Hab. Cordova.

This pretty little species is a recent discovery of Döring in the Sierras of Cordova; it may be at once recognized by its small size and crested head.

180. UPUCERTHIA DUMETORIA (Geoffr. et d’Orb.).

(PATAGONIAN EARTH-CREEPER.)

Hab. Patagonia and Chili.

These birds are very common in Patagonia, being resident there; some individuals, however, migrate north in winter, and I once obtained a pair, male and female, near Buenos Ayres city in the month of June.

Their legs are short, but on the ground their movements are very rapid, and, like the Miner (Geositta) already described, they fly reluctantly, preferring to run rapidly from a person walking or riding, and at such times they look curiously like a very small Curlew with an extravagantly long beak. They are active, lively birds, and live in pairs, sometimes uniting in small, loose flocks; they are partial to places where scattered bushes grow on a dry sterile soil, and have a swift low flight; when flying they frequently utter a shrill, trilling, or rapidly reiterated note, in sound resembling laughter. In manners, flight, language, and colouring this bird closely resembles the smaller short-beaked Geositta cunicularia, and like that species it also breeds in deep holes in banks; but I am not able to say whether it excavates the breeding-hole or takes possession of one already made. Durnford found it breeding in a hole four feet deep in the bank of a dry lagoon. The nest was of dry grass and lined with the fur of the cavy. It contained three white eggs.

181. UPUCERTHIA RUFICAUDA (Meyen).

(RED-TAILED EARTH-CREEPER.)

Hab. Chili and Mendoza.

The straight bill and red colour of the tail-feathers at once distinguish this species from the former. Burmeister obtained specimens of it in the Sierra of Uspallata, where it was met with hopping about the rocks and feeding on insects.

182. UPUCERTHIA LUSCINIA (Burm.).

(WARBLING EARTH-CREEPER.)

Hab. Argentina.

Professor Burmeister was the first discoverer of this species, which he tells us is common near Mendoza, in Paraná, and in the neighbouring pampas. In Paraná he found it nesting under the roof of his house and feeding upon insects. The eggs are pure white. It is the Ruisiñor or “Nightingale” of the natives, whence he gave it the specific name luscinia—a strange name for any species in the shrill-voiced Dendrocolaptine family.

183. CINCLODES FUSCUS (Vieill.).

(BROWN CINCLODES.)

Hab. Argentina, Chili, Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador.

This homely little species differs considerably from most Dendrocolaptine birds in colour and habits; and being of a uniform dull, fuscous hue, its appearance is most uninteresting. It inhabits the whole of Patagonia, but is migratory, possessing, what is rare in this family, a powerful flight. In winter it is common all over the pampas and the Plata district, ranging north to Paraguay. It is always found near water, its favourite hunting-ground being the borders of a stream. On the ground its motions are quick and lively, but when perching on a tree it sits motionless in one position, and when attempting to move appears to lose its balance. These birds cannot be called strictly gregarious, but where abundant they are fond of gathering in loose flocks, sometimes numbering one or two hundred individuals, and when thus associating are very playful, frequently pursuing and wheeling about each other, and uttering a sharp, trilling note. On a warm day in winter they are occasionally heard attempting to sing, the bird darting up vertically into the air and pouring out with great energy a confused torrent of unmelodious sounds.

Their habits, so much less sedate and strikingly in contrast with those of most of the birds in this family, are no doubt due to the greater powers of flight possessed by Cinclodes.

184. CINCLODES BIFASCIATUS, Sclater.

(WHITE-WINGED CINCLODES.)

Hab. Bolivia and Eastern Argentina.

Weisshaupt obtained examples of this species in the vicinity of Mendoza, from one of which our description is taken.

185. HENICORNIS PHŒNICURUS (Gould).

(DARK-TAILED HENICORNIS.)

Hab. Chili and Patagonia.

Durnford met with this peculiar form in Central Patagonia in 1877-78. He says that it was resident and common among the bushes throughout his journey.

186. LOCHMIAS NEMATURA (Licht.).

(BRAZILIAN LOCHMIAS.)

Hab. South-east Brazil and Northern Argentina.

Professor Burmeister met with this Brazilian species near Paraná, where it lives on the ground among the bushes.

Subfam. II. SCLERURINÆ.

187. SCLERURUS UMBRETTA (Licht.).

(THE SPINY LEAF-SCRAPER.)

Hab. Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.

