Volume I Part 26 (1/2)

I once saw one drop like a stone from a height of fifty yards on to a Pigeon perched on a leafless tree. The Pigeon fell as if shot to the earth; the Tyrant-bird then released his hold; the Pigeon rushed away terrified through the trees, while its persecutor rose high up in the air and resumed its journey.

I have elsewhere spoken of the wars waged by this bird against other species, all seeking to gain possession of the large nest of _Anumbius acuticaudatus_. A hole in the trunk of a tree is also a favourite breeding-place. The nest is neatly built of slender twigs and leaves, and lined with horse-hair. The eggs are slightly oval, and densely marked with dark brown spots or stripes on a white or brownish-white ground.

133. MUSCISAXICOLA MACLOVIANA (Garn.).

(CHIN-SPOTTED TYRANT.)

+Muscisaxicola mentalis+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 541 (Rio Negro); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 44.

_Description._--Above cinereous, lores blackish, cap brown; tail-coverts and tail black, outer margins of outer tail-feather white; below pale cinereous, pa.s.sing into white on lower belly, crissum, and under wing-coverts; chin-spot brown: bill and feet black: whole length 61 inches, wing 41, tail 26. _Female_ similar, but chin-spot not so well marked.

_Hab._ Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Patagonia, and Falkland Islands.

This South-Patagonian species is one of a Chilian group of Tyrant-birds which resemble in their habits the _Saxicolae_ of Europe. The plumage is generally grey, with more or less rufous colour on the crown; they have long legs, and run swiftly on the ground, frequent open sterile situations, and perch only occasionally on trees.

The present bird is about seven inches long; the upper parts are dull grey, except the crown, which is dark chestnut; under surface light grey, and tail nearly black. In the month of June I met with these birds on the Rio Negro, on their arrival there from the south. They went in flocks of a dozen or twenty birds; they had a swift easy flight, were shy and restless in their manner, and uttered low plaintive whistling notes. When a flock alights on the ground the birds all instantly scatter, running rapidly about in all directions over the bare ground.

Occasionally one was seen to perch on some slight elevation, and dart like a Flycatcher after pa.s.sing insects.

Darwin saw this bird as far north on the Atlantic coast as Bahia Blanca.

He also found it at Tierra del Fuego, where it lives entirely on the sea-beaches; and in the sterile upper valleys of the Chilian Andes, at a height of ten thousand feet, where the last traces of vegetation occur and where no other bird lives.

134. MUSCISAXICOLA RUFIVERTEX, d'Orb. et Lafr.

(RED-TOPPED TYRANT.)

+Ptyonura rufivertex+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 461 (Mendoza).

_Description._--Above clear cinereous; lores and short superciliaries whitish; well-defined nape-patch bright rufous; wings brownish; upper tail-coverts and tail black, outer margin of outer rectrix white: below clear cinereous white, brighter on lower belly, crissum, and under wing-coverts; bill and feet black: whole length 65 inches, wing 40, tail 28. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Peru, Bolivia, Chili, and Western Argentina.

135. MUSCISAXICOLA MACULIROSTRIS, d'Orb. et Lafr.

(SPOT-BILLED TYRANT.)

+Muscisaxicola maculirostris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 44; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 395 (Centr. Patagonia). +Ptyonura maculirostris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 462 (Mendoza).

_Description._--Above greyish brown, lores and slight superciliaries whitish; tail-coverts and tail black, the outer web of the outer rectrix white; below pale greyish white, whiter on the belly and crissum; bill black, with the base of the lower mandible yellowish; feet black: whole length 55 inches, wing 34, tail 24. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Chili, Patagonia, Bolivia, Peru, and Western Ecuador.

Prof. Burmeister met with this species near Mendoza, in the mouths of the large torrents above the city. Durnford found it near the river Sengalen in Central Patagonia in December 1877.

136. CENTRITES NIGER (Bodd.).

(RED-BACKED TYRANT.)

+Centrites niger+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 458; _Scl. et Salv.