96 



COCK-TAILED WATER-CHAT. 



Alectura Azarti, SWAINS. 



PLATE VI. 



Above blackish, edged with grey ; ears, shoulder-covers, mar- 

 gins of the quills, and under plumage, white ; breast and 

 sides of the neck with a black collar, almost obsolete in ; 

 front. 



Le Petit coq., Azarii ed. Sonnini^ iii. 447. Muscicapa ale<v 



tor, PL Col. 155 ; fig. 1, male ; 2, female Muscicapa 



alectura, Vieitt. Gal. PI. 132. 



IT is but justice to the memory of the great Spanish 

 naturalist Azara, who first made known to us this 

 extraordinary group of birds, that one of the species 

 should be recorded by his name, especially since that 

 of Alector is but a repetition of Alectura ; and it is ; 

 quite impossible to determine whether M. Yieillot's 

 short description of his Alectura tricolor (which, in 

 another part of the same work*, he calls Gallita 

 tricolor) is intended for this or some other species. 



In its manners, as detailed by Azara, may be re- 

 cognized all the prominent characteristics of the ] 

 true water-chats. It prefers open tracts in the 

 immediate vicinity of water, but never enters into 

 * Analyse d'une Nouv. Orn. p. 39 and 68. 





