Birds. Pl. 7.
Pyrocephalus nanus.
Crown of the head, crest, and all the under surface, bright scarlet; the remainder of the plumage, deep brown; the outer tail-feathers on each side, and the edges of the secondaries and wing-coverts, margined with grey.
Habitat, La Plata, (October.)
This species differs from Pyr. coronatus or Musicapa coronata, of authors, chiefly in its size; in other respects it is very similar. The admeasurements of the latter, for comparison (as given me by Mr. G. R. Gray), are: total length, 5 inches and 8 lines; bill, between 9 and 10 lines; wings, 3 inches and 2 lines; tail, 2 inches and 7 lines; tarsi, 7 or 8 lines.
During the summer, this bird was common both near Buenos Ayres and Maldonado; but at the latter place, I did not see one in the months of May, June, July, (winter) and therefore, no doubt it is a bird of passage, migrating southward during the summer from Brazil. The birds of this and the allied genera, correspond very closely in their habits to certain of the Sylviadæ of Europe; some of the species frequenting bushes, like the black-cap, (Sylvia atricapilla); others more usually the ground, as the robin (Sylvia rubecula) or hedge-sparrow (Accentor modularis). Another group (Synallaxis, &c.) represent those European Sylviæ, which frequent reeds.
2. Pyrocephalus obscurus. Gould.
P. lividus rufotinctus; præcipuè in fronte ventreque.
Long. tot. 5⁹⁄₁₂ unc.; alæ, 3²⁄₁₂; caudæ, 2⁵⁄₁₂; tarsi, ⁷⁄₁₂; rost., ⁸⁄₁₂.
All the plumage chocolate brown, tinged with red, the latter colour predominating on the forehead and lower part of the abdomen; bill and tarsi, black.