Fig. 100.–Philepitta jala. × ⅜.
Fam. II. Philepittidae.–This contains only the two species of Philepitta, peculiar to Madagascar, which have bare orbits surmounted by a green caruncle in the male, and metatarsi with a regular series of scales behind (taxaspidean). P. jala is black, with yellow at the bend of the wing; the female is olive-green with yellow markings below. P. schlegeli is green above and yellow below in both sexes, the male having a black head, the female white streaks on that part. The outward form and habits recall those of Pitta, but the latter are more arboreal. The young are apparently spotted, unlike those of the Pittidae, which resemble the adults.
Fam. III. Xenicidae.–This contains the genera Acanthidositta and Traversia, each with one species, and Xenicus with two; they are remarkable New Zealand forms, in which the weak syringeal muscles only reach the lowest tracheal ring. The slender metatarsi are almost smooth, the claws acute and elongated; the short rectrices number ten, and the tenth primary is nearly equal to the next; the secondaries are eight. The tongue is lanceolate and horny. The stout-billed, long-legged Xenicus longipes has dark green upper parts, a brown crown, a yellowish rump and sides, black cheeks, whitish superciliary stripes and throat, and silky, bluish-grey under parts. The female is chiefly brown. X. gilviventris is olive-brown on the back and cheeks, and purplish-brown beneath, with some rufous and a black spot on the wing. Both forms inhabit the South Island, and are called "Bush-Wren" and Rock-Wren respectively. The former frequents dark sub-alpine forests, restlessly searching the trees for insects, their chrysalids and larvae, and uttering a weak note or a trill. It is seldom seen on the ground, yet flies but little, as might be expected from its short, rounded wings. The compact domed nest of moss, placed in low forks or in tree-roots, contains five or six white eggs with pink blotches; when built in holes it is open. The other species lives among débris high up the hills, being almost entirely terrestrial, skulking round the boulders, and eating dragonflies, lepidoptera, and insects generally, with scraps of fat from any traveller's camp. The nest of roots, twigs, and leaves, lined with feathers, is placed in crevices, and contains some five white eggs. The similar Traversia lyalli of Stephens Island is said to be nocturnal. Acanthidositta chloris, the Rifleman, is dull green above with yellower rump, and fulvous white below; the moderate wings are blackish, with green edgings and yellow bars; the eye-stripe is white; the short rounded tail is black with light tip. The female has an olive upper surface with brown markings, a yellow rump, and buffish under parts. This species inhabits the hill-forests of both the main islands of New Zealand, where it actively searches the trees for food with quivering wings, and utters a feeble "cheep." The more or less bottle-shaped nest, placed in holes in trees, buildings, and so forth, is formed of bents, roots, and feathers, and contains from three to five white eggs.
Fam. IV. Tyrannidae.–This comprises some four hundred species, chiefly of an olive or black-and-grey coloration, which is occasionally relieved by bright scarlet as in Pyrocephalus, orange-red as in Muscivora, or yellow as in Todirostrum; but these hues are not necessarily common to whole genera. Agriornis and Megarhynchus are exceptionally large forms, but the majority are small, and in habits and appearance resemble the Old World Flycatchers, or even Shrikes. From the former, however, they are easily distinguished by their normal outer primary and the exteriorly scutellated back of the metatarsus (exaspidean). Dr. Sclater[[268]] recognises four Sub-families, Taeniopterinae, Platyrhynchinae, Elaineinae, and Tyranninae.
The curved bill, varying in length and stoutness, is compressed and bristly at the gape in the Taeniopterinae, hardly bristly in the Elaineinae, depressed and decidedly bristly in the Platyrhynchinae and Tyranninae; while the culmen is most strongly hooked in the larger species, being much curved in Oncostoma, particularly broad and flat in Platyrhynchus, Megarhynchus, Muscivora, Todirostrum, and Euscarthmus, swollen and very wide in Rhynchocyclus. In the first and last of the Sub-families the metatarsus is strong and often long; in the remainder it is comparatively weak; Centrites has an extremely elongated hallux, correlated with Lark-like habits. The wing is usually short, but is often long in the Taeniopterinae and Tyranninae; the outer of the ten primaries are at times acuminate in Tyrannus, Hapalocercus, Cnipolegus, and Taenioptera, whereas in Colopterus and Alectrurus these quills are unusually reduced. The secondaries are nine. The tail, normally of twelve rectrices, varies much in length, and is very deeply forked and graduated in Milvulus, Muscipipra, and three members of Tyrannus, moderately divided in Contopus and certain species of Taenioptera, and so forth; it is not infrequently nearly square; while it is long and rounded in Capsiempis and the like; long and graduated, with only ten narrowly-barbed feathers in Culicivora; of the same shape in Cybernetes; and excessively reduced in Orchilus ecaudatus. Copurus possesses two very long median rectrices; the male of Alectrurus tricolor has the two fairly long outer feathers with their inner webs abnormally developed, and that of A. risorius has them enormously lengthened and broadened.
