(CHAT-LIKE TYRANT.)
[Plate VII.]
[Illustration: TÆNIOPTERA RUBETRA.]
+Tænioptera rubetra+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 461 (Mendoza);
_Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 541 (Rio Negro); _Scl. et Salv.
Nomencl._ p. 42; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 34, et 1878, p. 394
(Patagonia).
_Description._--Above sandy brown, lores and superciliaries white;
wings black, greater coverts and outer secondaries edged with
whitish, lesser coverts like the back; tail black, outer web of the
outer tail-feathers and tips of others white; below white, with
black striations on the sides of the throat and on the breast;
flanks, under wing-coverts, and inner webs of the primaries deep
rufous; two outer primaries acuminated: whole length 7·5 inches,
wing 4·7, tail 3·2. _Female_ rather paler, throat and breast washed
with ochraceous, and outer primaries not acuminated.
_Hab._ Interior of Argentine Republic and Patagonia.
I have met with this bird at all seasons of the year in Patagonia on the
Rio Negro, and think it probable that it has no migration. It is seen in
flocks of twenty or thirty individuals, and in its lively actions when
on the wing, and in its habit of perching on a bush or elevation of some
kind, from which it pounces down on an insect seen on the ground, it
resembles other _Tæniopteræ_; but it runs about on the ground a
great deal, and in this respect is more like a _Myiotheretes_ or
_Muscisaxicola_. In its colour it also diverges widely from the typical
_Tæniopteras_ in their black and white Dominican plumage. The whole
upper parts are light chestnut, with a white mark on the side of the
head; wings and tail dark, tipped with pale rufous; throat, breast, and
belly whitish rufous, with dark lines on throat and bosom. The chestnut
hue in the female is paler and mixed with grey.