34 THE START [chap, i 



pipits or longspurs, running actively over the ground in 

 the same manner, and showing the same restlessness and 

 the same kind of flight. But whereas pipits are incon- 

 spicuous, the red-backs at once attracted attention by 

 the contrast between their bold colouring and the greyish 

 or yellowish tones of the ground along which they ran. 

 The silver-biU tyrant, however, is much more con- 

 spicuous ; I saw it in the same neighbourhood as the red- 

 back, and also in many other places. The male is jet 

 black, with white bill and wings. He runs about on the 

 ground like a pipit, but also frequently perches on some 

 bush to go through a strange flight-song performance. 

 He perches motionless, bolt upright, and even then his 

 black colouring advertises him for a quarter of a mile 

 round about. But every few minutes he springs up into 

 the air to the height of twenty or thirty feet, the white 

 wings flashing in contrast to the black body, screams and 

 gyrates, and then instantly returns to his former post 

 and resumes his erect pose of waiting. It is hard to 

 imagine a more conspicuous bird than the silver-bill ; 

 but the next and last tyrant flycatcher of which I shall 

 speak possesses on the whole the most advertising 

 coloration of any small bird I have ever seen in the 

 open country, and, moreover, this advertising coloration 

 exists in both sexes and throughout the year. It is a 

 briUiant white aU over, except the long wing quiUs and 

 the ends of the tail feathers, which are black. The fii'st 

 one I saw, at a very long distance, I thought must be an 

 albino. It perches on the top of a bush or tree, watching 

 for its prey, and it shines in the sun Hke a silver mirror. 

 Every hawk, cat, or man must see it ; no one can help 

 seeing it. 



These common Argentine birds, most of them of the 

 open country, and aU of them with a strikingly ad- 



