Description.—Above, front brown, crown chestnut, superciliaries white; sides of head, neck, back, and tail pale fulvous brown, with broad blackish striations on the neck and back; upper wing-coverts pale chestnut; wing-feathers blackish, the outer webs edged with pale fulvous brown; beneath, upper half of throat sulphur-yellow, lower half black, with a white patch on each side of the black; breast and belly whitish, washed with earthy brown, slightly fulvous on the breast and flanks; under wing-coverts fulvous white; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 8·5 inches, wing 2·4, tail 4·6.
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.)
Synallaxis striaticeps, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 469 (Paraná); Hudson, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 544 (Rio Negro); Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 64; Scl. P. Z. S. 1874, p. 21; Salvin, Ibis, 1880, p. 358 (Salta); White, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 39 (Cordova); Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl. viii. p. 208 (Entrerios).
Description.—Above earthy brown, darker on the crown, which has slight greyish striations; broad superciliaries white; upper wing-coverts pale chestnut; wing-feathers blackish, glossed with olive; tail pale chestnut; beneath white; under wing-coverts pale fulvous; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 5·9 inches, wing 2·4, tail 2·4. Female similar.
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.