Volume I Part 41 (2/2)

Azara's account of this species is prefaced by the following remarks on the birds of this genus known to him in Paraguay:--”These birds inhabit only the dense and tangled thickets, and never show themselves outside of their hiding-places, except for a few moments in the early morning and in the evening; but at no time do they perch high on the trees, but keep always within a few feet of the earth. They live in pairs; feed solely on insects caught in the bushes which they frequent, or on the ground, on which, however, the bird alights only to pick up its prey, and then returns to the twig to devour it. They are stationary, and fly only from one thicket to another. Many of the species have a similar voice or song, which is singular, powerful, and heard only in the love-season. The call is a trill of a single note rapidly reiterated, and loud enough to be heard half a mile away; the cry being accompanied by vibratory motions of the wings.”

224. THAMNOPHILUS CaeRULESCENS, Vieill.

(SLATY-BLUE BUSH-BIRD.)

+Thamnophilus caerulescens+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 472 (Parana, Mendoza, Tuc.u.man); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 70; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 614 (Corrientes, Misiones); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 21 (Entrerios); _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 361 (Salta).

_Description._--Above grey, black on the crown, and a patch of white and black feathers on the middle of the back; wings black, the coverts thickly spotted and the inner webs of the remiges edged with white; tail black, all the feathers, except the middle pair, tipped with white, the outer rectrix on each side has also a long white spot in the middle part of the outer web; beneath cinereous, white on the belly; bill and feet black: whole length 56 inches, wing 27, tail 23. _Female_: above earthy olive-green, yellowish on the crown; wing-coverts and tail as in the male; wing-feathers olive-brown; beneath yellowish olive-grey, brightening into ochraceous on the belly and flanks.

_Hab._ Paraguay and Argentina.

Mr. Barrows says concerning this species that it is ”frequently seen, especially during the winter” (on the Lower Uruguay). A nest, taken November 24th, ”was almost precisely like that of our Red-eyed Vireo (_V. olivaceus_), being pensile in the fork of a horizontal spray, only four feet from the ground. It contained three fresh eggs, white, with spots and dashes of light brown.”

White says that these birds frequent the banks of streams, and have a deep ba.s.s call-note, rather mournful and slow.

225. THAMNOPHILUS RUFICAPILLUS, Vieill.

(RED-CAPPED BUSH-BIRD.)

+Thamnophilus argentinus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 472 (Parana, Tuc.u.man); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 70; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 183 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 21 (Entrerios). +Thamnophilus ruficapillus+, _Pelz. Orn. Bras._ p.

79; _Berl. et Jher. Zeitschr. ges. O._ 1885, p. 49.

_Description._--Above olivaceous brown, tinged with rufous, brighter on the crown; lores yellowish white, superciliaries and sides of head whitish grey; wing-feathers dark olive-brown, the inner webs edged with ochraceous; tail black, all the rectrices, except the middle pair, slightly tipped and broadly spotted on the inner webs with white; beneath greyish white, the feathers from the lower throat to the belly transversely barred with black; bill and feet black: whole length 62 inches, wing 27, tail 26. _Female_: above the same as the male, except the tail, which is rufous brown; beneath whitish, tinged with ochraceous, and with scarcely perceptible greyish mottlings.

_Hab._ Paraguay and Argentina.

This species is very common in the eastern provinces of Argentina, and extends south to Buenos Ayres. It is a shy, solitary bird, found in woods and thickets along the sh.o.r.es of La Plata; and utters occasionally a singular low rasping note, its only language. The nest is a slight shallow structure placed in a low tree; the eggs are white, thinly spotted with reddish brown. Probably this species is to some extent migratory, as I have only observed it in the summer season.

Fam. XIX. PTEROPTOCHIDae, or TAPACOLAS.

The Pteroptochidae form a small but very peculiar family of Tracheophonine Pa.s.seres, mostly restricted to Chili and the south-western extremity of the South-American Continent, but also represented in the Andes of Ecuador and Colombia and in the high plateau of Central Brazil. They are ground-birds, remarkable for their large and robust feet with long claws, their strangely formed bills, and the elevated position in which the tail is carried in the living bird.

In the Argentine Republic four species of Pteroptochidae are known to occur, only one of which, however, is a well-known bird. Two of the remaining three are recent discoveries, and the fourth a Chilian species, which extends over the Andes into the western borders of Argentina.

226. SCYTALOPUS SUPERCILIARIS, Cab.

(WHITE-EYEBROWED SCYTALOPUS.)

+Scytalopus superciliaris+, _Cab. Journ. f. Orn._ 1883, p. 105, t.

ii. fig. 3 (Tuc.u.man).

_Description._--Nearest to _S. indigoticus_ of Brazil, but without the white colour on the breast and belly, only the throat being clear white; superciliaries striped white; front and sides of the head and neck, breast and belly grey; rest of the upper surface, together with the flanks and crissum, light brown, with fine blackish cross-markings; bill blackish, feet light-coloured.

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