Tænioptera irupero, Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 141 (Buenos Ayres); iid. Nomencl. p. 42; White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 603 (Catamarca, Misiones); Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool. p. 42 (R. Colorado); Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl. vol. viii. p. 139 (Entrerios). Tænioptera mœsta, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 460.
Description.—Above and beneath pure white; wings with the primaries black except the innermost, which are white at their bases and tipped with black, and secondaries which have narrow black shafts; broad end of the tail black; bill and feet black; two outer primaries acuminated: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 4·3, tail 3·2. Female similar.
Hab. Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentine Republic, and Bolivia.
This pretty species is found throughout the Argentine country, and is well known to the natives, and usually called Viudita (Little Widow), on account of its mourning colours. It is also sometimes curiously named Anjelito de las Animas, from a superstitious notion due to the intense whiteness of its plumage and to its supposed habit of frequenting graveyards. In both sexes the entire plumage is snowy white, except the primaries and the tip of the tail, which are black. In habits it is more sedentary than other Tæniopteræ, and obtains its food chiefly by patiently watching the surface of the ground for its insect prey. Its marvellously white plumage, and the habit of sitting motionless on the summit of a bush or tree, make it a most conspicuous object, so that it is strange to find such a bird existing in districts which abound in raptorial species; for Hawks, I have frequently noticed, will always single out a white or conspicuously coloured bird for pursuit, and though the Little Widow, like the other members of its genus, is swift and strong of wing, the feeble and the young must often fall victims to their shining white plumage.
The Little Widow is a solitary bird, and not nearly so lively and playful in manner as T. coronata and T. dominicana, its surpassing whiteness being its most interesting feature. Its nesting-habits are unlike those of other Tæniopteræ, for it breeds only in holes, usually in the bole or branch of a tree; but sometimes it takes possession of the oven of Furnarius rufus to lay in. The nest is composed chiefly of feathers and contains four eggs, creamy white, with a few very minute red spots, irregularly distributed. Mr. Dalgleish says, “Some eggs have only two or three spots, none have more than eight or ten.”
Mr. Barrows says:—“The adults have several of the primaries remarkably attenuated. Young birds appear to acquire these attenuate primaries only after a complete moult. But I took one specimen which showed one or more primaries with tips of ordinary shape but with a line apparently worn into the vane of the inner web, so as to mark out distinctly the attenuate tip, and it seemed as if a little more wearing would cut out a piece which would leave the primary as in the old bird.”
[116.] TÆNIOPTERA MURINA (d’Orb. et Lafr.).
(MOUSE-BROWN TYRANT.)
Tænioptera murina, Hudson, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 541 (Rio Negro); Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 42; White, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 38 (Cordova). Pyrope murina, Cab. Journ. f. Orn. 1878, p. 196 (Cordova).
Description.—Above sandy cinereous, whitish round the eyes; wings and tail blackish with whitish edgings; below much paler, throat whitish with slight black striations; belly and crissum tinged with ochraceous; under wing-coverts and flanks pale ochraceous; bill horn-colour; feet black; two outer primaries acuminated: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 4·0, tail 2·9. Female similar, but outer primaries normal.