118 
POPULAE, HISTORY OF BIRDS. 
the persecution. Wilson says that this turbulent spirit 
vanishes whenever the young are able to shift for themselves^ 
and that the tyrant then becomes a mild and peaceable, and 
very useful bird. The chief food of this species consists of 
insects, of which they destroy hundreds daily, and Wilson 
says that they are also extremely fond of blackberries. 
Mr. Darwin was struck at Maldonado with the Saurophagus 
sulphureus, which is very common there ; it is called by the 
Spaniards Bien-te-veo^'' (I see you well), from its cry re- 
sembling these words. He frequently observed it hunting 
a-field, when it hovers over one spot, like a hawk, and then 
proceeds to another. He adds that it frequently haunts the 
neighbourhood of water, and remains stationary, like a king- 
fisher, till some small fish comes near the margin, which it 
catches. In the evening this bird takes its stand on a bush, 
and continually repeats the shrill and rather agreeable cry 
alluded to. At Maldonado it is sometimes kept in a cage, or 
in the courtyards with its wings cut; and soon getting tame, 
amuses its captors with its cunning odd manners, which 
somewhat resemble those of our magpie"^. 
The Milvulus forficatus (Plate YIII. fig. 1) has a forked 
tail, terminated by two long feathers ; the Spaniards in South 
* Journal, p. 62. 
