MANY-COLOURED TYRANT 175 



yards, when it again drops down. Yet it is strictly 

 migratory. Darwin met with it at Maldonado in the 

 month of June, and therefore concluded that it does 

 not migrate ; but he mentions that it was very rare. 

 I have also occasionally seen one in winter on the 

 pampas, but many migratory species leave a few 

 stragglers behind in the same way. At the end of 

 September they suddenly appear all over the pampas, 

 in every swamp and stream where there are beds of 

 rushes ; for in such situations only is the bird 

 found : and this migration extends far into Pata- 

 gonia. They are always seen in pairs amongst the 

 dense rushes, where they perch on the smooth stems, 

 not near the summit, but close down to the surface 

 of the water, and perpetually hop from stem to stem, 

 deftly picking up small insects from the surface of 

 the water. They also occasionally leave the rushes 

 and search for insects in the grass and herbage along 

 the border. They are very inquisitive, and if a person 

 approach the rush-bed, they immediately come out 

 of their concealment, both birds uttering their 

 singular notes a silvery, modulated sound, not 

 meant for a song apparently, and yet I do not know 

 any sweeter, purer sound in nature than this. All 

 through the close-growing dark rushes the pretty 

 little melodists may be heard calling to each other 

 in their delicate gurgling notes. 



The nest is a marvel of skill and beauty. As a rule 

 it is attached to a single polished rush, two or three 

 feet above the water and about the middle of the 

 stem. It is cup-shaped inside, and about four inches 



