168 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



really sings being the Scarlet Tyrant (Pyrocephalus 

 rubineus). The music of the Reed Tyrant is weak 

 but curious ; it is composed of five brief percussive 

 notes, distinctly metallic in sound, which may be 

 imitated by gently and slowly striking fa la mi sol fa 

 on the highest keys of the piano* To utter this quaint 

 little song the bird perches itself on the summit of 

 a reed or bush, where it solicits attention with a 

 little chipping prelude, and then jerks its head 

 vigorously with each note, delivering its few drops 

 of sound with all the assurance of a master in the art 

 of melody, 



In October it builds a deep elaborate nest of fine 

 dry grass, thistledown, webs, feathers, and other 

 soft materials, usually in the fork of a weed or thistle 

 three or four feet from the ground. It lays four 

 cream-coloured eggs, the colour deepening to grey 

 at the larger end. 



LITTLE LONG-TAILED TYRANT 



Stigmatura flavo-cinerea 



Above greyish olive, lores and superciliary stripe whitish ; wings 

 blackish, with whitish edgings to the coverts and outer secondaries ; 

 tail blackish; outer web of the external rectrix and broad tips of 

 the four external pairs white; beneath pale yellow; bill and feet 

 black ; length 5.8 inches, tail 3 inches. 



THIS little bird inhabits the Mendoza and Patagonian 

 districts, and does not appear to be migratory, for 

 on the Rio Negro I found it at all seasons. It is 



