(CHIN-SPOTTED TYRANT.)
+Muscisaxicola mentalis+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 541 (Rio
Negro); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 44.
_Description._--Above cinereous, lores blackish, cap brown;
tail-coverts and tail black, outer margins of outer tail-feather
white; below pale cinereous, passing into white on lower belly,
crissum, and under wing-coverts; chin-spot brown: bill and feet
black: whole length 6·1 inches, wing 4·1, tail 2·6. _Female_
similar, but chin-spot not so well marked.
_Hab._ Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Patagonia, and Falkland Islands.
This South-Patagonian species is one of a Chilian group of Tyrant-birds
which resemble in their habits the _Saxicolæ_ of Europe. The plumage is
generally grey, with more or less rufous colour on the crown; they have
long legs, and run swiftly on the ground, frequent open sterile
situations, and perch only occasionally on trees.
The present bird is about seven inches long; the upper parts are dull
grey, except the crown, which is dark chestnut; under surface light
grey, and tail nearly black. In the month of June I met with these birds
on the Rio Negro, on their arrival there from the south. They went in
flocks of a dozen or twenty birds; they had a swift easy flight, were
shy and restless in their manner, and uttered low plaintive whistling
notes. When a flock alights on the ground the birds all instantly
scatter, running rapidly about in all directions over the bare ground.
Occasionally one was seen to perch on some slight elevation, and dart
like a Flycatcher after passing insects.
Darwin saw this bird as far north on the Atlantic coast as Bahia Blanca.
He also found it at Tierra del Fuego, where it lives entirely on the
sea-beaches; and in the sterile upper valleys of the Chilian Andes, at a
height of ten thousand feet, where the last traces of vegetation occur
and where no other bird lives.