PYROCEPHALUS RUBINEUS. 153 



Pura. Little Soldier and Coal of Fire are also amongst its names. 

 The Guarani tribes call it Guira-pitd (red-bird) ; but another Indian 

 name, mentioned by d'Orbigny, is the l>estQuarhi-rahi, which signifies 

 Sun-born. 



The Churinche appears in Buenos Ayres about the end of September, 

 and is usually first seen in localities to which Tyrant- birds are partial, 

 such as low grassy grounds, with here and there a stalk or bush, and 

 near a wood or plantation. Insects are most abundant in such places ; 

 and here the Churinche is seen, perched on a twig, darting at intervals to 

 snap at the flies after the fashion of the Flycatchers, and frequently utter- 

 ing its low, plaintive note. It is very common in the woods along the 

 Plata ; every orchard on the pampas is visited by a few of them ; and 

 they are very abundant about Buenos Ayres city. Going south they 

 become rarer ; but, strange to say, a few individuals find their way to 

 the shores of the Rio Negro, though before reaching it they must cross 

 a high, barren country quite unsuited to them. The natives of the 

 Carmen have no name for the Churinche, but speak of it as a bird 

 wonderful for its beauty and seldom seen. Amongst the dull-plumaged 

 Patagonian species it certainly has a very brilliant appearance. 



A very few days after their arrival the Churinches pair ; and the male 

 selects a spot for the nest a fork in a tree from six to twelve feet from 

 the ground, or sometimes a horizontal bough. This spot the male 

 visits about once a minute, sits on it with his splendid crest elevated, 

 tail spread out, and wings incessantly fluttering, while he pours out a 

 continuous stream of silvery gurgling notes, so low they can scarcely be 

 heard ten paces off, and somewhat resembling the sound of water 

 running from a narrow-necked flask, but infinitely more rapid and 

 musical. Of the little bird's homely, grey, silent mate the observer will 

 scarcely obtain a glimpse, she appearing as yet to take little or no 

 interest in the affairs that so much occupy the attention of her consort, 

 and keep him in a state of such violent excitement. He is exceedingly 

 pugnacious, so that when not fluttering on the Site of his future nest, 

 or snapping up some insect on the wing, he is eagerly pursuing other 

 male Churinches, apparently bachelors, from tree to tree. At intervals 

 he repeats his remarkable little song, composed of a succession of 

 sweetly modulated metallic trills uttered on the wing. The bird usually 

 mounts upwards from thirty to forty yards, and, with wings very much 

 raised and rapidly vibrating, rises and drops almost perpendicularly half 

 a yard's space five or six times, appearing to keep time to his notes in 

 these motions. This song he frequently utters in the night, but with- 

 out leaving his perch ; and it then has a most pleasing effect, as it is 

 less hurried, and the notes seem softer and more prolonged than when 



