140 TYRANNISE. 



does not appear to be migratory, for on the Rio Negro I found it at 

 all seasons. It is slender in form, with a long tail, its total length 

 being six inches. The sexes are alike in colour; the upper parts are 

 yellowish grey, breast and belly light yellow. They are found living 

 in pairs, all the year round, in thorn bushes, and are scarcely ever seen 

 to rest, but hop incessantly from twig to twig, in a delicate, leisurely 

 manner, seeking on the leaves for the minute caterpillars and other 

 insects on which they live. While thus engaged they utter a variety of 

 little chirping and twittering notes, as if conversing together, and 

 occasionally the two birds unite their voices in a shrill, impetuous song. 



146. SERPOPHAGA SUBCRISTATA (Vieill.). 

 (SMALL-CRESTED TYRANT.) 



Serpophaga subcristata, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 454 (Entrerios) ; Sd. et 

 Salv. Nomencl. p. 47 ; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 177 (Buenos Ayres) j White, 

 P. Z. S. 1882, p. 606 (Misiones) j Harrows, Bull Nutt. Orn. Cl. vol. viii. 

 p. 199 (Entrerios). 



Description. Above cinereous, usually with a slight olivaceous tinge on the 

 rump ; crest-feathers white at their bases, tipped with cinereous, and slightly 

 varied with black ; wings blackish, wing-coverts tipped with whitish, forming 

 two handsome bands ; outer secondaries externally margined with the same 

 colour ; tail dark ashy ; beneath ashy white, with more or less yellowish tinge 

 on the belly and under wing-coverts; bill horn- colour ; feet black: whole 

 length 4-5 inches, wing 2'0, tail 2*1. Female similar. 



Hab. S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, Northern La Plata, and Bolivia. 



This species is one of the smallest members of our Tyrannida, its 

 total length being only four and a half inches. The sexes are alike ; 

 the upj:er plumage is grey, with a greenish tinge on the back ; the 

 breast paler grey, becoming pale yellow on the belly. There is a white 

 concealed spot under the loose feathers of the crown. 



It is quite common in Buenos Ayres, and, probably, has a partial 

 migration, as it is most abundant in summer. In its habits it closely 

 resembles the species last described, being always found in pairs, 

 living in thickets, where they hop incessantly about, exploring the 

 leaves for small caterpillars, and always conversing in low, chirping, 

 and twittering notes. They also sing together a little confused song. 

 The nest is fastened to the slender twigs of a low bush, and is a deep, 

 cup-shaped and beautiful structure, composed of a great variety of soft 

 materials bound together with spiders' webs, the interior lined with 

 feathers or vegetable down, and the outside with lichen. The eggs are 

 two, bluntly pointed, and of a cream-colour. 