The Taeniopterinae, which are generally black, grey, and white, frequent the open parts of wooded districts, river-sides, or exceptionally marshes, in South America, a few of them extending north of Panama; the Elaineinae and Platyrhynchinae are olive, grey, brown, and yellow, and inhabit dense forests from South Mexico to Patagonia, Ornithion imberbe ranging as far north as Texas; the Tyranninae–with many large species–normally exhibit olive, grey, yellow, or white in varying proportions, and include most of the Nearctic genera, such as Contopus, Empidonax, Myiarchus, and Tyrannus, as well as many Neotropical forms, and the entirely Antillean Blacicus and Lawrencia. Erectile crests occur in some cases in Tyrannulus, Cnipolegus, Colopterus, Pseudotriccus, Lophotriccus, Machetornis, Muscivora, Empidonax, Anaeretes, Elainea, Pyrocephalus, Myiobius, and Mitrephanes; white eye-rings are found in Euscarthmus zosterops, E. orbitatus, and Capsiempis orbitalis; a fleshy yellow caruncle surrounds each eye in Lichenops; and in the breeding male of Alectrurus risorius the throat and cheeks shew bare orange skin.
The following are examples of the coloration, which is often similar in both sexes. Tyrannus pipiri, the King-bird of temperate North America, ranging to Peru in winter, is dark grey, with a concealed orange patch on the black crown, black and white wings and tail, and white under parts. Pyrocephalus rubineus, of South America north of Buenos Aires, is dark cinereous with crimson head and lower surface, the female being grey above, and chiefly white below with grey stripes. Muscivora regia of Guiana and Amazonia is brown, with a scarlet crest tipped with purplish, and has ochraceous under parts with brownish bars. The crest is yellower in the hen. Megarhynchus pitangua, of Central and South America to Paraguay, is brown, with yellow lower surface, a black head, white superciliary streaks joining on the nape, a concealed orange coronal patch, and a white throat. Elainea pagana, ranging from South Mexico to Brazil, is dull olive above, and greyish-white below with yellow belly; a spot on the crown and two alar bars being white. Cyanotis azarae of La Plata, Chili, and West Peru has bronzy-green upper and yellow lower surface, with a partial black band beneath and a crimson vent; the head is black with a crimson spot, the wings and tail are black and white. Todirostrum cinereum of Central America and eastern South America is greyish above and yellow below, with black crown, wings, and tail, the primaries having yellow edges and the tail a white tip. Taenioptera dominicana, of South-East Brazil and Argentina, is white with the wings and tail mainly black; Cnipolegus unicolor of Upper Amazonia is uniform black.
Tyrants are active and restless birds, chiefly met with near rivers or marshes, where they are constantly seen sitting alone on the branches of trees, bushes, dead thistles, and giant pampas-grasses, or more rarely, as in the Chat-like Muscisaxicola, on clods and boulders; thence they dart, like Flycatchers, upon their prey. Centrites frequents bare plains and loves the ground; Serpophaga and Sayornis haunt streams, and flirt the tail like a Wagtail; Fluvicola, Alectrurus, and Cyanotis inhabit reed-beds, and climb about the bending stems in Tit-like fashion; the Taeniopterinae are mainly terrestrial, and often form flocks, Myiotheretes running and flying like a Thrush, and even accompanying bands of Plovers; Machetornis searches the backs of cattle for insects, and dusts itself like a Lark. Many members of the family are decidedly shy, but the majority are otherwise, and in especial the Tyranninae, which are excessively bold and pugnacious when breeding, attacking even the Carrion-Hawk (Milvago), and bullying their smaller relatives. In a fair number of species the sexes are usually observed apart; in others they are as invariably in company. The range extends to ten thousand feet or more in the Andes, Muscisaxicola macloviana being found at that altitude, as well as down to the sea-coast in Patagonia; while in some cases semi-migratory movements take place at certain times of year. The powers of wing are commonly great, especially in the agile King-bird and its congeners; Taenioptera and Agriornis can fly as well as hop; Centrites, though of terrestrial habits, moves swiftly or circles easily in the air; Pitangus and Empidonax minimus quarter the ground for food with undulating movements. Pyrocephalus rubineus soars with upraised vibrating wings to a considerable height, with many a rise and fall; Alectrurus tricolor goes slowly and vertically up with rapid pulsations of the pinions, and then comes slanting down; while the graceful Scissor-tail (Milvulus) twists and turns about in the air, alternately opening and shutting its long forked rectrices, or whirling aloft at will to dart earthwards again like a rocket.
Fig. 101.–Scissor-tail. Milvulus tyrannus. × 2⁄7.