Argentine Ornithology Volume I Part 35

_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.)

+Lochmias nematura+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 462 (Parana).

_Description._--Above clear brown, rump blackish, elongated superciliaries white; tail blackish; beneath blackish brown, with numerous large white oval spots occupying the centre of the feathers; bill horn-colour, lower mandible pale brown at the base; feet brown: whole length 55 inches, wing 28, tail 20.

_Hab._ South-east Brazil and Northern Argentina.

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

Subfam. II. _SCLERURINae._

187. SCLERURUS UMBRETTA (Licht.).

(THE SPINY LEAF-Sc.r.a.pER.)

+Sclerurus caudacutus+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 610 (Misiones).

+Sclerurus umbretta+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 62.

_Description._--Above dark brown, rump and upper tail-coverts rufous; wing-feathers blackish, glossed with dull brown; tail black; beneath, throat white, the feathers edged with dark brown; breast dull rufous; belly and flanks same colour as back; under wing-coverts whitish brown; bill and feet black: whole length 71 inches, wing 36, tail 26.

_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 sc.r.a.ping 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. _SYNALLAXINae._

188. PHLOCRYPTES MELANOPS (Vieill.).

(RUSH-LOVING SPINE-TAIL.)

+Synallaxis melanops+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 470 (Mendoza).

+Phlocryptes melanops+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 63; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 179 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 396 (Central Patagonia); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 206 (Bahia Blanca).

_Description._--Above, forehead brown, crown blackish, broad superciliaries buffy white; upper half of back black, marked with a few grey stripes; lower back and rump, also sides of head and neck, light brown; wings blackish, mottled with light chestnut on the coverts; and a broad band of the same colour occupying the basal half of the wing-feathers; tail blackish, the two middle feathers brownish grey, the others slightly tipped with the same colour; beneath white, more or less tinged on the throat, flanks, and under tail-coverts with pale brown; under wing-coverts fulvous; bill and feet pale horn-colour: whole length 58 inches, wing 23, tail 16.

_Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Chili, Patagonia, and Argentina.

This is one of our few strictly migratory species in the family _Dendrocolaptidae_. 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 circ.u.mstance in their favour: an incredible number of birds of various kinds, many as weak and exposed to attack as the _Phlocryptes_, 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 gra.s.s 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 azarae_), 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 gra.s.s-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 fas.h.i.+on" to say so; but with the destructive, useless egg-collecting pa.s.sion 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 aeGITHALOIDES (Kittl.).

(t.i.t-LIKE SPINE-TAIL.)

+Synallaxis aegithaloides+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 469 (Mendoza); _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 544 (Rio Negro).

+Leptasthenura aegithaloides+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p.

632 (Buenos Ayres); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 63; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 180 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 396 (Centr. Patagonia); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 30 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 611 (Catamarca); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii.

p. 206 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Above pale earthy brown; crown black, striped with clear brown; lores, sides of head, and throat white, with minute black spots; wings blackish, the edges of the outer webs of the primaries and the basal part of the secondaries light rufescent brown; tail black, lateral rectrices tipped and margined with pale grey; beneath pale grey, throat white; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 62 inches, wing 24, tail 35. _Female_ similar.

_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 t.i.tmouse (_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 a.s.sociating 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 gra.s.s, 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.)

+Leptasthenura fuliginiceps+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 63; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 611 (Catamarca). +Synallaxis fuliginiceps+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 469.

_Description._--Above pale earthy brown; forehead and slightly crested crown rufous brown; wings blackish, edges of outer webs of all the wing-feathers and basal part of the secondaries chestnut; tail clear brown; beneath paler, earthy brown; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 60 inches, wing 22, tail 31.

_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 Parana.

191. SYNALLAXIS FRONTALIS, Pelz.

(BROWN-FRONTED SPINE-TAIL.)

+Synallaxis frontalis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 63; _Scl. P. Z.

S._ 1874, p. 8; _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 358 (Salta); _White, P.

Z. S._ 1882, p. 611 (Salta, Catamarca). +Synallaxis ruficapilla+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 246 (Corrientes); _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 408 (Parana).

_Description._--Above, earthy brown; cap chestnut; front earthy brown; wing-coverts chestnut, wing-feathers olive-brown, the outer webs edged with chestnut; tail chestnut; beneath, throat blackish, with slight whitish mottlings; breast, sides, and under tail-coverts pale earthy brown, belly brownish white; under wing-coverts fulvous; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 56 inches, wing 22, tail 30.