Description.—Above greenish olive, cap black; wings and tail blackish, more or less margined with brownish; beneath, throat and neck pale grey; abdomen and under wing-coverts pale sulphur-yellow; inner margins of wing-feathers fulvous; bill dark horn-colour; feet black: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 3·7, tail 3·5. Female similar.
Hab. N. Argentina, Bolivia, and S. Peru.
Schulz found this species as a summer visitor in Tucuman.
[169.] EMPIDONOMUS AURANTIO-ATRO-CRISTATUS (d’Orb. et Lafr.).
(BLACK-AND-YELLOW-CRESTED TYRANT.)
Tyrannus aurantio-atro-cristatus, d’Orb. Voy., Ois. p. 312 (Corrientes); Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 53; Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, vol. viii. p. 202 (Entrerios). Tyrannus aurantio-atro-cristatus, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 453 (Rio Uruguay, Entrerios, Mendoza).
Description.—Above cinereous; cap shortly crested, black, with a large vertical spot of bright yellow; wings and tail brownish black, wing-coverts and secondaries slightly edged with whitish; beneath as above but rather paler, and with a very slight yellow tinge on the crissum; bill and feet black: whole length 6·5 inches, wing 3·8, tail 3·1. Female similar, but outer primaries less acuminated.
Hab. Interior of Brazil, Eastern Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina down to Buenos Ayres.
Alcide d’Orbigny met with this fine species in Corrientes, and Dr. Burmeister in Entrerios, and again near Mendoza. In the neighbourhood of Concepcion Mr. Barrows speaks of it as a “not very abundant summer resident, but one not easily overlooked, owing to its habit of perching on the topmost twig of any tree on which it alights, making forays from time to time, when tempted by its winged prey.”
In the vicinity of Buenos Ayres likewise this Tyrant is not a common species. Like other birds of its genus it has an easy, rapid flight, and perches on trees or other elevated places, from which it occasionally makes a dash at passing insects. The nest, as in T. melancholicus, is a very slight structure of slender sticks, and the eggs are four, parchment colour, and spotted at the large end with dark brown or chocolate. Mr. Barrows found a [Cow-bird’s] egg in a nest of this species, which makes me think that it is less vigilant and warlike than T. melancholicus.