CHIN-SPOTTED TYRANT 163 



air. I have frequently seen them make the most 

 unprovoked assaults on birds of an inoffensive kind ; 

 possibly they are in these attacks moved by a playful 

 rather than by a vindictive spirit, I once saw one 

 drop like a stone from a height of fifty yards on to a 

 Pigeon perched on a leafless tree. The Pigeon fell 

 as if shot to the earth ; the Tyrant-bird then released 

 his hold ; the Pigeon rushed away terrified through 

 the trees, while its persecutor rose up high 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 acuticau- 

 datus. 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 horsehair. The eggs 

 are slightly oval, and densely marked with dark 

 brown spots or stripes on a white or brownish-white 

 ground. 



CHIN-SPOTTED TYRANT 



Muscisaxicola macloviana 



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

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

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

 chin-spot brown; bill and feet black; length 6.1 inches. Female 

 similar, but chin-spot not so well marked. 



THIS South Patagonian species is one of a small 

 group of Tyrant-birds which resemble in their habits 

 and appearance the Saxicolas of Europe, They 



