188 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 
than in any other; and oie one spends many days 
or weeks in the marshy, littoral forests, where the 
bird is most abundant, and hears its incessant dis- 
tressful screams, the specific name melancholicus does 
not seem altogether inappropriate: that is the most 
that can be said of any specific name invented by 
science, which does not merely describe some peculi- 
arity of form or colour. 
Nevertheless it is not the right name: the bird’s 
temper rather than the effect produced by its voice 
on the listener was probably in the French natur- 
alist’s mind when he bestowed it; better than 
melancholy would have been warring, violent, furious, 
bellicose, or some such word. It therefore seems 
best in this as in several other instances to alter the 
English name I gave this bird in the Argentine 
Ornithology (1888). It was there called ‘* Melan- 
choly Tyrant,’’ and I have now renamed it Bellicose 
Tyrant, and hope that future Anglo-Argentine natur- 
alists will find some better designation for this and 
many other of the hundreds of species I have had 
to invent names for. 
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 
