i8S3.] Barrows on Birds of the Lower Uruguay. IQ*? 



Not one of them has bright colored plumage, if we except 

 the sulphur-yellow under-parts in two species {Sisopygis and 

 Machetornis) and a half concealed crown-patch of orange-red in 

 Machetornis ; yet almost every one possesses some character- 

 istic of form, color, or habit, which makes it conspicuous even 

 to the casual observer. Well-defined areas of black and white 

 mark several species, while peculiarly developed outer tail- 

 feathers, or remarkable eye-lids characterize two others. 



48. Agriornis maritima {Lafr. et d'07-b.). — Only met 

 with a few times in the gorges of the Sierra de la Ventana, 

 where it was sometimes seen perched motionless upon a great 

 block of gneiss, or darting suddenly out after a passing insect. 



49. Tsenioptera nengeta {Linn.). Alcahuete (a word 

 which unfortunately has no precise equivalent in English, but 

 which, as it refers to the remarkable vigilance and quickness of 

 the bird, may be very liberally translated sentinel.) 



These birds and the following species ( T. coronata) appear 

 at Concepcion at the first appearance of cold weather, and remain 

 until spring opens. They are most abundant between April 

 I and August 15, but possibly a few of the present species 

 remain through the summer, as a single one was taken September 

 8, and another on February 11. 



They are commonly seen perched on fences or the tops of 

 bushes or trees in open ground, frequently making sallies for 

 winged insects, or dropping to the ground to catch a grasshopper 

 or worm. When shot at while perched and watching you, they 

 almost invariably leave the perch at the flash, pitching forward 

 and downward and usually evading the shot even at short range. 

 Several times I have secured them by shooting about a foot 

 below and two feet in front of them as they sat, but they do not 

 always fly in this direction. Much the surest way of dropping 

 them is to walk up till they fly, and then shoot, as they seldom 

 dodge while on the wing. The rapidity of their flight when 

 frightened, or when quarreling, is simply astonishing. I have 

 seen one chase another for three or four minutes, doubling, turn- 

 ing, twisting and shooting, now brushing the grass and now 

 risino- to a height of at least two or three hundred feet, and all 

 the movements so rapid that the eye could scarcely follow them ; 

 and at the end of it each would go back to the top of his own 

 chosen weed-stalk, apparently without a feather ruffled. 