White has the following note on this interesting species:—“Only two of these birds were observed during my trip through Misiones. It frequents the dense gloomy forests, where it busies itself in scraping amongst the dead leaves; and although it may be close at hand and the rustling distinct, a quick eye is required to detect it, as its plumage is of the exact colour of decaying foliage. If startled, it flies up onto the trunk of the nearest tree, and there remains perfectly motionless in an upright position. I never heard it utter a single note.”

Subfam. III. SYNALLAXINÆ.

188. PHLŒOCRYPTES MELANOPS (Vieill.).

(RUSH-LOVING SPINE-TAIL.)

Hab. Chili, Patagonia, and Argentina.

This is one of our few strictly migratory species in the family Dendrocolaptidæ. Probably it winters in South Brazil, as in the northern parts of the Argentine country it is said to be a summer visitor. On the pampas it appears in September, and all at once becomes very abundant in the rush-beds growing in the water, where alone it is found. The migration no doubt is very extensive, for in spring I found it abundant in the rush-beds in the Rio Negro valley, and Durnford met with it much further south on the river Sanguelen, a tributary of the Chupat. Migratory birds are, as a rule, very little given to wandering; that is to say, they do not go much beyond the limits of the little coppice, reed-bed, or spot of ground which they make their summer home, and this species is no exception. It spends the warm season secluded in its rush-bed: and when disturbed flies with great reluctance, fluttering feebly away to a distance of a few yards, and then dropping into the rushes again, apparently quite incapable of a sustained flight. How a bird so feeble on the wing, and retiring in its habits, is able to perform a long, annual migration, when in traversing vast tracts of open country it must be in great peril from rapacious kinds, is a great mystery. No doubt many perish while travelling; but there is this circumstance in their favour: an incredible number of birds of various kinds, many as weak and exposed to attack as the Phlœocryptes, migrate simultaneously; Hawks are very thinly scattered along their route, and as a rule these birds feed only once or twice a day, if the meals are large enough to fill the stomach, so that while the Hawk is inactive, digesting his meal, thousands of migrants have sped by on their journey and are beyond his reach for ever.

This Spine-tail seldom ventures out of its rush-bed, but is occasionally seen feeding in the grass and herbage a few yards removed from the water. Its language is peculiar, this being a long cicada-like note, followed by a series of sounds like smart taps on a piece of dry wood. It frequents the same places as the small Many-coloured Tyrant (Cyanotis azaræ), and these little neighbours, being equally inquisitive, whenever a person approaches the rushes often emerge together, one uttering wooden-sounding creaks and raps, the other liquid gurgling notes—a little brown bird and a little bird with many bright colours, both, in very different tones, demanding to know the reason of the intrusion.

The nest is a very wonderful structure, and is usually attached to three upright stems; it is domed, oval-shaped, about nine inches deep, and the small circular aperture which is close to the top is protected by a sloping tile-like projection. It is built of tough grass-leaves, which are apparently first daubed with wet clay and then ingeniously woven in, with the addition, I think, of some kind of mucilage: the whole nest is, when finished, light but very strong, and impervious to wet. Until the rushes die and drop the nest remains securely fastened to them, and in winter affords a safe and comfortable retreat to the small reed-frogs, of which sometimes as many as three or four are found living in one nest. The interior is very thickly lined with feathers; the eggs are three, pear-shaped, and a bright, beautiful blue colour, sometimes with a slight greenish tinge.

The bird is so abundant in extensive marshes that I have on several occasions, during a day’s ramble, found as many as forty or fifty nests, sometimes a dozen or more being placed close together, but I have never taken more than three eggs from one nest. I mention this because I have seen it stated that four or five eggs are sometimes found.

I trust that no reader of this sketch imagines that I robbed all the eggs contained in so many nests. I did nothing so barbarous, although it is perhaps “prattling out of fashion” to say so; but with the destructive, useless egg-collecting passion I have no sympathy. By bending the pliant rushes downwards the eggs can be made to roll out into the hand; and all those which I thus took out to count were, I am glad to say, put back in their wonderful cradles. I had a special object in examining so many nests. A gaucho boy once brought me a nest which had a small circular stopper, made of the same texture as the body of the nest, attached to the aperture at the side, and when swung round into it fitting it as perfectly as the lid of the trap-door spider fits the burrow. I have no doubt that it was used to close the nest when the bird was away, perhaps to prevent the intrusion of reed-frogs or of other small birds; but I have never found another nest like it, nor have I heard of one being found by any one else; and that one nest, with its perfectly-fitting stopper, has been a puzzle to my mind ever since I saw it.

