MUSCISAXICOLA MACLOVIANA. 133 



through the trees, while its persecutor rose high up in the air and 

 resumed its journey. 



I have elsewhere spoken of the wars waged by this bird against other 

 species, all seeking to gain possession of the large nest of Anumbius 

 acuticaudatus. A hole in the trunk of a tree is also a favourite breeding- 

 place. The nest is neatly built of slender twigs and leaves, and lined 

 with horse-hair. The eggs are slightly oval, and densely marked with 

 dark brown spots or stripes on a white or brownish-white ground. 



133. MUSCISAXICOLA MACLOVIANA (Garn.). 

 (CHIN-SPOTTED TYRANT.) 



Muscisaxicola mentalis, Hudson, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 541 (Rio Negro) ; Scl. et 

 Salv. Nomencl. p. 44. 



Description. Above cinereous, lores blackish, cap brown ; tail-coverts and 

 tail black, outer margins of outer tail-feather white ; below pale cinereous, 

 passing into white on lower belly, crissum, and under wing-coverts ; chin-spot 

 brown ; bill and feet black : whole length 6*1 inches, wing 4'1, tail 2-6. Female 

 similar, but chin-spot not so well marked. 



Hob. Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Patagonia, and Falkland Islands. 



This South-Patagonian species is one of a Chilian group of Tyrant- 

 birds which resemble in their habits the Saxicola of Europe. The 

 plumage is generally grey, with more or less rufous colour on the crown ; 

 they have long legs, and run swiftly on the ground, frequent open sterile 

 situations, and perch only occasionally on trees. 



The present bird is about seven inches long ; the upper parts are dull 

 grey, except the crown, which is dark chestnut ; under surface light 

 grey, and tail nearly black. In the month of June I met with these 

 birds on the Rio Negro, on their arrival there from the south. They 

 went in flocks of a dozen or twenty birds ; they had a swift easy flight, 

 were shy and restless in their manner, and uttered low plaintive 

 whistling notes. When a flock alights on the ground the birds all 

 instantly scatter, running rapidly about in all directions over the bare 

 ground. Occasionally one was seen to perch on some slight elevation, 

 and dart like a Flycatcher after passing insects. 



Darwin saw this bird as far north on the Atlantic coast as Bahia 

 Blanca. He also found it at Tierra del Fuego, where it lives entirely 

 on the sea-beaches ; and in the sterile upper valleys of the Chilian 

 Andes, at a height of ten thousand feet, where the last traces of vege- 

 tation occur and where no other bird lives. 



