Argentine Ornithology Volume I Part 5

_Description._--Above yellowish green; the wing-coverts like the back; wing-feathers dusky brown, edged with olive-yellow; tail-feathers olive-green; crown of head to the occiput blue-grey; from the forehead a black mark extends to the eye and downward to the cheek; throat and under surface bright yellow; bill black; feet pale brown; eye brown: total length 56 inches, wing 24, tail 24.

_Female_ similar, but without the black on the face.

_Hab._ Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.

This is again the only species of a North- and Central-American genus which ranges so far south as Buenos Ayres. It visits us in summer, and is found singly or in pairs in woods and large plantations. It feeds both on the ground and in trees, and, while gleaning amongst the leaves, frequently pauses to utter its loud cheerful song, composed of seven or eight clear notes uttered with rapidity and emphasis.

19. BASILEUTERUS AURICAPILLUS, Sw.

(GOLDEN-CROWNED WOOD-SINGER.)

+Basileuterus auricapillus+, _Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 393.

+Basileuterus vermivorus+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1865, p. 283; _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 10; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 594 (Misiones).

_Description._--Above olive-yellow, lightest on the rump and upper tail-coverts; tail-feathers ashy brown, with yellowish margins; quills dusky; crown of head light orange-chestnut; nape and hind neck pale ashy grey; on each side of the crown a broad black stripe extending from the bill to the hind neck, also a streak of ashy white above the eye; under surface bright yellow; axillaries and under wing-coverts white; bill and feet brownish: total length 45 inches, wing 22, tail 205. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ South America.

This species, which is widely spread over the northern portion of South America, was found in Paraguay by Azara, and in the province of Misiones by White.

20. SETOPHAGA BRUNNEICEPS, d'Orb. et Lafr.

(BROWN-CAPPED WOOD-SINGER.)

+Setophaga brunneiceps+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 473 (Tuc.u.man); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 11; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 595 (Catamarca); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 428.

_Description._--General colour dull olive-yellowish; wing-coverts dark slaty grey; quills blackish; upper tail-coverts slaty grey, washed with olive; tail-feathers blackish--the outer pair white, the next pair white edged with black on the outer web, the third pair with a large white mark at the end; crown of head deep chestnut; neck slaty grey; under surface of body bright yellow; under tail- and wing-coverts white: total length 50 inches, wing 245, tail 24. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Bolivia and Northern Argentina.

White obtained a pair of these birds on the Sierra of Totoral, Catamarca, in July 1880. He describes them as quick in their movements and difficult to shoot. The species was originally discovered by d'Orbigny in Bolivia.

Fam. VII. VIREONIDae, or GREENLETS.

Three of the groups of the peculiar American family of Greenlets, allied to our Shrikes, have representatives within the Argentine Republic. The genera _Vireo_ and _Hylophilus_ both extend, each in the shape of one of its South-Brazilian members, into the woodlands of the Parana; while _Cyclorhis_, another genus also widely spread over South and Central America, has two representatives within our area. One of these latter is well known in the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres; the other is only found in the extreme north of the Republic.

21. VIREOSYLVIA CHIVI (Vieill.).

(CHIVI GREENLET.)

+Contramaestre gaviero+, _Azara, Apunt._ ii. p. 34. +Sylvia chivi+, _Vieill. N. D._ xi. p. 174. +Vireosylvia chivi+, _Baird, Rev. A.

B._ p. 337; _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 160 (Buenos Ayres); _Berl. et Jher. Zeitschr. ges. Orn._ 1885, p. 115. +Vireo chivi+, _Gadow, Cat. B._ viii. p. 295.

_Hab._ South America, from Colombia down to Buenos Ayres.

A single specimen of this Greenlet was found in a collection made by Mr.

Haslehurst near Buenos Ayres. As the species occurs in Rio Grande do Sul (_Berlepsch_) and Paraguay (_Azara_), its occasional appearance in Eastern Argentina is quite probable. Whether the bird is really distinct from the widespread _Vireo olivaceus_ seems to be a question which is not yet finally settled.

Azara, describing this species, says it is one of the commonest in deep woods, where it moves about among the terminal twigs, without ever rising to the tops of the trees or flying down to the brush or the ground. It is active, and extremely restless in manner; and in searching after and taking the small insects and spiders on which it lives it climbs about the twigs, a.s.suming every position, and frequently suspending itself, head downwards, by its feet. It has a full pleasing voice of considerable power, heard incessantly in the woods, particularly in the love-season. The nest is a slender beautiful structure, even surpa.s.sing that of the Humming-birds, constructed of thin dry leaves outside, smoothly attached to the rest with spiders'

webs, while the inside is formed of fine fibres and cotton.

22. HYLOPHILUS PCILOTIS, Max.

(BROWN-HEADED WOOD-BIRD.)

+Hylophilus pcilotis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 12; _Scl.

Ibis_, 1881, p. 300; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 595 (Misiones); _Gadow, Cat. B._ viii. p. 308.

_Description._--Crown of head and nape rich rufous-brown; all the rest of the upper parts, including the entire tail and wing-coverts and the outer webs of the remiges, rich olive-green; cheeks and upper throat whitish; ear-coverts blackish, with white central streaks; under wing-coverts, axillaries, inner margin of remiges, and under tail-coverts lemon-yellow; rest of underparts dull yellow, washed with olive on the breast and flanks, and inclining to pale ochreous on the abdomen; bill dark flesh-colour; feet hazel: total length 45 inches, wing 22, tail 22. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Southern Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.

This South-Brazilian species was met with by White near San Javier, in the province of Misiones, in June 1881.

23. CYCLORHIS OCHROCEPHALA.

(OCHRE-HEADED GREENLET-SHRIKE.)

[Plate III. Fig. 1.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1. CYCLORHIS OCHROCEPHALA.} " 2. " ALTIROSTRIS. }]

+Cyclorhis viridis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 472; _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 13; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 58 (Punta Lara); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 595 (Buenos Ayres); _Gadow, Cat. B._ viii. p. 318. +Cyclorhis ochrocephala+, _Tsch. Arch. f.

Nat._ 1845, pt. i. p. 362; _Berl. et Jher. Zeitschr. ges. Orn._ 1885, p. 116.

_Description._--Above olive-green; cap brownish ochraceous, more or less rufescent; front and superciliaries chestnut-red; sides of head clear grey, beneath pale buff; breast and flanks yellow; throat greyish white; bill reddish grey, feet grey; eye reddish: total length 70 inches, wing 34, tail 28. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Middle districts of Argentina.

This species is not uncommon in the woods along the sh.o.r.es of the Plata, and may be easily known to any person penetrating them by its loud "cheerful soliloquy," for that phrase of Mr. Barrows, the North-American writer on birds, well describes the artless, light-hearted song which it utters at intervals while it roams about in the deep foliage, and which reminds one of the careless whistling of a boy, whistling merely to express his gaiety, but without having any particular tune in his mind.

It is migratory, and extends its range south of Buenos Ayres.

24. CYCLORHIS ALTIROSTRIS, Salvin.

(DEEP-BILLED GREENLET-SHRIKE.)

[Plate III. Fig. 2.]

+Cyclorhis altirostris+, _Salv. Ibis_, 1880, p. 352; _Gadow, Cat. B._ viii. p. 319. +Cyclorhis viridis+, _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn.

Cl._ viii. p. 88 (Concepcion, Entrerios); _Berl. et Jher.