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

brown, feet blackish: whole length 7·5 inches, wing

    4·4, tail 3·4.

 

_Hab._ Brazil, Paraguay, Buenos Ayres.

 

Durnford tells us that this species is a summer visitor to the

neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres, but not very common. White met with

it in the forests of Campo Santo in November; and Barrows obtained

specimens among the Paradise-trees in the Plaza at Concepcion, in the

same month of the year.

 

160. HIRUNDINEA BELLICOSA (Vieill.). (WARLIKE TYRANT.)

 

+Hirundinea bellicosa+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 51; _White, P. Z.

      S._ 1882, p. 607 (Catamarca). +Hirundinea rupestris+, _Scl.

      Ibis_, 1869, p. 198, pl. v. fig. 8.

 

    _Description._--Above sooty brown; wings blackish, with a large

    ferruginous red blotch occupying the greater portion of the

    inner primaries and secondaries; rump and greater part of the

    tail-feathers ferruginous red; apical portion of tail-feathers

    blackish: beneath ferruginous red, throat greyish; under

    wing-coverts and inner webs of wing-feathers, except the tips,

    similar to the belly, but brighter; bill and feet black: whole

    length 7·0 inches, wing 4·3, tail 2·2. _Female_ similar.

 

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

 

This Flycatcher is by no means common in Catamarca. It is seen about the

houses in pairs, but not more than one pair at a time at one dwelling,

perched upon some projection, whence it darts off into the air at

passing insects.

 

"The snap of its beak, as it dashes at the flies, can be heard a long

way off. Its cry is peculiar and piteous. There is no perceptible

difference in plumage between the male and female."--_White, l. s. c._

161. MYIOBIUS NÆVIUS (Bodd.). (LITTLE BROWN TYRANT.)

 

+Myiobius nævius+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 51; _White, P. Z. S._

      1882, p. 607 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol.

      viii. p. 201 (Entrerios).

 

    _Description._--Above brown; lores whitish; concealed vertical crest

    red or yellow; wings blackish, two bands across the coverts and

    outer margins of external secondaries pale rufous or fulvous,

    sometimes whitish; tail dark brown: beneath fulvous white; sides of

    throat, breast, and flanks more or less distinctly flammulated with

    brown; under wing-coverts pale fulvous; bill brown; lower mandible

    whitish; feet blackish: whole length 4·7 inches, wing 2·5, tail 2·3.

    _Female_ similar, but crest yellow or absent.

 

_Hab._ Veragua and Cisandean South America down to Argentine Republic.

 

This small Tyrant-bird is a summer visitor in the Plata district; it

is shy and solitary; frequents woods and plantations, and perpetually

utters, like the English Redstart, its sorrowful monotonous plaint, as

it flits about in the upper foliage of the trees.

 

The nest is placed in a bush or low tree, and built of various soft

materials compactly woven together, and the inside lined with feathers

or vegetable down. The eggs are four, pale cream-colour, with large,

well-defined spots of dark red.

 

The total length of this species is less than five inches. The

prevailing colour of the plumage is rufous brown on the upper, and

whitish brown on the under surface. Beneath the loose feathers of the

crown there is a concealed spot of orange-red.

162. PYROCEPHALUS RUBINEUS (Bodd.). (SCARLET TYRANT.)

 

+Pyrocephalus rubineus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 51; _Hudson,

Z. S._ 1872, p. 808; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 178

     (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 27 (Buenos Ayres);

      _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 201 (Entrerios).

      +Pyrocephalus parvirostris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 456

      (Entrerios).

 

    _Description._--Above very dark cinereous, crested head and body

    below scarlet; bill and feet black: whole length 5·2 inches, wing

    2·9, tail 2·3. _Female_ above paler cinereous, below white; breast

    striated with cinereous; belly more or less rosy red.

 

_Hab._ S. America, from Colombia down to Buenos Ayres.

 

It is in vain, I think, to attempt to make more than one species out

of this widely-spread bird, though specimens from the west coast are

usually smaller.

 

The Scarlet Tyrant is about five inches and a half long; the neck, back,

wings, and tail are black, all the rest of the plumage the most vivid

scarlet imaginable. The loose feathers of the crown, which form a crest,

are especially brilliant, and seem to glow like a live coal amidst the

green foliage. Beside this bright Tyrant-bird even the Rainbow Tanagers

look pale, and the "Jewel Humming-birds" decidedly sad-coloured. It is

not strange, therefore, that in South America, where it has a very wide

range, it is a species well known to the country people, and that they

have bestowed on it many pretty names, most of which have reference to

its splendid scarlet colour. In the Argentine Republic it is usually

called _Churinche_, from its note, also _Federál_ and _Fuegéro_; in

other countries _Sangre de Toro_ (bull's blood), and, better still,

_Sangre_ _Pura_. Little Soldier and Coal of Fire are also amongst its

names. The Guarani tribes call it _Guira-pitá_ (red-bird); but another

Indian name, mentioned by d'Orbigny, is the best--_Quarhi-rahi_, which

signifies Sun-born.

