16. XENEEPESTES. 73 



and back pale fulvous brown, tbickly marked with longitudinal black 

 shaft-spots ; lores white ; wings blackish, the featliers edged with 

 pale ochraeeous, the basal part of the secondaries ver}- pale brown, 

 forming a transverse bar ; tail pale chestnut-brown, the two middle 

 feathers with a broad black mark on the inner web : beneath white, 

 breast and flanks washed with pale brown, and freckled with very 

 small dark brown spots; under wing-coverts white: bill and feet 

 pale horn-colour: whole length 6-1 inches, wing 2, tail 2-9. 

 Female similar. 



Hah. Argentina. 



This is a small short-winged species with long pointed middle 

 tail-feathers, and easily recognizable by its red head. 



Eio Lujan, Buenos Ayres. H. Durnford [C.]. 



Punta Lara, Buenos Ayres. H. Durnford [C. 



Buenos Aj'res. H. Durnford [C. 



Buenos Ayres (Hudson). Sclater Coll. 



Buenos Ayres (Haslehust). Salvin-Godman Coll. 



Buenos Ayres. Sclater Coll. 



Rio Negro, Patagonia. W. H. Hudson [C.]. 



16. XENERPESTES. 



Xenerpestes, Berlepsch, Ibis, 1880, p. 54 X. minlosi. 



This singular form from Colombia is quite unlike Synallaxis in 

 general appearance, being cinereous above and white below, and 

 with the wing-coverts edged with white as in some of the Den- 

 cfroecce. I agree, however, Avith its describer that we must for the 

 present place it among the Dendi-ocolaptida', as it has ten fully 

 formed primaries, and perhaps the neighbourhood of SijnaUaxis is 

 as convenient a place for it as any other. 



The bill is short and incuiTcd ; the tarsi rather sti'ong ; the wings 

 rather long ; the tail consists of twelve graduated feathers, soft, and 

 rounded at their extremities. 



1. Xenerpestes minlosi. 



Xenerpestes minlosi, Berl. Ibis, 1886, p. 54, pi. iv. 



Above olivaceous grey, darker on the head ; frontal plumes finely 

 striated with wliite ; long superciliaries yellowish white ; wing- 

 coverts edged with white, which forms two white wing-bands: 

 beneath dirty yellowish white, crissum slightly spotted with grey : 

 whole length 4 inches, wing 2-1, tail 1*8. Young striated beneath. 



Hah. Colombia, Bucaramanga. 



