[189.] LEPTASTHENURA ÆGITHALOIDES (Kittl.).
(TIT-LIKE SPINE-TAIL.)
Synallaxis ægithaloides, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 469 (Mendoza); Hudson, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 544 (Rio Negro). Leptasthenura ægithaloides, 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 6·2 inches, wing 2·4, tail 3·5. 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 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.)
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.