189. LEPTASTHENURA ÆGITHALOIDES (Kittl.).

(TIT-LIKE SPINE-TAIL.)

Hab. Chili, Argentina, and Patagonia.

This is a restless little bird, seen singly or in parties of three or four. In manner and appearance it resembles the Long-tailed Titmouse (Parus), as it diligently searches for small insects in the trees and bushes, frequently hanging head downwards to explore the under surface of a leaf or twig, and while thus engaged continually uttering a little sharp querulous note. They are not migratory, but in winter seem to wander about from place to place a great deal; and in Patagonia, in the cold season, I have frequently seen them uniting in flocks of thirty or forty individuals, and associating with numbers of Spine-tails of other species, chiefly with Synallaxis sordida, and all together advancing through the thicket, carefully exploring every bush in their way.

D’Orbigny says that it makes a nest of rootlets and moss in a bush; but where I have observed this bird it invariably breeds in a hole in a tree, or in the nest of some other bird, often in the clay structure of the Oven-bird. But in Patagonia, where the Oven-bird is not known, this Spine-tail almost always selects the nest of the Synallaxis sordida. It carries in a great deal of soft material—soft grass, wool, and feathers—to reline the cavity, and lays five or six, white, pointed eggs.

190. LEPTASTHENURA FULIGINICEPS (d’Orb. et Lafr.).

(BROWN-CRESTED SPINE-TAIL.)

Hab. Bolivia and N. Argentina.

This species, discovered by d’Orbigny in Bolivia, was met with by White in Catamarca, “on the slopes of the hills, outside the dense wood,” and by Prof. Burmeister near Paraná.

191. SYNALLAXIS FRONTALIS, Pelz.

(BROWN-FRONTED SPINE-TAIL.)

Hab. South America, from Colombia to Argentina.

192. SYNALLAXIS SUPERCILIOSA, Cab.

(EYEBROWED SPINE-TAIL.)

Hab. Tucuman.

This Spine-tail, so far as we know at present, is peculiar to Tucuman, where it was discovered by Herr Schulz.

193. SYNALLAXIS SPIXI, Scl.

(SPIX’S SPINE-TAIL.)

Hab. Southern Brazil and Argentina.

I like Azara’s name Chicli, which, to one acquainted with the habits of this and of the following species, seems very appropriate, suggesting, as I imagine it does, a small creature possessing a sharp two-syllabled note; for although Hartlaub, in his Nomenclature of Azara, gives S. ruficapilla as the species meant by Chicli, the account of its habits in the ‘Apuntamientos’ seems to point to S. spixi or to S. albescens.

Azara says:—“I give it this name because it sings it plainly, in a loud sharp tone, which may be heard at a distance, repeating it so frequently that the pauses last no longer than the sound. It is resident (in Paraguay), solitary and not abundant: inhabits thickets of aloes and thorn, without rising more than two yards above the surface, or showing itself in open places. It moves about incessantly, but does not leave its thicket to visit the woods or open ground, its flight being only from bush to bush; and though it is not timid, it is hard to detect it in its stronghold, and to hear it one would imagine that it was perched overhead on a tree, when it is hidden all the time in the brushwood at the roots.”

This habit of concealing itself so closely inclines me to think that this species, rather than S. albescens, was the bird described by Azara, although in both species the language is nearly the same. I have nothing to add to the above account from the ‘Apuntamientos,’ except that in the love-season this species has a low, strange-sounding little song, utterly unlike its usual strident cry. When singing, it sits motionless on the summit of a low bush in a dejected attitude with head drawn in, and murmurs its mysterious little melody at intervals of half a minute.

194. SYNALLAXIS ALBESCENS, Temm.

(WHITE-THROATED SPINE-TAIL.)

Hab. S. America, from Veragua to Buenos Ayres.

This species, although by no means abundant in Buenos Ayres, is met with much more frequently than the S. spixi, which it closely resembles in size, colour, habits, and language. It is, indeed, an unusual thing for two species so closely allied to be found inhabiting the same district. In both birds the colours are arranged in precisely the same way; but the chestnut tint on S. albescens is not nearly so deep, the browns and greys are paler, and there is less black on the throat.

