AVES TYRANNIC^. 799 



cinnamon brown, head gray with dusky centers to the feathers, upper tail 

 coverts, tail and wings black or blackish brown, outermost tail feathers 

 white on the outer web ; below cinereous brown on breast and sides some- 

 what mottled with paler tips to the feathers ; throat, abdomen and crissum 

 ashy white ; bill and feet black. 



GeogmpJiical Range. — Chile, Patagonia and Argentina, south to Tierra 

 del Fuego. 



Mr. Hatcher and his co-workers met this lark-like flycatcher wherever 

 they reached the coast region of southern Chile or Patagonia, and a large 

 series was collected. It seems always a species of river banks and the 

 vicinity of the coast. 



W. H. Hudson writes of it: "Very interesting in appearance is the 

 silent little 'Osquita,' the bright rufous on its back contrasting prettily 

 with its other color, the bill, feet, and plumage being intensely black, as 

 if dyed in Indian ink; the inside of the bill and tongue is bright yellow. 

 When they first appear the young males have almost as pale an ashy 

 plumage as the females. Soon they become mottled with black, and be- 

 fore leaving us have only a few dark specks to distinguish them from the 

 adults. They are quarrelsome and lively, incessantly hopping and flitting 

 about the little spot of bare earth they attach themselves to." (P. Z. S. 

 1871, p. 259.) 



E. W. White, who studied the species in Argentina, writes : " In Salto 

 I saw two or three specimens, one male and the rest females, which I shot 

 on the edge of a lagoon. In Flores a very wild specimen was secured in 

 the banado or low swampy ground, but seemed disinclined to make for 

 any shrubs, although some were near at hand. 



"The nest is found close to the edge of the lagoon, about half a yard 

 above the water, and is built pendent from two or three rushes united ; 

 covered at the top, with the exception of a small circular entrance i>^ 

 inch in diameter, placed at one side, and at times another small entrance 

 near the bottom ; it is constructed of roots of grass and rushes tightly ce- 

 mented together, and beautifully lined with down. The external meas- 

 urements of the nest are 4 inches in height and 3 in diameter. 



"The ^"g^, which is of a deep bluish-green and spotless, has a peculiar 

 squat form, the upper part truly hemispherical, the lower spheroidal. 

 Three eggs in a clutch." (P. Z. S. 1882, pp. 604-605.) 



M. J. Nicoll found it "abundant at Punta Arenas, but during our short 



