which

this species deserves, he says, not only on account of the crown of

loose feathers on its head, but because it is exceeded by few birds in

beauty. It is the most beautiful bird found in Chili, says Gay; and

Darwin, who is seldom moved to express