Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
THE FREE-TOED PERCHING BIRDS
THE TYRANT-BIRDS
Tyrants
In the first of Dr. Sclater's groups (Taniopteriniz), the members of which are mostly confined to South America south of Panama, the colors are mainly black, gray, brown, and white. They have strong ambulatorial feet and spend much time on or near the ground, frequenting especially the open parts of wooded districts, pampas, river sides, and sometimes marshes, but rarely or never the forests. In the typical genus (Tanioptera), the nine species of which range principally from southeastern Brazil to Patagonia, the colors are mainly gray or white, relieved with black or gray and often with brownish markings. They are birds of lively disposition, inhabiting the great pampas region, often going in attendance on flocks of Plovers, which they somewhat resemble at a distance. Of the six species found in Argentina, Mr. Hudson says the Pepoaza Tyrant (T. nengeta) is one of the most common,”being a swift, active, graceful bird, with strong, straight beak, hooked at the point, and a broad tail four inches long, the total length being nine inches. . . . Their legs are long and they run on the ground like a Chocolate Tyrant, feeding to some extent in the same manner, that is, on the ground, but they also occasionally pursue and capture insects on the wing, like the typical Tyrant-birds. They have likewise another and unique preying habit. The bird perches itself on an elevation — the summit of a stalk or bush or even of a low tree — to watch like a Flycatcher for its insect prey only instead of looking about for passing insects it gazes intently downward at the ground, just as a Kingfisher does at the water, and when it spies a beetle or a grasshopper, darts down upon it, not, however, to snatch it up as other Tyrants do, but it first grasps it with the feet, then proceeds to despatch it. Often devouring the insect on the spot, it flies back to its perch to resume the watch.”The nesting habits of this species are uncertain, but the closely allied Black-crowned Tyrant (T. coronata) is said by the same authority to make a somewhat shallow nest in a bush or large clump of grass, and to lay four white eggs, with large dark spots, chiefly at the larger end.