4. Synallaxis maluroides.
S. maluroides. D’Orb. & Lafr. Voy de l’Amer. Mer. Ois. pl. xiv, f. 2. Mag. de Zool. 1837, Cl. 11, pl. 22.
My specimens were shot near Maldonado. Iris yellow; tarsi very pale coloured.
This species, as well as some others of Synallaxis, Anumbius, and Limnornis, live amongst reeds and other aquatic plants on the borders of lakes, and have the same general habits. I will, therefore, here describe them. They all have the power of crawling very quickly by the aid of their powerful claws and feet, as I soon discovered when they were not killed at once, for then it was scarcely possible to catch them. Their soft tail-feathers show signs of being used, but they never apply them, as the Certhias do, as a means of supporting their bodies. The tail-feathers were (at least during June) so loosely attached, that I seldom procured a specimen with all of them perfect; and I saw many (especially of S. maluroides), flying about with no tail. All the species, or nearly all, utter an acute, but not loud, rapidly reiterated cry. They are active and busily seek for small insects, chiefly Coleoptera, in the coarse herbage. The iris in all is rusty red; the tongue is divided and terminates in bristly points. These reed birds, which are very numerous both in species and individuals, on the borders of lakes in the provinces north of the Plata, appear to supply in South America, the various Sylviæ, which frequent similar stations in Europe.
5. Synallaxis flavogularis. Gould.
Plate XXIV.
S. supra fuscescenti cinereus, infra cinereo-fuscus; remigibus obscurè fuscis, basi obscurè rufis; caudæ plumis sex mediis nigro-fuscis, externis ferrugineis; genis gulâque flavescentibus, plumis singulis apice obscurè fuscis.
Long. tot. 6½ unc.; rost. ¾;l alæ, 2½; caudæ, 3⅝; tarsi, ¾.
Head and all the upper surface, brown; primaries, dark brown, with the basal portions rufous; six central tail-feathers, blackish brown; the remainder ferruginous; sides of the face and throat yellowish, with the tip of each feather dark brown; the remainder of the under surface, greyish brown; bill and feet, dark brown.
Habitat, Patagonia.
My specimens were obtained at Bahia Blanca and at Santa Cruz, two extreme parts of Patagonia. It frequents the thinly scattered thickets on the arid plains: the hind claw of its foot is not produced as in S. rufogularis, and it lives less on the ground.
6. Synallaxis brunnea. Gould.
S. pallide rubro fusca; primariis secundariisque rufis apice fuscis; caudæ plumis quatuor mediis nigrescenti fuscis, duabus proximis ferrugineo fuscis internè nigrescenti-marginatis, duabus extimis ferrugineo fuscis; genis, gulâ abdomineque medio albescentibus; hypochondriis cinereis.
Long. tot. 5⁴⁄₁₂; unc.; rost. ⁵⁄₁₂; alæ, 2³⁄₁₂; caudæ, ⅝; tarsi, ¹⁰⁄₁₂.
Head and all the upper surface pale reddish brown; primaries and secondaries, brown at the tip and rufous at the base; four central tail feathers, blackish brown; the next on each side rusty brown, margined internally with blackish brown; the two lateral feathers wholly rusty brown; sides of the face, throat, and centre of the abdomen, whitish; flanks cinereous; bill and feet brown.
Habitat, Port Desire, Patagonia. (January.)
Birds. Pl. 24.
Synallaxis flavogularis.
This little bird frequents the thickets in the dry valleys near Port Desire. It often flies from bush to bush, and its habits are nearly like those of the rest of the genus. From its tail feathers, however, being little used, and the tarsi being slightly elongated, I suppose it lives chiefly on the ground. I may observe, that this species comes nearest to S. flavogularis, but that in the form of its tail, straightness of bill, and kind of plumage, it departs from Synallaxis, and approaches Eremobius.
7. Synallaxis ægithaloides. Kittl.
S. Ægithaloides. Kittl. Mem. de l’Acad. 11. pl. vii.—Vog. von Chili, p. 15, pl. vii.
This bird is common throughout Patagonia and Central Chile, being found wherever thickets grow on a rocky or dry soil. It sometimes moves about in small flocks. Its habits, as Kittlitz remarks, resemble in many respects, those of a titmouse (Parus); but there is one remarkable point of difference, namely, that this bird is able to run very quickly on the ground. It does not always do so, but often hops about with great activity; nevertheless, I repeat, I have distinctly seen it running very quickly amongst the thickets. When hopping from twig to twig, it does not use its long tail, any more than the long-tailed titmouse (Parus caudatus) of Europe. It utters a harsh, shrill, quickly reiterated cry, like so many other species of this genus and the allied ones. In Chile, I several times saw a very large cylindrical nest, built of prickly twigs of the mimosa, and placed in the middle of a thorn-bearing bush, with its mouth at the upper extremity; I was assured by the country people, that although so very large, it belonged to this little bird.[[11]] This kind of nidification, the habit of feeding on the ground, and the length of acuminated tail, are points of resemblance with S. major.