I am pretty sure that in Buenos Ayres it is migratory, and as soon as it appears in spring it announces its arrival by its harsh, persistent, two-syllabled note, wonderfully strong for so small a bird, and which it repeats at intervals of two or three seconds for half an hour without intermission. When close at hand it is quite as distressing as the grinding noise of a Cicada. This painful noise is uttered while the bird sits concealed amid the foliage of a tree, and is renewed at frequent intervals, and continues every day until the Spine-tail finds a mate, when all at once it becomes silent. The nest is placed in a low thorn-bush, sometimes only two or three feet above the ground, and is an oblong structure of sticks, twelve or fourteen inches in depth, with the entrance near the top, and reached by a tubular passage made of slender sticks, and six or seven inches long. From the top of the nest a crooked passage leads to the cavity near the bottom; this is lined with a little fine grass, and nine eggs are laid, pear-shaped and pale bluish white in colour. I have found several nests with nine eggs, and therefore set that down as the full number of the clutch, though I confess it seems very surprising that this bird should lay so many. When the nest is approached, the parent birds remain silent and concealed at some distance. When the nest is touched or shaken, the young birds, if nearly fledged, have the singular habit of running out and jumping to the ground to conceal themselves in the grass.

I have no doubt that this species varies greatly in its habits in different districts, and probably also in the number of eggs it lays. Mr. Barrows, an excellent observer, says it lays three or four light blue eggs. He met with it at Concepcion, in the northern part of the Argentine Republic, and writes that it is “an abundant species in thorny hedges or among the masses of dwarfed and spiny bushes, which cling to each other so tenaciously amid the general desolation of the sandy barrens.” The nests which he describes vary also in some particulars from those I have seen. “Entrance is gained by the bird,” he says, “through a long tube, which is built on to the nest at a point about half way up the side. This tube is formed by the interlocking of thorny twigs, and is supported by the branches and twigs about it. It may be straight or curved; its diameter externally varies from two to four inches, and its length from one to two feet. The passage-way itself is but just large enough to admit the birds one at a time, and it has always been a mystery to me how a bird the size of a Chipping-Sparrow could find its way through one of these slender tubes, bristling with thorns, and along which I found it difficult to pass a smooth slender twig for more than five or six inches. Yet they not only pass in and out easily, but so easily that I was never yet able to surprise one in the nest, or to see the slightest disturbance of it by the bird’s hurried exit.”

The bird has a very wide range in South America, and Mr. Salmon observed its breeding-habits in Antioquia in Colombia. There also the bird varies the form of its nest, making it as large as that of an English Magpie, and roofing the top with a mass of large leaves to protect it from the heavy rains. The eggs, he says, are very pale greenish blue, nearly white; but he does not give the number.

195. SYNALLAXIS WHITII, Scl.

(WHITE’S SPINE-TAIL.)

Hab. Northern Argentina.

White obtained a single example of this new species near Oran in November 1880. It is most nearly allied to S. scutata of Brazil.

196. SYNALLAXIS PHRYGANOPHILA (Vieill.).

(PRETTY-THROATED SPINE-TAIL.)

Hab. Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay.

This pretty Spine-tail is nowhere common in the Argentine country, and in Buenos Ayres it is exceedingly scarce. It is rather large for a Synallaxis, the total length being nine inches. The two middle feathers of the acuminated tail greatly exceed the others in length, measuring five inches. The plumage is very pale brown, marked with fuscous; the crown and wing-coverts rufous. The beauty of the bird is in the throat, which has three strongly contrasted colours, distinguishing it from all other Synallaxes. In the angle of the beak the colour is sulphur-yellow, under this is a patch of velvet-black, and on each side of the yellow and black a pure white patch.

Mr. Barrows has the following very interesting note on its nesting-habits:—“A nest containing four white eggs, faintly tinted with blue, was found in a thorny tree, and some eight feet from the ground. The nest was quite similar to the one just described (of S. albescens), but the cavity in which the eggs were laid was near the top of the body of the nest, while the passage-way descended from it to the base of the nest, and there becoming external rose gradually to the level of the eggs at a distance of almost three feet.”

197. SYNALLAXIS STRIATICEPS (Lafr. et d’Orb.).

(STRIPED SPINE-TAIL.)

Hab. Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, and Patagonia.

This species has a wide range south of the Equator, being found in Bolivia, Uruguay, and throughout the Argentine Republic, including Patagonia. In its habits it differs widely from other Synallaxes, and in structure and coloration is also unlike its relatives.

The beak is longer and more curved, the claws more crooked, and the tail stiffer than in other Synallaxes, and this difference in structure corresponds to a different mode of life. The Striped Spine-tail creeps on the trunk and larger branches of trees, seeking its insect-food in the crevices of the bark, and when seen clinging to the trunk, supported by its tail in a vertical position, with head thrown far back, and progressing upwards by short quick hops, it looks wonderfully like a small Picolaptes with shortened beak. It is very restless, and while searching for insects constantly utters a short, trilling, querulous-sounding note.

