Volume I Part 27 (1/2)

(RED-THROATED TYRANT.)

+Euscarthmus gularis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 45; _White, P. Z.

S._ 1882, p. 605 (Corrientes and Oran).

_Description._--Olive-brown; wings blackish, wing-coverts tipped and outer secondaries edged with yellowish white, forming two distinct bands; remiges and rectrices narrowly margined with olive; head above dark cinereous; lores and sides of the head surrounding the dark ear-coverts rufous; beneath white, sides of the breast greyish; chin and sides of throat rufous, like the lores; flanks and under wing-coverts tinged with yellowish: whole length 35 inches, wing 18, tail 14. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Bolivia, and Northern La Plata.

This bird was observed by White near Oran, and also in Misiones.

140. PHYLLOSCARTES VENTRALIS (Temm.).

(YELLOW-BELLIED TYRANT.)

+Phylloscartes ventralis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 46; _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 198 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Above uniform olive; ill-defined superciliaries whitish; ear-coverts dark; wings and tail blackish with olive margins; well-defined spots on the tips of the two rows of wing-coverts and outer webs of secondaries yellowish; below yellow, rather white on the throat and olivaceous on the sides; under wing-coverts pale yellow; bill and feet blackish: whole length 45 inches, wing 21, tail 23.

_Hab._ S.E. Brazil and Northern La Plata.

This species is stated to have been met with by Mr. Barrows among the low bushes bordering the streams of Entrerios. Graf v. Berlepsch has recorded its presence in Rio Grande do Sul (Zeitschr. ges. Orn. 1885, p. 131), so that this occurrence is not improbable.

141. HAPALOCERCUS FLAVIVENTRIS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).

(REED-TYRANT.)

+Arundinicola flaviventris+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 335, pl. x.x.xi.

fig. 1. +Hapalocercus flaviventris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii.

p. 456 (Mendoza); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 46; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 177 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 395 (Centr.

Patagonia); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 605 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 199 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Above mouse-brown; wings and tail rather darker, with edgings like the back; vertex more or less tinged with rufous; beneath yellow; under wing-coverts pale yellow; bill and feet black: whole length 40 inches, wing 20, tail 20. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ S. Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, La Plata, and Chili.

This little bird is rarely met with in the desert pampas, but throughout the settled portion of the Buenos-Ayrean province it is one of the most common species of the _Tyrannidae_. It arrives from the north in September, and is very regular in its migrations, although apparently a very feeble flier. It frequents open grounds abounding in thistles, tall weeds, or bushes, and is consequently most abundant about houses.

It is extremely active, and occasionally darts after a pa.s.sing insect and captures it on the wing, especially soft insects, like moths and b.u.t.terflies, to which it is most partial. It subsists princ.i.p.ally, however, on small caterpillars and spiders, for which it searches diligently among the leaves, after the manner of the Wren. Although belonging to the songless division of the Pa.s.seres, this small Tyrant-bird possesses a formal song, which the male utters with great frequency, the only other member of the Tyrant-family that I am acquainted with which really sings being the Scarlet Tyrant (_Pyrocephalus rubescens_). The music of the Reed-Tyrant is weak but curious; it is composed of five brief percussive notes, distinctly metallic in sound, which may be imitated by gently and slowly striking _fa la mi sol fa_ on the highest keys of the piano. To utter this quaint little song the bird perches itself on the summit of a weed or bush, where it solicits attention with a little chipping prelude, and then jerks its head vigorously with each note, delivering its few drops of sound with all the a.s.surance of a master in the art of melody.

In October it builds a deep elaborate nest of fine dry gra.s.s, thistle-down, webs, feathers, and other soft materials, usually in the fork of a weed or thistle three or four feet from the ground. It lays four cream-coloured eggs, the colour deepening to grey at the larger end.

142. HABRURA PECTORALIS (Vieill.).

(THIN-TAILED TYRANT.)

+Pachyrhamphus minimus+, _Gould, Zool. Voy. Beagle_, iii. p. 61, pl.