(SMALL-CRESTED TYRANT.)
+Serpophaga subcristata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 454
(Entrerios); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 47; _Durnford, Ibis_,
1877, p. 177 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 606
(Misiones); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 199
(Entrerios).
_Description._--Above cinereous, usually with a slight olivaceous
tinge on the rump; crest-feathers white at their bases, tipped
with cinereous, and slightly varied with black; wings blackish,
wing-coverts tipped with whitish, forming two handsome bands; outer
secondaries externally margined with the same colour; tail dark
ashy; beneath ashy white, with more or less yellowish tinge on the
belly and under wing-coverts; bill horn-colour; feet black: whole
length 4·5 inches, wing 2·0, tail 2·1. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, Northern La Plata, and Bolivia.
This species is one of the smallest members of our _Tyrannidæ_, its
total length being only four and a half inches. The sexes are alike; the
upper plumage is grey, with a greenish tinge on the back; the breast
paler grey, becoming pale yellow on the belly. There is a white
concealed spot under the loose feathers of the crown.
It is quite common in Buenos Ayres, and, probably, has a partial
migration, as it is most abundant in summer. In its habits it closely
resembles the species last described, being always found in pairs,
living in thickets, where they hop incessantly about, exploring the
leaves for small caterpillars, and always conversing in low, chirping,
and twittering notes. They also sing together a little confused song.
The nest is fastened to the slender twigs of a low bush, and is a deep,
cup-shaped and beautiful structure, composed of a great variety of soft
materials bound together with spiders' webs, the interior lined with
feathers or vegetable down, and the outside with lichen. The eggs are
two, bluntly pointed, and of a cream-colour.