Picolaptes angustirostris, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 69; White, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 433 (Cordova). Lepidocolaptes atripes, Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 21 (Entrerios).
Description.—Above, head and neck blackish, with oblong whitish shaft-spots on the crown and neck; broad superciliaries white, extending nearly to the back and broken at their lower ends into shaft-spots; rest of upper surface dull brown, brighter on the rump; wing-feathers pale obscure chestnut; outer webs and broad tips of primaries blackish; tail chestnut; beneath white, clearer on the throat; sides of breast and belly thickly marked with faint blackish stripes; under wing-coverts cinnamon; bill pale horn-colour; feet grey: whole length 8·2 inches, wing 3·8, tail 2·5. Female similar.
Hab. Paraguay and Argentina.
This is the only member of the genus Picolaptes as yet met with within the limits of the Argentine Republic. Azara found it abundant in Paraguay, and on this account named it the Common Climber, “Trepador comun.” In Buenos Ayres it is a summer visitant, appearing at the end of September. It is a solitary bird, never seen away from the woods, and invariably utters a loud melancholy cry when passing from one tree to another. It always alights on the trunk close to the ground, clinging to the bark in a vertical position, supported by the tail, and with head thrown far back in order to give free play to the extremely long beak. Having thus alighted, it progresses upwards by short hops, exploring the crevices in the wood for small insects, until it reaches the branches, when it flies off to the next tree.
[ Fam. XVIII. FORMICARIIDÆ, or ANT-BIRDS.]
The Formicariidæ, or Ant-birds, are another very important constituent of the Neotropical Avifauna, but are less generally diffused than the Dendrocolaptidæ, the greater number of the forms being restricted to the hot forests of South and Central America. In the Argentine Republic we meet with only four species of the widely-spread genus Thamnophilus, and of them only one [appears] to extend as far south as Buenos Ayres.
[222.] THAMNOPHILUS LEACHI (Such).
(LEACH’S BUSH-BIRD.)
Thamnophilus leachi, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 69; White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 614 (Misiones).
Description.—Black, thickly and conspicuously spotted above with white or pale yellowish; on the wings the spots occur on the outer webs of the feathers; upper tail-coverts faintly edged with grey; tail black, unspotted; feathers on the lower breast and belly slightly edged with grey; bill and feet black: whole length 10·5 inches, wing 3·4, tail 5·0. Female: spots larger and yellow, on the crown lengthening to stripes and tinged with rufous; inner webs of the wing-feathers also spotted on their margins; whole under surface thickly spotted with pale yellow.