[170.] TYRANNUS MELANCHOLICUS, Vieill.
(MELANCHOLY TYRANT.)
Tyrannus melancholicus, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 452; Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 53; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 178 (Buenos Ayres); White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 608 (Salta); Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl. vol. viii. p. 202 (Entrerios).
Description.—Above grey with a slight greenish tinge; head with a concealed vertical crest of scarlet and yellow; lores and ear-coverts blackish; wings and tail brownish black with more or less of paler margins; beneath yellow, throat greyish white, breast more or less greyish, under wing-coverts pale yellow; bill and feet black; outer primaries attenuated; tail deeply forked: whole length 8·5 inches, wing 4·6, tail 4·0. Female similar.
Hab. Mexico and Central and South America down to Buenos Ayres.
The violent and bold temper exhibited by most Tyrant-birds during the breeding-season, a quality from which is derived the name of the family, is perhaps carried to a greater degree in this species than in any other; and when one spends many days or weeks in the marshy, littoral forests, where the bird is most abundant, and hears its incessant distressful screams, the specific name melancholicus does not seem altogether inappropriate; and that is the most that can be said of any specific name invented by science, and which does not merely describe some peculiarity of form or colour.
This Tyrant is one of the largest of its kind, its total length being nearly nine inches. The wings are long and suited for an aerial life; the legs are exceedingly short, and the feet are used for perching only, for this species never alights on the ground. The throat and upper parts are grey, tinged with olive on the back; the wings and tail dark; the breast yellow tinged with green; the belly pure yellow. Under the loose grey feathers of the crown is a fiery orange crest displayed in moments of excitement.
In Buenos Ayres these birds arrive in September, after which their shrill, angry cries are incessantly heard, while the birds are seen pursuing each other through the air or in and out amongst the trees—perpetually driven about by the contending passions of love, jealousy, and rage. As soon as their domestic broils are over, a fresh war against the whole feathered race begins, which does not cease until the business of propagation is finished. I have frequently spent hours watching the male, successively attacking, with scarcely an interval of rest, every bird, big or little, approaching the sacred tree where its nest was placed. Its indignation at the sight of a cowardly Carrion-Hawk (Milvago) skulking about in search of small birds’ nests, and the boundless fury of its onset, were wonderful to witness.
They are extremely active, and when not engaged in their endless aerial battles, are pursuing large insects on the wing, usually returning after each capture to their stand, from which they keep a jealous watch on the movements of all winged things about them. They are fond of marshy places and water-courses, where they perch on a tall stalk to watch for insects, and also frequently skim over the water like Swallows to drink and dip their feathers.
A tall tree is usually selected for the nest, which is not unfrequently placed on the very topmost twigs, exposed to the sight of every creature passing overhead, and as if in defiance of birds of prey. With such an aggressive temper as this bird possesses it is not strange perhaps that it builds in the most exposed places, from which the female, in the absence of her vigilant consort, can keep a sharp eye on the movements of her feathered neighbours; but I have often thought it singular that they do not make a deeper receptacle for their eggs, for the nest is merely a slight platform of slender sticks, and very ill-adapted to retain its burden during high winds. The parasitical Cow-bird never enters this nest, which is not strange.