FAMILY FURNARIIDAE 6l 



that is their common sheher. In their short flights barely over the 

 tops of this cover, tail and body tilt quickly, and after progress of a 

 few yards, they disappear at once in the dense cover. 



The nest is roughly spherical, made of the dry thorny twigs of the 

 low bushes in which it is located, mixed with a few bits of dry grass 

 or reeds, if in a marshy area. The notes of Major-General G. Ralph 

 Meyer describe one found near Pacora, May 21, 1941, as roughly 

 globular, 200 by 280 mm with a tubular entrance tunnel 350 mm in 

 length. Externally, it was approximately 125 mm in diameter, with 

 a narrow passageway only 50 mm wide. The three fresh eggs were 

 white, with measurements of 19.3x15.0, 19.3x15.5, and 19.8x15.7 

 mm. Skutch (Pac. Coast Avif. no. 35, 1969, p. 340) found that both 

 male and female shared the work of nest-building, incubation, and 

 care of the young. 



During the rainy season where shallow water stands beneath the 

 thorny bushes that they inhabit, they may be more readily seen. And 

 then, in this period, when they are nesting, males may rest in the open 

 with partly spread tails while they call. 



The brown young in their first plumage resemble their parents 

 only in form as their colors dififer completely. 



The species is one of wide distribution in suitable terrain from 

 southern Mexico through Central America, and South America east 

 of the Andes to Bolivia and northern Argentina. 



When Ridgway described the bird of Panama as a separate race 

 hypoleuca he had available only one specimen, a bird collected by 

 H. T. Heyde and Ernesto Lux, March 31, 1889, at Nata in the pro- 

 vince of Code. The date of collection is toward the end of the dry 

 season when the heat of the sun, unbroken by cloud cover for weeks, 

 is severe. The bird is considerably faded so that it is decidedly paler 

 throughout than any of the series of 30 normal specimens now 

 available. These do not differ from the population of Costa Rica, so 

 that the name hypoleuca is placed in synonymy as suggested by 

 Zimmer (Amer. Mus. Nov., no. 861, 1936, p. 14). 



SYNALLAXIS BRACHYURA Lafresnaye: Slaty Spinetail, Canastero 



Pizarroso 



Synallaxis brachyiirus Lafresnaye, Rev. Zoo!., vol. 6, October, 1843, p. 290. 

 (Bogota, Colombia.) 



Small and slender, with long, pointed tail ; crown and wing cin- 

 namon-rufous ; rest of plumage slaty to brownish gray. 



