i88 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



than in any other ; and when one spends many days 

 or weeks in the marshy, littoral forests, where the 

 bird is most abundant, and hears its incessant dis- 

 tressful screams, the specific name melancholicus does 

 not seem altogether inappropriate : that is the most 

 that can be said of any specific name invented by 

 science, which does not merely describe some peculi- 

 arity of form or colour* 



Nevertheless it is not the right name : the bird's 

 temper rather than the effect produced by its voice 

 on the listener was probably in the French natur- 

 alist's mind when he bestowed it ; better than 

 melancholy would have been warring violent, furious, 

 bellicose, or some such word. It therefore seems 

 best in this as in several other instances to alter the 

 English name I gave this bird in the Argentine 

 Ornithology (1888), It was there called " Melan- 

 choly Tyrant/' and I have now renamed it Bellicose 

 Tyrant, and hope that future Anglo- Argentine natur- 

 alists will find some better designation for this and 

 many other of the hundreds of species I have had 

 to invent names for. 



This Tyrant is one of the largest of its kind, its 

 total length being nearly nine inches. The wings 

 are long and suited for an aerial life ; the legs are 

 exceedingly short, and the feet are used for perching 

 only, for this species never alights on the ground. 

 The throat and upper parts are grey, tinged with 

 olive on the back ; the wings and tail dark ; the 

 breast yellow tinged with green ; the belly pure 

 yellow. Under the loose grey feathers of the crown 



