150 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



COCK-TAILED TYRANT 



Alectrurus tricolor 



Above black, rump greyish ; sides of the head, scapularies, lesser 

 wing-coverts, and outer margins of secondaries white ; tail black, 

 outer rectrix on each side produced, expanded, fan-shaped ; below 

 white, patch on each side of the breast (forming an incomplete 

 collar) black ; bill horn-colour ; feet black ; length 7.2 inches. 

 Female : above brown, rump and lesser wing-coverts pale ; beneath 

 dirty white, sides of breast brown. 



THIS species generally resembles the one next de- 

 scribed, and has, like it, a black, white, and grey 

 plumage* But the tail, although strange, is constructed 

 on a different pattern. The total length of the bird 

 is five and a half inches, the tail being only two and 

 a half. The two outer tail-feathers have remarkably 

 stout shafts, with broad coarse webs, and look like 

 stumps of two large feathers originally intended for 

 a bigger bird, and finally cut off near their base and 

 given to a very small one* In the male these two 

 feathers are carried vertically and at right angles to 

 the plane of the body, giving the bird a resemblance 

 to a diminutive cock ; hence the vernacular name 

 GallitOf or Little Cock, by which it is known. 



I have not observed this species myself, but Azara 

 has the following paragraph about its habits : 4 ' The 

 male sometimes rises slowly and almost vertically, 

 with tail raised, and rapidly beating its wings, and 

 looking while ascending in this way more like a 

 butterfly than a bird ; and when it has reached a 

 height of ten or twelve yards, it drops obliquely to 



