Ochetorhynchus dumetorius, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 463 (Mendoza). Upucerthia dumetoria, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 62; Hudson, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 544 (Rio Negro); Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 35, et 1878, p. 395 (Chupat); White, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 433 (Cordova).
Description.—Above earthy brown; long superciliary stripe pale ochraceous; wings blackish, with a broad transverse cinnamomeous bar; tail blackish, lateral rectrices tipped with pale cinnamon; beneath dirty white, clear white on the throat and middle of the belly; breast-feathers margined with blackish; under wing-coverts pale cinnamomeous; bill dark horn-colour, pale at the base; feet horn-colour: whole length 9·0 inches, wing 4·0, tail 3·5. Female similar.
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.)
Ochetorhynchus ruficauda, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 463 (Mendoza).
Description.—Above earthy brown, superciliaries whitish, lower half of back and outer secondaries strongly tinged with rufous; tail deep ferruginous red, inner webs of all the lateral rectrices black; beneath white, breast more or less freckled with greyish; belly, flanks, and crissum pale cinnamomeous brown; under surface of wings blackish, with a transverse cinnamomeous bar; bill and feet blackish: whole length 8·0 inches, wing 3·5, tail 3·3. Female similar.
Hab. Chili and Mendoza.