(BRUSH-LOVING FLY-SNAPPER.)
+Polioptila dumicola+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 4; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1876, p. 157, 1877, p. 167 (Buenos Ayres); _Salv. Ibis_,
1880, p. 352 (Tucuman); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 593 (Buenos
Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 86 (Concepcion);
_Sharpe, Cat. B._ x. p. 444. +Culicivora dumicola+, _Burm.
La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 473 (Paraná). +Culicivora boliviana+,
_Scl. P. Z. S._ 1852, p. 34, pl. xlvii.
_Description._--Above clear greyish blue; wing-coverts,
bastard-wing, and primary-coverts dusky brown, with greyish-blue
edges; quills dusky; upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers black, the
third outer tail-feather white at the tip, the outer tail-feather
nearly entirely white; from the base of the forehead a black line
extends backwards over the eye; under surface delicate ashy grey,
white on the abdomen and under tail-coverts; bill and feet
bluish-black: total length 4·5 inches, wing 2·1, tail 2·0. _Female_
similar, but without the black eye-streak.
_Hab._ Paraguay and Northern Argentina.
This little bird strongly resembles some species of that division of the
Tyrannidæ which includes the genera _Stigmatura_, _Serpophaga_, and
_Anæretes_; but the likeness, strange to say, is even more marked in
habits and voice than in coloration and general appearance.
It is found in open thorny woods and thickets; and in Buenos Ayres seems
to have a partial migration, as it is much more common in summer than in
winter. At all times male and female are found together, and probably
pair for life, like several of the species in the groups just mentioned.
They are seen continually hopping about among the twigs in a leisurely
deliberate manner, all the time emitting a variety of low short notes,
as if conversing together; and at intervals they unite their voices
in a burst of congratulatory notes, like those uttered by the small
Tyrant-birds they resemble. They have no song. I have not found the
nest, but Dr. Burmeister says that it is made in bushes, and that the
eggs are white.
Fam. IV. TROGLODYTIDÆ, or WRENS.
The Troglodytidæ, or Wren family, are of wide distribution, and are
found alike under the tropics and in temperate latitudes. In South
America nearly 100 species altogether are known to occur. Of these two
are familiar inhabitants of the whole Argentine Republic, and a third,
belonging to the water-loving genus _Donacobius_, is met with in the
eastern provinces on the Paraná. A fourth species has been lately
described from Tucuman.