Volume I Part 23 (2/2)

(WHITE-BROWED TYRANT.)

+Ochthca leucophrys+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 42; _White, P.

Z. S._ 1882, p. 603 (Catamarca).

_Description._--Above dark cinereous, rump rufescent; wings black, cross-bands on wing-coverts and edges of outer secondaries rufous; tail blackish, outer web of external rectrix white; beneath pale cinereous; lower belly, crissum, and under wing-coverts white; bill and feet black: whole length 52 inches, wing 30, tail 27.

_Hab._ Bolivia and Northern Argentina.

A single specimen of this bird was obtained by White at Fuerte de Andalgala, Catamarca, in September 1880, during a snow-storm.

119. SAYORNIS CINERACEA (Lafr.).

(ASHY TYRANT.)

+Sayornis cineracea+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43. +Aulanax latirostris+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1879, p. 335 (Tuc.u.man).

_Description._--Above dark cinereous; head sooty black; wings and tail blackish, outer margins of the wing-coverts and secondaries and outer web of the external tail-feather white; below sooty black, middle of belly and under wing-coverts white, flanks and crissum dark cinereous; bill and feet black: whole length 95 inches, wing 34, tail 31. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and N. Argentina.

Examples of this wide-ranging species, obtained by Doring in Tuc.u.man, are referred by Dr. Cabanis to his subspecies ”_latirostris_,” which seems to us hardly distinct from _S. cineracea_.

120. FLUVICOLA ALBIVENTRIS (Spix).

(WHITE-BELLIED TYRANT.)

+Fluvicola albiventris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 59 (Buenos Ayres).

_Description._--Above black; front half of head, narrow band across the rump, and slight edgings to wing-coverts and outer secondaries white; below white; bill and feet black: whole length 55 inches, wing 28, tail 22. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Amazonia, Bolivia, and Argentine Republic.

The small black-and-white Tyrant is not uncommon in the marshes and on the river-margins in the Plata district, its spring migration extending south to Buenos Ayres. Like the Kingfisher, it haunts the water-side and is found nowhere else. It has a shy, retiring disposition, concealing itself in the close thickets overhanging a stream, so that one does not often see it, notwithstanding its conspicuous white plumage. When disturbed it emits a series of low ticking notes, or darts swiftly out from the thicket, showing itself for a moment over the water before disappearing once more into its hiding-place.

D'Orbigny says it makes a purse-shaped nest, of slender twigs, moss, and feathers neatly interlaced, and lays four white eggs, spotted at the large end with brown.

121. ARUNDINICOLA LEUCOCEPHALA (Linn.).

(WHITE-HEADED TYRANT.)

+Arundinicola leucocephala+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 334 (Corrientes).

_Description._--Black; whole head and neck and a patch on the flanks white; bill horn-colour, base of lower mandible white; feet black: whole length 50 inches, wing 25, tail 18. _Female_ above cinereous; front and sides of head whitish; tail black; beneath white, flanks and under wing-coverts cinerascent.

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