8. Synallaxis ruficapilla. Vieill.
Synallaxis ruficapilla. Vieill. Gal. des Ois. pl. lxxiv.
Parulus ruficeps. Spix. Av. Sp. Nov. tom. 1. p. 84, t. lxxxvi. f. 1, m. f. 2. fem.
Sphenura ruficeps. Licht. Ver. p. 42.
My specimens were obtained at Maldonado, (June) where it was rare, and at Buenos Ayres. Near Santa Fè, in Entre Rios, 3° northward, it was common: Spix found it near the Rio San Francisco in Brazil. Iris yellowish red; legs with faint tinge of blue; tongue terminated in bristly points, not deeply bifid. This Synallaxis approaches in character Anumbius ruber. Habits similar to those of S. maluroides.
Anumbius ruber. D’Orb. & Lafr.
Anumbius ruber. D’Orb. & Lafr. Mag. de Zool. 1838, p. 18.
Furnarius ruber. Vieill. Ency. Meth. 514.
Anumbi rouge. Azara, No. 220.
Frequents reeds on the borders of lakes near Maldonado. Habits very similar to those of Synallaxis maluroides, and likewise of the two species of Limnornis; to one of which L. curvirostris, it is most closely allied in structure. Iris bright yellowish orange; tarsi, with faint tinge of blue; tongue divided on each side a little below the extreme point.
Genus.—LIMNORNIS. Gould.
Rostrum capitis longitudine seu longius, leviter a basi ad apicem arcuatum, lateraliter compressum, haud emarginatum; naribus magnis basalibus linearibus apertis aut partim operculo tectis: alæ brevissimæ rotundæ, plumis quarta, quinta sextaque ferè æqualibus et longissimis; cauda rotundata et graduata, scapis aliquanto ultra radios productis; tarsi mediocres, fortiter scutellati; halluce digito medio breviore, robusto, ungue robusto armato, digitis lateralibus ferè æqualibus, intermediis aliquanto brevioribus.
1. Limnornis rectirostris. Gould.
Plate XXVI.
L. pallide flavescenti fusca; cervice nigrescenti fusco; caudâ rufa; tectricibus primariis secundariisque fuscis rufo latè marginatis; fasciâ pone oculos, gulâ abdomineque flavescenti albis; hypochondriis fulvis.
Long. tot. 6²⁄₁₂ unc; rost. ²⁄₁₂, alæ, 2⁶⁄₁₂ caudæ, 2⁹⁄₁₂ tarsi, ⁹⁄₁₂.
Crown of the head brown; the remainder of the upper surface, pale yellowish brown; tail rufous and acutely pointed; wing coverts, primaries and secondaries brown, broadly margined with rufous; stripe behind the eye, throat, and all the under surface buffy white; flanks tawny; bill lengthened, orange at the base, dark brown at the tip; iris rusty red; feet very pale coloured; claws whitish.
Habitat, Maldonado, La Plata. (June.)
This bird lives amongst the reeds on the borders of lakes. It often alights vertically on stems of plants, but in climbing does not use its tail: habits, generally similar to those of Synallaxis maluroides.
Birds. Pl. 26.
Limnornis rectirostris
Birds. Pl. 25.
Limnornis curvirostris.
2. Limnornis curvirostris. Gould.
Plate XXV.
L. rufescenti-fusca; caudâ, remigiumque basibus pallidè: castaneo-fuscis, lineâ superciliari, genis, gulâ abdomineque albis; hypochondriis cervino tinctis.
Long. tot. 7 unc., rost. 1⅛; alæ, 2⁸⁄₁₂; caudæ, 3¹⁄₁₂; tarsi, ¹⁰⁄₁₂.
Head, all the upper surface, and wings reddish brown; tail and basal portion of the outer margins of the primaries and secondaries reddish chesnut brown; stripe over the eye, throat, and all the under surface white, tinged, especially on the flanks, with fawn colour; bill orange at the base, the tip brown; legs pale bluish; claws white; tongue bristled on the sides; near the extremity it is divided into little bristly points.
