(SLATY-BLUE BUSH-BIRD.)
Thamnophilus cærulescens, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 472 (Paraná, Mendoza, Tucuman); Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 70; White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 614 (Corrientes, Misiones); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 21 (Entrerios); Salvin, Ibis, 1880, p. 361 (Salta).
Description.—Above grey, black on the crown, and a patch of white and black feathers on the middle of the back; wings black, the coverts thickly spotted and the inner webs of the remiges edged with white; tail black, all the feathers, except the middle pair, tipped with white, the outer rectrix on each side has also a long white spot in the middle part of the outer web; beneath cinereous, white on the belly; bill and feet black: whole length 5·6 inches, wing 2·7, tail 2·3. Female: above earthy olive-green, yellowish on the crown; wing-coverts and tail as in the male; wing-feathers olive-brown; beneath yellowish olive-grey, brightening into ochraceous on the belly and flanks.
Hab. Paraguay and Argentina.
Mr. Barrows says concerning this species that it is “frequently seen, especially during the winter” (on the Lower Uruguay). A nest, taken November 24th, “was almost precisely like that of our Red-eyed Vireo (V. olivaceus), being pensile in the fork of a horizontal spray, only four feet from the ground. It contained three fresh eggs, white, with spots and dashes of light brown.”
White says that these birds frequent the banks of streams, and have a deep bass call-note, rather mournful and slow.
[225.] THAMNOPHILUS RUFICAPILLUS, Vieill.
(RED-CAPPED BUSH-BIRD.)
Thamnophilus argentinus, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 472 (Paraná, Tucuman); Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 70; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 183 (Buenos Ayres); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 21 (Entrerios). Thamnophilus ruficapillus, Pelz. Orn. Bras. p. 79; Berl. et Jher. Zeitschr. ges. O. 1885, p. 49.
Description.—Above olivaceous brown, tinged with rufous, brighter on the crown; lores yellowish white, superciliaries and sides of head whitish grey; wing-feathers dark olive-brown, the inner webs edged with ochraceous; tail black, all the rectrices, except the middle pair, slightly tipped and broadly spotted on the inner webs with white; beneath greyish white, the feathers from the lower throat to the belly transversely barred with black; bill and feet black: whole length 6·2 inches, wing 2·7, tail 2·6. Female: above the same as the male, except the tail, which is rufous brown; beneath whitish, tinged with ochraceous, and with scarcely perceptible greyish mottlings.