120 TYRANNIC. 



This species inhabits the Mendoza district, and migrates south in 

 spring. I met with it on the Rio Negro, in Patagonia, where it made 

 its appearance in October. The sexes are alike. The entire upper 

 plumage is dull grey with a pale rufous tinge ; throat, breast, and belly 

 pale buff tinged with grey. It is a solitary bird, restless in manner, 

 has a swift flight, and sits on a stalk or other slight elevation, from 

 which it darts down to seize any insect it spies on the ground. Its 

 only language is a very low whistling note. 



117. T-ffiNIOPTERA RUBETRA (Burm.X 



(CHAT-LIKE TYRANT.) 



[PLATE VII.] 



Tsenioptera rubetra, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 461 (Mendoza) ; Hudson, 

 P. Z. S. 1872, p. 541 (Rio Negro) ; Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 42 ; Durnford, 

 Ibis, 1877, p. 34, et 1878, p. 394 (Patagonia). 



Description. Above sandy brown, lores and superciliaries white; wings 

 black, greater coverts and outer secondaries edged with whitish, lesser coverts 

 like the back ; tail black, outer web of the outer tail-feathers and tips of others 

 white ; below white, with black striations on the sides of the throat and on the 

 breast; flanks, under wing-coverts, and inner webs of the primaries deep rufous ; 

 two outer primaries acuminated : whole length 7*5 inches, wing 4'7, tail 3-2. 

 Female rather paler, throat and breast washed with ocnraceous, and outer 

 primaries not acuminated. 



Hob. Interior of Argentine Republic and Patagonia. 



I have met with this bird at all seasons of the year in Patagonia on the 

 Rio Negro, and think it probable that it has no migration. It is seen 

 in flocks of twenty or thirty individuals, and in its lively actions when 

 on the wing, and in its habit of perching on a bush or elevation of some 

 kind, from which it pounces down on an insect seen on the ground, it 

 resembles other Ttenioptera ; but it runs about on the ground a great 

 deal, and in this respect is more like a Myiotheretes or Muscisaxicola. 

 In its colour it also diverges widely from the typical Taeniopteras in 

 their black and white Dominican plumage. The whole upper parts are 

 light chestnut, with a white mark on the side of the head ; wings and 

 tail dark, tipped with pale rufous ; throat, breast, and belly whitish 

 rufous, with dark lines on throat and bosom. The chestnut hue in the 

 female is paler and mixed with grey. 



