TYRANTS. 



branches of trees when its haunits are intruded upon. 

 Its food consists of insects, and probalbly ben-res, fruits, 

 and snails." 



"I ha\p received its eggs, accompanied by the fol- 

 lowing notes, from ithe late F. S'trange, of Sydney : 



" ' I never saw any bird whose actions are more 

 graceful tihan those of Pitta strepitans when seen in 

 its native brushes, where its presence is indicated by 

 its singular call, resembling the 'words "want a watch" 

 'by imitating which you cam call it close to the muzzle 

 of your gun ; no sooner, howeover, does it commence 

 breeding than it 'becomes shy and reftiriinig, keeping 

 out of sight in the most arltful manner, movinicr about 

 from place to place, and occas-ionailly uttering its cry 

 until it has draiwn you away from the nest. The' neslts 

 I ha,ve seen were generally placed in the spur of a fig- 

 tree, sometimes near the ground, and were outwardly 

 constructed of sticks, and lined with moss, leaves, and 

 fine pieces of bark. The eggs are four in numlber," of 

 a pale creamy-white, marked alii over witih inregularly- 

 shaped 'blotches of brown and deep vinous grey, the 

 Latter appearing as if beneath tlhe surface of the shell ; 

 they are one inch and a quarter in length by seven- 

 eighthe of an inch in breadth." 



Two examples of this species were purchased by the 

 London Zoological Society, and exhibited at Regent's 

 Park in March, 1894. 



GREEN-BREASTED OB HOODED PITTA (Pitta 

 cucullata}. 



Above very like tlhe preceding sipeeies ; tlhe primaries 

 crossed by a broad white subtermimad Iband ; beilaw 

 bright green, the throat and a central abdominal patch 

 black ; lower abdomen and under tail-coverts scarlet ; 

 under wing-coverts black ; bill black ; " feet brown " 

 (Shiarpe), pale redddsh (Jerdom) ; irides brawn. Female 

 not differentiated. Bab., Nepal and through Assam 

 and the Malay Peninsula 'to the Island of Banka. 



Jerdon says ("Birds of India," Vol. I., p. 505) : "I 

 O'ttly pro-cured one specimen, which was killed by a 

 Lepdha, when seated on her neislt, on the banks of the 

 greait Rungeet River, about 1,200 feet above the sea. 

 The nest was composed chiefly of roots and other 

 fibrous matter, with a feiw hairs, and contained three 

 eggs of a faint greenislh-iwhite, wiith a few reddish and 

 some fawn- coloured spots." 



Russ describes this, as he does P. iris; but appa- 

 rently only because he thinks they may be imported ; 

 it would seem never to have reached the London Gar- 

 dens ; but, in The Avicultural Magazine, First Series, 

 Vol. VIII., p. 9, Mr. Astley speaks of a pair of what 

 he believed to be this species which he had noticed 

 at a Crystal Palace show a few years previously. Of 

 course, this is quite .likely, and therefore I include it 

 here. 



We next have to consider the Tyrants, a group in- 

 cluding birds of the most varied form and colouring, 

 and differing not a little in their habits. Regarding 

 them from the avicultural standpoint, one would suppose 

 the family to greatly need (breaking up. It is, indeed, 

 difficult to understand how birds so ultterly dissimilar 

 can belong to the same family. 



TYRANTS (Tyrannidce). 



Only one species of this large family is freely im- 

 ported, and, unlike a great many of the Tyrants, which 

 bear a curious resemblance to Thrushes and other 

 Passerine groups, this species is, both in appearance 

 and habits, much more like a Kingfisher. 



Upwards of 400 species of Tyrant-birds are known 

 to science, the majority being small and inconspicuous 



birds, though some (as, for instance, the marvellous 

 crested birds of the genus Muscivora) have no little 

 pretension to beauty. They are all characterised by a 

 hooked, incurved bill, combined with nearly free toes 

 to the feet. The family is strictly confined to the New 

 World. 



Some of the Tyrants bear a certain likeness to the 

 Shrikes, others to the Flycatchers, others again to the 

 Wheatears, while one genus recalls the Wagtails, 

 another the Tits, and a third some of the Warblers ; 

 yet to none of these are they really related. The term 

 "Tyrant" was first applied to the King-bird, which 

 differs greatly in appearance from most of the other 

 Tyrannidce. 



All the Tyrants should be fed upon a good in- 

 sectivorous mixture and on living insects, but some of 

 them require a more varied diet, as I shall point out 

 when dealing with them separately. 



PEPOAZA TYRANT (Tcenioptera nengeta). 



Above ash-grey ; wings black, with a well-defined 

 p&tch at base of primaries and the margins of the outer 

 secondaries white; basal third of tail white, otherwise 

 it is black with whitish-ash tip ; lores white ; below 

 pale ashy, a blackish stripe on each side of the throat ; 

 middle of throat and belly, flanks, vent, and under 

 tail-coverts white ; bill horn-colour ; feet black. Female 

 not differentiated. Hab., S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, 

 Uruguay, Argentina, and Bolivia. 



Hudson observes (" Argentine Ornithology," Vol. I., 

 pp. 114, 115) : " The bird perches itself on an eleva- 

 tion the summit of a stalk, or bush, or even of a low 

 tree to watch like a Flycatcher for its insect prey ; 

 only, instead of looking about for passing insects, it 

 gazes intently down at the ground, just as a Kingfisher 

 does at the water, and when it spies a beetle or grass- 

 hopper, darts down upon it, not, however, to snatch it 

 up with the bill as other Tyrants do, but it first grasps 

 it with its feet, then proceeds to despatch it, swaying 

 about and opening its wings to keep its own balance, 

 just as an Owi is seen to do when it grasps a mouse or 

 other small animal in its claws. After devouring the 

 insect on the spot, it flies back to its perch to resume 

 the watch. They are very restless, active, playful 

 birds, and seldom remain long on one spot, apparently 

 finding it irksome to do so ; but I have seen the T. 

 irupero occupy the same perch for hours every day 

 while looking out for insects." 



" The Pepoaza is a swift, active, graceful bird, with 

 a strong, straight beak, hooked at the point, and a 

 broad tail 4 in. long, the total length of the bird being 

 9 in." 



Mr. Barrows gives the following account of its lively 

 habits in Entrerios : "They are commonly seen 

 perched on fences or the tops of bushes or trees in open 

 ground, frequently making sallies for winged insects, or 

 dropping to the ground to catch a grasshopper or worm. 

 When shot at while perched and watching you, they 

 almost invariably leave the perch at the flash, pitching 

 forward and downward, and usually evading the shot, 

 even at short range. Several times I have secured them 

 by shooting about 1 ft. below and 2 ft. in front of them 

 as they sat, but they do not always fly in this direc- 

 tion. The rapidity of their flight when frightened, or 

 when quarrelling, is simply astonishing. I have seen 

 one chase another for three or four minutes, doubling, 

 turning, twisting, and .shooting, now brushing the grass, 

 and now rising to a height of at least 200 or 300 ft., 

 and all the movements so rapid that the eye could 

 scarcely follow them ; and at the end of it each would 



