168 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 
really sings being the Scarlet Tyrant (Pyrocephalus 
rubineus). The music of the Reed Tyrant is weak 
but curious; it is composed of five brief percussive 
notes, distinctly metallic in sound, which may be 
imitated by gently and slowly striking fa la mi sol fa 
on the highest keys of the piano. To utter this quaint 
little song the bird perches itself on the summit of 
a reed or bush, where it solicits attention with a 
little chipping prelude, and then jerks its head 
vigorously with each note, delivering its few drops 
of sound with all the assurance of a master in the art 
of melody. 
In October it builds a deep elaborate nest of fine 
dry grass, thistledown, webs, feathers, and other 
soft materials, usually in the fork of a weed or thistle 
three or four feet from the ground. It lays four 
cream-coloured eggs, the colour deepening to grey 
at the larger end. 
LITTLE LONG-TAILED TYRANT 
Stigmatura flavo-cinerea 
Above greyish olive, lores and superciliary stripe whitish ; wings 
blackish, with whitish edgings to the coverts and outer secondaries ; 
tail blackish; outer web of the external rectrix and broad tips of 
the four external pairs white; beneath pale yellow; bill and feet 
black; length 5.8 inches, tail 3 inches. 
Tuis little bird inhabits the Mendoza and Patagonian 
districts, and does not appear to be migratory, for 
on the Rio Negro I found it at all seasons. It is 
