Argentine Ornithology Volume I Part 32

This Tyrant is one of the largest of its kind, its total length being nearly nine inches. The wings are long and suited for an aerial life; the legs are exceedingly short, and the feet are used for perching only, for this species never alights on the ground. The throat and upper parts are grey, tinged with olive on the back; the wings and tail dark; the breast yellow tinged with green; the belly pure yellow. Under the loose grey feathers of the crown is a fiery orange crest displayed in moments of excitement.

In Buenos Ayres these birds arrive in September, after which their shrill, angry cries are incessantly heard, while the birds are seen pursuing each other through the air or in and out amongst the trees--perpetually driven about by the contending pa.s.sions of love, jealousy, and rage. As soon as their domestic broils are over, a fresh war against the whole feathered race begins, which does not cease until the business of propagation is finished. I have frequently spent hours watching the male, successively attacking, with scarcely an interval of rest, every bird, big or little, approaching the sacred tree where its nest was placed. Its indignation at the sight of a cowardly Carrion-Hawk (_Milvago_) skulking about in search of small birds' nests, and the boundless fury of its onset, were wonderful to witness.

They are extremely active, and when not engaged in their endless aerial battles, are pursuing large insects on the wing, usually returning after each capture to their stand, from which they keep a jealous watch on the movements of all winged things about them. They are fond of marshy places and water-courses, where they perch on a tall stalk to watch for insects, and also frequently skim over the water like Swallows to drink and dip their feathers.

A tall tree is usually selected for the nest, which is not unfrequently placed on the very topmost twigs, exposed to the sight of every creature pa.s.sing overhead, and as if in defiance of birds of prey. With such an aggressive temper as this bird possesses it is not strange perhaps that it builds in the most exposed places, from which the female, in the absence of her vigilant consort, can keep a sharp eye on the movements of her feathered neighbours; but I have often thought it singular that they do not make a deeper receptacle for their eggs, for the nest is merely a slight platform of slender sticks, and very ill-adapted to retain its burden during high winds. The parasitical Cow-bird never enters this nest, which is not strange.

The eggs are four in number, small for the bird, pointed, parchment-white, spotted with dark brown at the larger end.

171. MILVULUS TYRANNUS (Linn.).

(SCISSOR-TAIL TYRANT.)

+Milvulus tyrannus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 53; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 178 (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 26 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 203 (Entrerios). +Tyrannus violentus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p.

453.

_Description._--Above cinereous, rump blackish; cap jet-black, with a concealed yellow vertical crest; wings dark brown; tail black, outer web of the outer rectrix white; beneath white; bill and feet black; three outer primaries excised at the tips: whole length 140 inches, wing 46, tail 120. _Female_ similar, but outer tail-feathers not so long.

_Hab._ Mexico, and Central and South America, down to Patagonia.

The _Tijereta_ (Scissor-tail)--a name derived from the habit the bird has of opening and closing the two long feathers of the tail when flying--is found throughout South America, and in the summer of the Southern Hemisphere ranges as far south as Patagonia.

The tail is forked, and the two outer feathers exceed by over four inches in length the next two. The total length of the adult male is fourteen inches, the tail being ten inches long; this species is therefore one of the longest-tailed we know of. The tail of the female is about two inches shorter than that of the male. The head is intense black; the plumage of the crown is rather long and loose, and when raised displays a vivid yellow crest. The neck and upper surface is light, clear grey; the under surface pure white; the tail black. During flight the two long feathers of the tail stream out behind like a pair of black ribbons; frequently the bird pauses suddenly in its flight, and then the two long feathers open out in the form of the letter V.

The Scissor-tail is migratory, and arrives, already mated, at Buenos Ayres at the end of September, and takes its departure at the end of February in families--old and young birds together. In disposition and general habits it resembles the true Tyrant-birds, but differs from them in language, its various chirping and twittering notes having a hard percussive sound, which Azara well compares to the snapping of castanets. It prefers open situations with scattered trees and bushes; and is also partial to marshy grounds, where it takes up a position on an elevated stalk to watch for insects, and seizes them in the air like the Flycatcher. It also greedily devours elderberries and other small fruits.

The nest is not deep, but is much more elaborately constructed than is usual with the Tyrants. Soft materials are preferred, and in many cases the nests are composed almost exclusively of wool. The inside is cup-shaped, with a flat bottom, and is smooth and hard, the thistle-down with which it is lined being cemented with gum. The eggs are four, sharply pointed, light cream-colour, and spotted, chiefly at the large end, with chocolate. In the breeding-time these Tyrants attack other birds approaching the nest with great spirit, and have a particular hatred to the Chimango, pursuing it with the greatest violence through the air with angry notes, resembling in sound the whetting of a scythe, but uttered with great rapidity and emphasis. How greatly this species is imposed upon by the Cow-bird, notwithstanding its pugnacious temper, we have already seen in my account of that bird.

