BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



such an aggressive temper as this bird possesses it 

 is not strange perhaps that it builds in the most 

 exposed places, from which the female, in the absence 

 of her vigilant consort, can keep a sharp eye on the 

 movements of her feathered neighbours ; but I have 

 often thought it singular that they do not make a 

 deeper receptacle for their eggs, for the nest is merely 

 a slight platform of slender sticks, and very ill 

 adapted to retain its burden during high winds. The 

 parasitical Cow-bird never enters this nest, which 

 is not strange. 



The eggs are four in number, small for the bird, 

 pointed, parchment-white, spotted with dark brown 

 at the larger end. 



SCISSOR-TAIL TYRANT 



Milvulus tyrannus 



Above cinereous, rump blackish; cap jet-black, with a concealed 

 yellow vertical crest ; wings dark brown ; tail black, outer web of the 

 outer rectrix white ; bill and feet black ; three outer primaries excised 

 at the tips ; length 14 inches. Female similar, but outer tail-feathers 

 not so long. 



THE Tijereta (Scissor-tail) a name derived from 

 the habit the bird has of opening and closing 

 the two outer long feathers of the tail when flying 

 is found throughout South America, and in 

 the summer of the Southern Hemisphere ranges 

 as far south as Patagonia, 



