Volume I Part 28 (1/2)

146. SERPOPHAGA SUBCRISTATA (Vieill.).

(SMALL-CRESTED TYRANT.)

+Serpophaga subcristata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 454 (Entrerios); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 47; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 177 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 606 (Misiones); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 199 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Above cinereous, usually with a slight olivaceous tinge on the rump; crest-feathers white at their bases, tipped with cinereous, and slightly varied with black; wings blackish, wing-coverts tipped with whitish, forming two handsome bands; outer secondaries externally margined with the same colour; tail dark ashy; beneath ashy white, with more or less yellowish tinge on the belly and under wing-coverts; bill horn-colour; feet black: whole length 45 inches, wing 20, tail 21. _Female_ similar.

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

This species is one of the smallest members of our _Tyrannidae_, its total length being only four and a half inches. The s.e.xes are alike; the upper plumage is grey, with a greenish tinge on the back; the breast paler grey, becoming pale yellow on the belly. There is a white concealed spot under the loose feathers of the crown.

It is quite common in Buenos Ayres, and, probably, has a partial migration, as it is most abundant in summer. In its habits it closely resembles the species last described, being always found in pairs, living in thickets, where they hop incessantly about, exploring the leaves for small caterpillars, and always conversing in low, chirping, and twittering notes. They also sing together a little confused song.

The nest is fastened to the slender twigs of a low bush, and is a deep, cup-shaped and beautiful structure, composed of a great variety of soft materials bound together with spiders' webs, the interior lined with feathers or vegetable down, and the outside with lichen. The eggs are two, bluntly pointed, and of a cream-colour.

147. SERPOPHAGA NIGRICANS (Vieill.).

(BLACKISH TYRANT.)

+Serpophaga nigricans+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. 454 (Parana); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 47; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 177 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 606 (Misiones); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 199 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Above dull brownish cinereous; wings and tail blackish, the coverts and outer secondaries with slight edgings like the back; crest slight, with a well-marked white basal spot; beneath paler and rather purer cinereous; under wing-coverts pale cinereous; bill and feet dark horn-colour: whole length 47 inches, wing 23, tail 11. _Female_ similar, but vertical spot not so well marked.

_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, La Plata, and N. Patagonia.

This species differs markedly in habits, language, and appearance from the last. In both s.e.xes the colour is a uniform slaty grey; the tail, which the bird incessantly opens and flirts like a fan, is black; as in _S. subcristata_ there is a hidden spot of white under the loose feathers forming the crest.

It frequents the borders of running streams, seldom being found far from a water-course; and it alights as often on stones or on the bare ground as on trees. Male and female are always seen together, for it pairs for life, and the migration, if it has any, is only partial. It flits restlessly along the borders of the stream it frequents, making repeated excursions after small winged insects, taking them in the air, or s.n.a.t.c.hing them up from the surface of the water, and frequently returning to the same stand. While thus employed it perpetually utters a loud, complaining _chuck_, and at intervals the two birds meet, and, with crests erect and flirting their wings and tails, utter a series of trills and hurried sharp notes in concert.

The nest is generally placed beneath an overhanging bank, attached to hanging roots or gra.s.s, a few inches above the water; but it is sometimes placed in a bush growing on the borders of a stream. It is a neat, cup-shaped, but rather shallow structure, thickly lined inside with feathers. The eggs are four, pointed, white or pale cream-colour, with black and grey spots at the large end.

148. ANaeRETES PARULUS (Kittl.).

(t.i.t-LIKE TYRANT.)

+Anaeretes parulus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 455 (Mendoza); _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 543 (Rio Negro); _Scl. et Salv.

Nomencl._ p. 47; _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 30 (Cordova); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 395 (Centr. Patagonia); _Doring, Exp.

al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 43 (R. Negro, R. Colorado).

_Description._--Above cinereous, with an olivaceous tint on the lower back; head black, front varied with white, elongated vertical crest black, sometimes varied with white; wings blackish, with slight whitish tips to the coverts and whitish margins to the outer secondaries; tail blackish, outer webs of external rectrices whitish; below pale straw-colour, white on the throat; throat and breast with numerous and well-marked black striations; bill and feet black: whole length 40 inches, wing 19, tail 18. _Female_ similar, but crest shorter.

_Hab._ Argentine Republic, including Patagonia, Chili, Bolivia, Peru, and Andes of Ecuador.

This small bird is only four and a half inches long; in both s.e.xes the colour on the upper parts is dull grey, on the throat and breast ash-coloured; the belly pale yellow. It has the distinction of a slender curling Lapwing-like crest, composed of a few narrow, long, black feathers. The eye is white. It is found in the th.o.r.n.y thickets on the dry plains of Mendoza, and is also common in Patagonia. In its habits it closely resembles _Serpophaga subcristata_; lives always in pairs, perpetually moves about in a singularly deliberate manner while searching through the bush for small insects, the two birds always talking together in little chirping notes, and occasionally bursting out into a little shrill duet. It builds a deep, neat nest of fine dry gra.s.s and lined with feathers, in a low thorn, and lays two white eggs.

149. ANaeRETES FLAVIROSTRIS, Scl. et Salv.

(YELLOW-BILLED t.i.t-TYRANT.)