(WHITE-BELLIED TYRANT.)
+Fluvicola albiventris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 43; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1878, p. 59 (Buenos Ayres).
_Description._--Above black; front half of head, narrow band across
the rump, and slight edgings to wing-coverts and outer secondaries
white; below white; bill and feet black: whole length 5·5 inches,
wing 2·8, tail 2·2. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Amazonia, Bolivia, and Argentine Republic.
The small black-and-white Tyrant is not uncommon in the marshes and on
the river-margins in the Plata district, its spring migration extending
south to Buenos Ayres. Like the Kingfisher, it haunts the water-side and
is found nowhere else. It has a shy, retiring disposition, concealing
itself in the close thickets overhanging a stream, so that one does
not often see it, notwithstanding its conspicuous white plumage. When
disturbed it emits a series of low ticking notes, or darts swiftly out
from the thicket, showing itself for a moment over the water before
disappearing once more into its hiding-place.
D'Orbigny says it makes a purse-shaped nest, of slender twigs, moss, and
feathers neatly interlaced, and lays four white eggs, spotted at the
large end with brown.