Volume I Part 3 (1/2)
Fam. III. MUSCICAPIDae, or FLYCATCHERS.
The peculiar genus _Polioptila_, which contains some twelve or thirteen species of small-sized American birds, ranging from the United States to the Argentine Republic, has been variously arranged by naturalists, but seems to be more nearly related to the African genus _Stenostira_ than to any other known form. I therefore now place it with the Muscicapidae, or Flycatchers, of which it is the only genus found in the New World.
10. POLIOPTILA DUMICOLA (Vieill.).
(BRUSH-LOVING FLY-SNAPPER.)
+Polioptila dumicola+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 4; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1876, p. 157, 1877, p. 167 (Buenos Ayres); _Salv. Ibis_, 1880, p. 352 (Tuc.u.man); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 593 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 86 (Concepcion); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 444. +Culicivora dumicola+, _Burm.
La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 473 (Parana). +Culicivora boliviana+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1852, p. 34, pl. xlvii.
_Description._--Above clear greyish blue; wing-coverts, b.a.s.t.a.r.d-wing, and primary-coverts dusky brown, with greyish-blue edges; quills dusky; upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers black, the third outer tail-feather white at the tip, the outer tail-feather nearly entirely white; from the base of the forehead a black line extends backwards over the eye; under surface delicate ashy grey, white on the abdomen and under tail-coverts; bill and feet bluish-black: total length 45 inches, wing 21, tail 20. _Female_ similar, but without the black eye-streak.
_Hab._ Paraguay and Northern Argentina.
This little bird strongly resembles some species of that division of the Tyrannidae which includes the genera _Stigmatura_, _Serpophaga_, and _Anaeretes_; but the likeness, strange to say, is even more marked in habits and voice than in coloration and general appearance.
It is found in open th.o.r.n.y woods and thickets; and in Buenos Ayres seems to have a partial migration, as it is much more common in summer than in winter. At all times male and female are found together, and probably pair for life, like several of the species in the groups just mentioned.
They are seen continually hopping about among the twigs in a leisurely deliberate manner, all the time emitting a variety of low short notes, as if conversing together; and at intervals they unite their voices in a burst of congratulatory notes, like those uttered by the small Tyrant-birds they resemble. They have no song. I have not found the nest, but Dr. Burmeister says that it is made in bushes, and that the eggs are white.
Fam. IV. TROGLODYTIDae, or WRENS.
The Troglodytidae, or Wren family, are of wide distribution, and are found alike under the tropics and in temperate lat.i.tudes. In South America nearly 100 species altogether are known to occur. Of these two are familiar inhabitants of the whole Argentine Republic, and a third, belonging to the water-loving genus _Donacobius_, is met with in the eastern provinces on the Parana. A fourth species has been lately described from Tuc.u.man.
11. DONACOBIUS ATRICAPILLUS (Linn.).
(BLACK-HEADED REED-WREN.)
+Donacobius atricapillus+, _Scl. Cat. A. B._ p. 16; _Scl. et Salv.
Nomencl._ p. 5; _Sharpe, Cat. B._ vi. p. 364; _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 475. +Donacobius brasiliensis+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 213 (Corrientes).
_Description._--Above dark chocolate-brown; cap black; wings black, with a large white patch on the inner primaries; tail black; lateral rectrices broadly ended with white; beneath ochreous buff; sides of breast and flanks with cross lines of dusky brown: total length 75 inches, wing 29, tail 37. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Guiana, Amazonia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.
The genus _Donacobius_ contains two species somewhat intermediate between the Mock-birds and the large Wrens of the genus _Campylorhynchus_. The well-known Brazilian _D. atricapillus_ extends through Paraguay, where Azara found it abundant, into Corrientes and the adjoining provinces of La Plata. It is met with among the reeds on lakes and streams.
12. TROGLODYTES FURVUS (Gm.).
(BROWN HOUSE-WREN.)
+Troglodytes furvus+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 158 (Conchitas); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 7; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1876, p.
157, 1877, p. 32 (Chupat), p. 167 (Buenos Ayres), 1878, p. 392 (Central Patagonia); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 593 (Buenos Ayres); _Doring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 36 (Azul, R.
Colorado, R. Negro). +Troglodytes platensis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 476; _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 86 (Concepcion). +Troglodytes musculus+, _Sharpe, Cat. B._ vi. p.
255.