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

young birds remain. Within a

month's time the sexes of these may be distinguished. After another

month the males begin to sing, and are frequently seen pursuing one

another over the fields. It is only at the end of April, three months

after the old birds have disappeared, that the young also take their

departure. This is one of the strangest facts I have encountered in

the migration of birds. The autumnal cold and wet weather seems to be

the immediate cause of the young birds' departure; but in the adults,

migration appears to be an instinct quite independent of atmospheric

changes.

163. EMPIDONAX BIMACULATUS (Lafr. et d'Orb.). (WING-BANDED TYRANT.)

 

+Empidochanes argentinus+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1868, p. 196. +Empidonax

      brunneus+, _Ridgw. N. A. B._ ii. p. 363 (Paraná). +Empidonax

      bimaculatus+, _Scl. Ibis_, 1887, p. 65.

 

    _Description._--Above umber-brown, more or less rufescent; lores

    with a whitish spot; wings blackish, all the coverts broadly tipped

    with pale rufous, forming two transverse bars; outer margins of

    external secondaries of the same colour; tail brown, but not

    rufescent; beneath dirty cinereous white, throat and belly brighter,

    and with a yellowish tinge; under wing-coverts and inner margins of

    wing-feathers ochraceous; upper mandible dark brown, lower whitish;

    feet pale brown: whole length 5·0 inches, wing 2·6, tail 3·4.

 

_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Bolivia, and N. Argentina.

 

This obscure species occurs in the northern wooded districts of

Argentina.

164. CONTOPUS BRACHYRHYNCHUS, Cab. (SHORT-BILLED TYRANT.)

 

+Contopus brachyrhynchus+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1883, p. 214.

 

    _Description._--Above cinereous, lores whitish; wings and tail

    blackish, with slight whitish edgings to the wing-coverts and outer

    secondaries; beneath paler, whitish in the middle of the belly;

    flanks with a concealed white patch; bill above brown, beneath pale;

    feet black: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 4·0, tail 3·2.

 

_Hab._ Northern Argentina.

 

Herr Schulz, who discovered this species near Tucuman, tells us that it

is a summer visitor, and is usually seen perched on the tops of the

highest trees on the look-out for insects.

165. CONTOPUS BRACHYTARSUS, Scl. (SHORT-FOOTED TYRANT.)

 

+Contopus brachytarsus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 52; _White, P.

S._ 1882, p. 608 (Salta).

 

    _Description._--Above dark plumbeous olive; crown darker, blackish;

    wings and tail blackish; the wing-coverts and outer secondaries more

    or less edged with whitish; beneath dirty white, clearer on the

    throat and middle of the belly, which latter has sometimes an

    olivaceous tinge; bill above blackish, beneath yellowish white; feet

    blackish; first primary shorter than the fifth: whole length 5·3

    inches, wing 2·9, tail 2·5. _Female_ similar.

 

_Hab._ Central and South America.

 

White found this widely ranging Tyrant "not uncommon in the forests of

Salta."

166. MYIARCHUS TYRANNULUS (Müll.). (RUSTY-TAILED TYRANT.)

 

+Suiriri pardo y roxo+, _Azara, Apunt._ ii. p. 143. +Myiarchus

      erythrocercus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 52.

 

    _Description._--Above brownish cinereous, crown rather darker;

    wings blackish, primaries narrowly edged with rufous, secondaries

    and coverts more broadly with dirty white; tail blackish, all the

    lateral rectrices with the greater part of the inner web rufous,

    leaving only a narrow blackish border alongside the shaft; beneath,

    throat and breast pale cinereous; belly and under wing-coverts pale

    sulphur-yellow; inner margin of rectrices pale rufous; bill dark

    horn-colour; feet blackish: whole length 7·4 inches, wing 3·8, tail

    3·2. _Female_ similar.

 

_Hab._ South America down to Argentina.

 

An example of this species, now in the British Museum, was procured by

White in Catamarca.

167. MYIARCHUS FEROX (Gm.). (FIERCE TYRANT.)

 

Myiarchus tyrannulus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 52; _Durnford,

      Ibis_, 1878, p. 61 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882,

608 (Salta); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii p. 202

      (Entrerios). +Myiarchus ferocior+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1883, p. 214

      (Tucuman).

 

    _Description._--Above dark cinereous, more or less olivaceous; wings

    and tail blackish; wing-coverts and outer secondaries with more or

    less defined edgings of dirty white; beneath, throat and breast

    cinereous, abdomen and under wing-coverts sulphur-yellow; bill dark

    brown; feet blackish: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 3·6, tail 3·4.

    _Female_ similar.

 

_Hab._ Southern Antilles, and South America down to Argentine Republic.

 

There has been great confusion between this species and _M. tyrannulus_,

from which the present bird may be distinguished by the absence of the

rufous edgings to the inner webs of the rectrices.

 

Examples of _M. ferox_ are in the British Museum from Punta Lara

(_Durnford_), Mendoza (_Weisshaupt_), and Buenos Ayres (_Haslehurst_).

168. MYIARCHUS ATRICEPS, Cab. (BLACK-HEADED TYRANT.)

 

+Myiarchus atriceps+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1883, p. 215.

 

    _Description._--Above greenish olive, cap black; wings and tail

    blackish, more or less margined with brownish; beneath, throat and

    neck pale grey; abdomen and under wing-coverts pale sulphur-yellow;

    inner margins of wing-feathers fulvous; bill dark horn-colour;

    feet black: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 3·7, tail 3·5. _Female_

    similar.

 

_Hab._ N. Argentina, Bolivia, and S. Peru.

 

Schulz found this species as a summer visitor in Tucuman.

169. EMPIDONOMUS AURANTIO-ATRO-CRISTATUS (d'Orb. et Lafr.). (BLACK-AND-YELLOW-CRESTED TYRANT.)

 

+Tyrannus aurantio-atro-cristatus+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 312

      (Corrientes); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 53; _Barrows, Bull.

      Nutt. Orn. Club_, vol. viii. p. 202 (Entrerios). +Tyrannus

      aurantio-atro-cristatus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 453

      (Rio Uruguay, Entrerios, Mendoza).

 

    _Description._--Above cinereous; cap shortly crested, black, with a

    large vertical spot of bright yellow; wings and tail brownish black,

    wing-coverts and secondaries slightly edged with whitish; beneath as

    above but rather paler, and with a very slight yellow tinge on the

    crissum; bill and feet black: whole length 6·5 inches, wing 3·8,

    tail 3·1. _Female_ similar, but outer primaries less acuminated.

 

_Hab._ Interior of Brazil, Eastern Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina down to

Buenos Ayres.

 

Alcide d'Orbigny met with this fine species in Corrientes, and Dr.

Burmeister in Entrerios, and again near Mendoza. In the neighbourhood

of Concepcion Mr. Barrows speaks of it as a "not very abundant summer

resident, but one not easily overlooked, owing to its habit of perching

on the topmost twig of any tree on which it alights, making forays from

time to time, when tempted by its winged prey."

 

In the vicinity of Buenos Ayres likewise this Tyrant is not a common

species. Like other birds of its genus it has an easy, rapid flight, and

perches on trees or other elevated places, from which it occasionally

makes a dash at passing insects. The nest, as in _T. melancholicus_,

is a very slight structure of slender sticks, and the eggs are four,

parchment colour, and spotted at the large end with dark brown or

chocolate. Mr. Barrows found a Cow-bird's egg in a nest of this species,

which makes me think that it is less vigilant and warlike than _T.

melancholicus_.

170. TYRANNUS MELANCHOLICUS, Vieill. (MELANCHOLY TYRANT.)