Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS

THE FREE-TOED PERCHING BIRDS

THE TYRANT-BIRDS

Cock-tailed Tyrant

Of the many other forms in this group we may mention the Cock-tailed Tyrant (Alectrurus tricolor), a curious little bird, also of the pampas region, having the outer tail-feather on each side with a stout shaft and a very broad inner vane, these two feathers being carried vertically and at right angles to the plane of the body, giving the bird the appearance of a diminutive cock, whence its common name. Even more remarkable is the Strange-tailed Tyrant (A. risorius), in which the outer tail-feathers on each side make up eight inches in a total length of eleven inches. In these feathers the”vane on the inner side of each is wanting for the first two inches, and then suddenly develops to a width of nearly two inches, which it maintains almost to the tip, when it gradually narrows. The vane on the outer side of the shaft is only about one quarter of an inch wide and is folded so tightly against the shaft as to be quite inconspicuous.”During flight, which is described as weak, these enormous feathers are folded beneath the rest of the tail and stretched out behind like a rudder or steering oar, the vanes at right angles to the plane of the other tail-feathers.
The members of the second group (Platyrhynchina), to the number of about twenty genera and over one hundred species, are forest-haunting birds, almost all of small size and dull olive or gray-colored plumage. Structurally they have much broadened bills and thinner tarsi, the latter to adapt them to an arboreal life. Inhabiting similar places, but differing in having the bill compressed instead of flattened, are the Olive Tyrants (Elaineina;), embracing about the same number of genera as the other group. They are further characterized by weak feet and generally short wings, while the colors are olive-green and dark brown. Both groups inhabit the dense forest regions of Central America and northern South America, very few reaching as far north as Mexico. Not much of interest is recorded regarding their habits, though Dr.Goeldi has recently mentioned the fact that certain members of the latter group, such, for example, as Myiopatis semifusca, is guilty of sowing the seeds of Loranthus, a mistletoelike plant which is very destructive to fruit and other trees. We may now well pass to the final group {TyrannincB), which includes the typical Tyrant-birds, among which are most of the largest members of the family. They are also more widely distributed, including most of the North American members of the family as well as many entering into, or peculiar to, the neotropical region. They have flattened, bristle-armed bills, more or less lengthened and strong wings, and relatively long and robust tarsi, and as befits their increased strength they are almost all vigorous, active, often more or less pugnacious birds, bullying those of their own size and not hesitating to attack birds of the largest size, such as Hawks, Owls, and Crows, in defense of nest or prerogative.

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