 

The Churinche appears in Buenos Ayres about the end of September, and is

usually first seen in localities to which Tyrant-birds are partial, such

as low grassy grounds, with here and there a stalk or bush, and near a

wood or plantation. Insects are most abundant in such places; and here

the Churinche is seen, perched on a twig, darting at intervals to snap

at the flies after the fashion of the Flycatchers, and frequently

uttering its low, plaintive note. It is very common in the woods along

the Plata; every orchard on the pampas is visited by a few of them; and

they are very abundant about Buenos Ayres city. Going south they become

rarer; but, strange to say, a few individuals find their way to the

shores of the Rio Negro, though before reaching it they must cross a

high, barren country quite unsuited to them. The natives of the Carmen

have no name for the Churinche, but speak of it as a bird wonderful for

its beauty and seldom seen. Amongst the dull-plumaged Patagonian species

it certainly has a very brilliant appearance.

 

A very few days after their arrival the Churinches pair; and the male

selects a spot for the nest--a fork in a tree from six to twelve feet

from the ground, or sometimes a horizontal bough. This spot the male

visits about once a minute, sits on it with his splendid crest elevated,

tail spread out, and wings incessantly fluttering, while he pours out a

continuous stream of silvery gurgling notes, so low they can scarcely be

heard ten paces off, and somewhat resembling the sound of water running

from a narrow-necked flask, but infinitely more rapid and musical. Of

the little bird's homely, grey, silent mate the observer will scarcely

obtain a glimpse, she appearing as yet to take little or no interest in

the affairs that so much occupy the attention of her consort, and keep

him in a state of such violent excitement. He is exceedingly pugnacious,

so that when not fluttering on the site of his future nest, or

snapping up some insect on the wing, he is eagerly pursuing other male

Churinches, apparently bachelors, from tree to tree. At intervals he

repeats his remarkable little song, composed of a succession of sweetly

modulated metallic trills uttered on the wing. The bird usually mounts

upwards from thirty to forty yards, and, with wings very much raised and

rapidly vibrating, rises and drops almost perpendicularly half a yard's

space five or six times, appearing to keep time to his notes in these

motions. This song he frequently utters in the night, but without

leaving his perch; and it then has a most pleasing effect, as it is less

hurried, and the notes seem softer and more prolonged than when uttered

by day. About a week after the birds have arrived, when the trees are

only beginning to display their tender leaves, the nest is commenced.

Strange to say, the female is the sole builder; for she now lays by

her indifferent mien, and the art and industry she displays more than

compensate for the absence of those beauties and accomplishments that

make her mate so pleasing to the sight and ear. The materials of which

the nest is composed are almost all gathered on trees; they are lichens,

webs, and thistle-down: and the dexterity and rapidity with which they

are gathered, the skill with which she disposes them, the tireless

industry of the little bird, who visits her nest a hundred times an hour

with invisible webs in her bill, are truly interesting to the observer.

The lichens firmly held together with webs, and smoothly disposed with

the tops outside, give to the nest the colour of the bark it is built

on.

 

After the Churinche's nest is completed, the Bienteveo (_Pitangus

bolivianus_) and the Common Cow-bird (_Molothrus bonariensis_) are the

troublers of its peace. The first of these sometimes carries off the

nest bodily to use it as material in building its own; the female

Cow-bird is ever on the look out for a receptacle for her eggs. Seldom,

however, does she succeed in gaining admittance to the Churinche's nest,

as he is extremely vigilant and violent in repelling intruders. But his

vigilance at times avails not; the subtle bird has watched and waited

till, seizing a moment when the little Scarlet Tyrant is off his guard,

she drops her surreptitious egg into his nest. When this happens, the

Churinches immediately leave their nest. The nest is sometimes lined

with feathers, but usually with thistle-down; the eggs are four,

pointed, and spotted at the broad end with black; usually each egg has

also a few large grey spots. The young are at first grey, marked with

pale rufous, but soon become entirely grey, like the female. In about a

month's time the belly of the males begins to assume a pale mauve-red;

this spreads upwards towards the breast and throat; and finally the

crest also takes on this colour. The Churinches raise two broods in a

season--but if the nest is destroyed, will lay as many as four times.

 

The Scarlet Tyrant is the first of our summer visitors to leave us. As

early as the end of January, and so soon as the young of the second

brood are able to feed themselves, the adults disappear. Their going is

not gradual, but they all vanish at once. The departure of all other

migratory species takes place after a very sensible change in the

temperature; but at the end of January the heat is unmitigated--it is,

in fact, often greater than during December.

 

When the adults have gone, the silent