The habits of this bird are singular. It is very common in the open country, on the northern banks of the Plata, where it does not appear to be a bird of passage. It obtains its food in many different methods. I have frequently observed it, hunting a field, hovering over one spot like a hawk, and then proceeding on to another. When seen from a short distance, thus suspended in the air, it might very readily be mistaken for one of the rapacious order; its stoop, however, is very inferior in force and rapidity. At other times the Saurophagus haunts the neighbourhood of water, and there, remaining stationary, like a kingfisher, it catches any small fish which come near the margin. These birds not unfrequently are kept, with their wings cut, either in cages or in court-yards. They soon become tame, and are very amusing from their cunning odd manners, which were described to me, as being similar to those of the common magpie. Their flight is undulatory, for the weight of the head and bill appears too great for the body. In the evening the Saurophagus takes its stand on a bush, often by the road-side, and continually repeats, without change, a shrill and rather agreeable cry, which somewhat resembles articulate words. The Spaniards say it is like the words, “Bien te veo” (I see you well), and accordingly have given it this name.
Muscivora Tyrannus. G. R. Gray.
Muscicapa Tyrannus. Sw.
Tyrannus Savana. Vieill. Bonap. Am. Orn. pl. 1. f. 1.
This species belongs to Mr. Swainson’s genus Milvulus (more properly Milvilus,) but which name Mr. G. R. Gray has altered to Muscivora as the latter was proposed for Musc. forficata as far back as 1801, by Lacepède.
It is very common near Buenos Ayres; but I do not recollect having seen many in Banda Oriental. It sits on the bough of a tree, and very frequently on the ombu, which is planted in front of many of the farm houses, and thence takes short flights in pursuit of insects. From the remarkable structure of its tail, the inhabitants of the country call it scissor-tail; a name very well applied from the manner in which it opens and shuts the forked feathers of its tail. Like all birds thus constructed, (of which the frigate bird offers a most striking example), it has the power of turning very shortly in its flight, at which instant it opens and shuts its tail, sometimes, as it appears, in a horizontal and sometimes in a vertical plane. When on the wing it presents in its general appearance a caricature likeness of the common house swallow (Hirundo rustica). The Muscivora, although unquestionably belonging to the family of Muscicapidæ manifests in its habits an evident relationship with birds of the fissirostral structure.
Sub-Gen. PYROCEPHALUS, Gould.
Muscicapa. Auct.
Muscipeta. Cuv.
Tyrannula. Swain.