The Scissor-tails have one remarkable habit; they are not gregarious, but once every day, just before the sun sets, all the birds living near together rise to the tops of the trees, calling to one another with loud, excited chirps, and then mount upwards like rockets to a great height in the air; then, after whirling about for a few moments, they precipitate themselves downwards with the greatest violence, opening and shutting their tails during their wild zigzag flight, and uttering a succession of sharp, grinding notes. After this curious performance they separate in pairs, and perching on the tree-tops each couple utters together its rattling castanet notes, after which the company breaks up.

Fam. XIV. PIPRIDae, or MANIKINS.

The brilliantly coloured _Pipridae_ or _Manikins_ are nearly altogether confined to the tropical portions of the Neotropical Region, where they number about 70 species. Only one of these has as yet been discovered intruding in the northern outskirts of the Argentine Republic.

172. CHIROXIPHIA CAUDATA (Shaw).

(LONG-TAILED MANIKIN.)

+Chiroxiphia caudata+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 55; _White, P. Z.

S._ 1882, p. 608 (Misiones).

_Description._--Above blue; cap scarlet; sides of head, nape, and wings black; tail black edged with bluish, two middle rectrices lengthened; beneath blue; throat, crissum, and under wing-coverts black; bill and feet reddish: whole length 60 inches, wing 31, tail 25. _Female_ green, cap scarlet.

_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, and N.E. Argentina.

White obtained two or three males and one female of this Manikin in the forests of Misiones, on the banks of the Uruguay. One of his specimens is now in the British Museum.

Fam. XV. COTINGIDae, or COTINGAS.

The _Cotingidae_ are another characteristic Neotropical family, mostly of splendid plumage, and nearly altogether confined within the limits of the tropics. Two stragglers only, belonging to the more obscure sections of the group, are as yet known to occur within the confines of Argentina, though it is quite probable that others may be found later on, when the northern forests are more completely explored.

173. PACHYRHAMPHUS POLYCHROPTERUS (Vieill.).

(WHITE-WINGED BeCARD.)

+Pachyrhamphus polychropterus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 56; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 61 (Buenos Ayres).

_Description._--Above cinereous, upper back blackish; cap s.h.i.+ning black; wings black, margins of coverts and secondaries white; tail black, four outer pairs of rectrices tipped with white; beneath cinereous, paler on the middle of the belly; under wing-coverts pale grey; bill and feet blackish: whole length 65 inches, wing 30, tail 26. _Female_ above dull green, below yellowish; wings margined with rufous.

_Hab._ South Brazil, Paraguay, and N.E. Argentina.

This pretty little bird, the only species of the large South-American family _Cotingidae_ with which I am acquainted, comes as far south as Buenos Ayres, but is very scarce. It lives in woods, and is a shy, solitary bird with nothing in its flight and general appearance to distinguish it from a Tyrant-bird. When flying, it utters a whistling note.

In January 1887, Durnford met with a pair of this species of Becard in the riverain wood near Belgrano, and secured the male. They were busy catching flies, making frequent sallies from a willow tree in pursuit of them. Mr. Barrows obtained three specimens of what was probably the same bird at Concepcion in Entrerios, in November 1886 (_see_ Bull. Nutt.

Orn. Cl. viii. p. 203).

[Ill.u.s.tration: _a._ First primary of a male _Pachyrhamphus_.

_b._ Second ditto.]

In the _male_ of this species, as in many other Becards, the second primary is abnormally shortened, being only about one inch in length.

See remarks on this subject in P. Z. S. 1857, p. 72, whence the woodcut exhibiting this strange feature is taken by kind permission.

174. CASIORNIS RUBRA (Vieill.).

(RUFOUS CHEESE-BIRD.)

+Suiriri roxo+, _Azara, Apunt._ ii. p. 128. +Casiornis rubra+, _Scl.

et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 57.

_Description._--Above uniform ferruginous, lores paler; beneath lighter, belly yellowish; bill horn-colour, yellowish at the base; feet plumbeous: whole length 68 inches, wing 34, tail 31.

_Female_ similar.

_Hab._ S. Brazil, Paraguay, and N. Argentina.

White obtained a female specimen of this bird at Campo Colorado, Oran, in November 1880; it is now in Sclater's Collection.