It builds an open nest in the fork of a branch, of soft grasses and hair, thickly lined with feathers, and lays four or five pure white eggs.

198. SYNALLAXIS ORBIGNII, Reichenb.

(D’ORBIGNY’S SPINE-TAIL.)

Hab. Bolivia and Argentina.

This Spine-tail has been noticed by various observers in Northern Argentina, and, if we are correct in referring S. flavigularis of Döring to the same species, occurs also in the Rio Negro district.

199. SYNALLAXIS MODESTA, Eyton.

(MODEST SPINE-TAIL.)

Hab. Argentina, Patagonia, Chili.

This species so closely resembles the following in size and dull earthy-brown colour, that where seen in the thickets it is impossible to distinguish them. In habits they also seem alike; but this bird is, I think, less retiring, for I have seen it associating with other species of Synallaxis.

On comparing specimens together, however, it is easy to separate the present bird from S. sordida by noticing the colour of the external rectrices, which are black, externally edged with rufous, instead of being wholly rufous.

200. SYNALLAXIS SORDIDA, Less.

(SORDID SPINE-TAIL.)

Hab. Patagonia and East Argentina.

This species, which, on close comparison, is at once distinguishable from S. modesta by the absence of any black colour on the three exterior pairs of tail-feathers, ranges from the extreme north of the Argentine Republic to Patagonia, where it is quite common, and is invariably found in dry situations abounding in thorny vegetation.

It does not migrate, and lives with its mate in thorny bushes, but does not attempt to conceal itself, and sits much on the summit of a bush, where the male in spring utters at intervals a clear trilling call. In its inactive disposition, slow deliberate movements, also in its language, it strikingly resembles the Phacellodomus ruber. In its nidification it also comes nearest to that species. The nest is a large structure of sticks, eighteen inches to two feet long, placed upright among the twigs at the summit of a bush. From the top where the entrance is placed, a winding passage leads down to the chamber at the bottom of the nest; this is lined with soft dry grass and feathers, and four pure white eggs are laid.

201. SYNALLAXIS SULPHURIFERA, Burm.

(YELLOW-MARKED SPINE-TAIL.)

Hab. South Argentina and Patagonia.

I have found this Synallaxis, which was first described by Prof. Burmeister, from specimens obtained near Buenos Ayres, in the swamps along the Plata river; also on the Rio Negro, in Patagonia, where, however, it is very scarce. It inhabits the dense rush-beds growing in the water, where the Limnornis curvirostris is also found. It closely resembles that species in habits and language, and also assimilates to it in colour and in the rather long, curved beak, sharp claws, stout body, and short stiff tail. It is stationary, pairs for life, and lives always closely concealed in its chosen bed of close-growing rushes. When a person approaches their hiding-place the two birds creep up to the summit of the rushes, protesting in peculiar, loud, angry rattling notes. The Limnornis, which also pairs for life, has precisely the same habit.

Durnford describes the nest, found in a rush-bed, as a circular or domed structure of grass, with the aperture at the side; the eggs white.

202. SYNALLAXIS PATAGONICA (Lafr. et d’Orb.).

(PATAGONIAN SPINE-TAIL.)

Hab. Patagonia.

This dull-coloured little bird, which is found in Patagonia and also near the Andes in the north-western provinces of the Argentine Republic, is one of those species which diverge greatly in habits from the typical S. ruficapilla and its nearest allies. The body is stout, the tail, square and short, is carried vertically as in the House-Wren.

The Patagonian Spine-tail is a resident in the Rio Negro district. It is a silent, shy, solitary little bird, which lives on the ground and seeks its food after the manner of the Cachalote (Homorus). Being small and feeble, however, it does not hunt about the roots of trees and large bushes like the larger and more powerful Homorus, but keeps under the diminutive scrubby plants in open sterile situations. About the roots of these wiry little bushes, only twelve to eighteen inches high, the bird searches for small insects, and when disturbed has a feeble jerky flight, which carries it to a distance of about twenty yards. It flies with great reluctance, and when approached runs swiftly away, leaving a person in doubt as to whether he has seen a mouse or a little obscure bird. The only note I have heard it utter is a faint creaking sound when alarmed or flying.

203. SYNALLAXIS HUDSONI, Scl.

(HUDSON’S SPINE-TAIL.)