Habitat, Maldonado, La Plata. (June.)
This species frequents the same localities with the last, and I am unable to point out any difference in its habits. Of the two specimens collected, the beak of one is very nearly one-tenth of an inch longer than that of the other; but this is almost wholly due to the sharp point of the upper mandible projecting beyond the lower mandible in the one, whereas they are nearly equal in the other.
1. Oxyurus tupinieri. Gould.
Synallaxis tupinieri. Less. Zool. de la Coqu. pl. 29. f. 1.
Oxyurus ornatus. Swains. 2 Cent, and ¼. p. 324.
This bird is perhaps the most abundant of any land species inhabiting Tierra del Fuego. It is common along the west coast, (and numerous in Chiloe,) even as far north as a degree south of Valparaiso; but the dry country and stunted woods of central Chile are not favourable to its increase. In the dark forests of Tierra del Fuego, both high up and low down, in the most gloomy, wet, and scarcely penetrable ravines, this little bird may be met with. No doubt, it appears more common than it really is, from its habit of following, with seeming curiosity, every person who enters these silent woods; continually uttering a harsh twitter, it flutters from tree to tree, within a few feet of the intruder’s face. It is far from wishing for the modest concealment of the creeper (Certhia familiaris); nor does it, like that bird, run up the trunks of trees, but industriously, after the manner of a willow wren, hops about and searches for insects on every twig and branch.
2. Oxyurus? dorso-maculatus. Gould.
Synallaxis dorso-maculata. D’Orb. & Lafr. Voy. de l’Amer. Mer. Ois. pl. 14. f. 1.
—— Mag. de Zool. 1837, Cl. 11. p. 21.
My specimen was procured from Maldonado, (June), where it was not common. It frequents the same localities with Synallaxis maluroides, and the two species of Limnornis, and has very similar habits with them. In structure, and in the general shade of its plumage, it is closely allied to the foregoing species, although differing from it in habits.
Genus.—DENDRODRAMUS. Gould.
Rostrum capitis longitudine, aut longius, culmine recto, gonide ascendente, per omnes partes lateraliter compressum, durum et apice inemarginatum, naribus basalibus longitudinalibusque; alæ mediocres et subacuminatæ, plumis tertia, quarta et quinta æqualibus longissimisque; cauda mediocris, scapis ultra radios in spinas acutas productis; tarsi sub-breves, digitis unguibusque longis, his multum curvatis, digito externo valido et ferè digiti medii longitudine, digitis lateralibus inæqualibus, internis multum brevioribus.
Dendrodramus leucosternus. Gould.
Plate XXVII.
D. capite, dorsi parte superiore alisque nigrescenti fuscis, rubro-tinctis; primariis secundariisque subferrugineo fusco irregulariter marginatis, uropygio caudâque nitidè ferrugineis, gulâ pectoreque albis, abdomine medio rufescenti-fusco, singulis plumis ad apicem maculâ magnâ ovali albâ; hypochondriis saturatè rufis; rostro basi corneo, apice pedibusque nigro fuscis.
Long. tot. 6³⁄₁₂ unc.; rostri, 1¹⁄₁₂; alæ 3; caudæ, 2⁹⁄₁₂; tarsi, ⁹⁄₁₂.
Head, upper part of the back and wings blackish brown, tinged with red; primaries and secondaries irregularly margined with dull rusty brown; rump and tail rich ferruginous; throat and chest white; feathers of the centre of the abdomen reddish brown, with a large oval spot of white near the tip of each feather; flanks deep rufous; bill horny at the base, the remainder and the feet blackish brown.
Habitat, Chiloe and Southern Chile.
Birds. Pl. 27.
Dendrodramus leucosternus.
This bird is common in the forests of Chiloe, where, differently from the Oxyurus tupinieri, it may constantly be seen running up the trunks of the lofty forest trees. Its manners appeared to me to resemble those of Certhia familiaris. I found Coleopterous insects in its stomach. Its range does not appear to be extensive; Chiloe to the south, and some woods near Rancagua (a degree south of Valparaiso) were the extreme points where I met with it. The Dendrodramus is not found in Tierra del Fuego, where the O. tupinieri is so numerous. Mr. G. R. Gray remarks that this genus is very nearly allied to Dendroplex of Mr. Swainson.