152 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 
feathers are abnormally long and peculiar in form: 
Mr. Barrows says: ‘ The remarkable condition of 
the outer pair of tail-feathers is interesting. In the 
male these two feathers reach a length of nearly ten 
inches, the rest of the tail being about three inches 
in length. The vane on the inner side of each is 
wanting for the first two inches, and then suddenly 
develops to a width of nearly two inches, which it 
maintains almost to the tip, when it gradually 
narrows. The vane on the outer side of the shaft is 
only about one quarter of an inch wide, and is folded 
so tightly against the shaft that it is quite incon- 
spicuous. In the only two males of this species 
which I have seen flying, these long feathers seemed 
to be carried folded together beneath the rest of 
the tail, and stretches out behind like a rudder or 
steering-oar, their vanes at right angles to the plane 
of the rest of the tail.” 
Mr. Gibson gives a different account, and says 
the flight is singularly feeble, resembling the flutter- 
ing passage of a butterfly through the air, while the 
tail streams out behind. 
It inhabits Paraguay, Uruguay, and the eastern 
portion of the Argentine Republic, ranging as far 
south as the pampas in the neighbourhood of Pata- 
gonia. It is usually seen singly or in pairs; Azara 
says he saw a flock of thirty individuals, but as they 
were all females, it may be that in this species, as in 
Lichenops perspicillata, the females are sometimes 
gregarious, and the males always solitary. It frequents 
open places, such as the borders of marshes, or plains 
