152 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



feathers are abnormally long and peculiar in form, 

 Mr. Barrows says : ' The remarkable condition of 

 the outer pair of tail-feathers is interesting* In the 

 male these two feathers reach a length of nearly ten 

 inches, the rest of the tail being about three inches 

 in length. The vane on the inner side of each is 

 wanting for the first two inches, and then suddenly 

 develops to a width of nearly two inches, which it 

 maintains almost to the tip, when it gradually 

 narrows. The vane on the outer side of the shaft is 

 only about one quarter of an inch wide, and is folded 

 so tightly against the shaft that it is quite incon- 

 spicuous. In the only two males of this species 

 which I have seen flying, these long feathers seemed 

 to be carried folded together beneath the rest of 

 the tail, and stretches out behind like a rudder or 

 steering-oar, their vanes at right angles to the plane 

 of the rest of the tail/' 



Mr. Gibson gives a different account, and says 

 the flight is singularly feeble, resembling the flutter- 

 ing passage of a butterfly through the air, while the 

 tail streams out behind. 



It inhabits Paraguay, Uruguay, and the eastern 

 portion of the Argentine Republic, ranging as far 

 south as the pampas in the neighbourhood of Pata- 

 gonia. It is usually seen singly or in pairs ; Azara 

 says he saw a flock of thirty individuals, but as they 

 were all females, it may be that in this species, as in 

 Lichenops perspicillata, the females are sometimes 

 gregarious, and the males always solitary. It frequents 

 open places, such as the borders of marshes, or plains 



