76 ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 



2. Synallaxis major. Gould. 



Plate XXII. 



S. oUvaceo fuscus ; infra fulvus albo distiiicth maculatus ; plumis singulis stria ob- 

 scura centrali nolatis ; fronte rufo, remigibusfuscis, cinereo-fusco externh maculatis, 

 tertiariis nigro J'uscis apice margineque late cinereo-fuscis ; guld alba, plumarum 

 Jiavescentium seriefusco maculatarum circumdatd. 



Long. tot. 8 unc. ; rost. 1 ; alee, 3j ; miida; 4; tarsi, 1. 



Forehead rufous ; crown of the head, back of the neck, and back olive brown, 

 with a conspicuous stripe of blackish brown down the centre of each feather; 

 wing-coverts and lower part of the back olive brown, with a faint trace of the 

 dark patch in the centre of each feather ; primaries brown, margined exter- 

 nally with greyish brown ; spurious wing and secondaries rufous tipped with 

 brown ; tertiaries blackish brown broadly margined and tipped with greyish 

 brown ; two centre tail feathers dark olive brown ; the remainder blackish 

 brown largely tipped with white ; throat white encircled with a series of 

 feathers of a buff colour spotted with dark brown ; breast and all the under 

 surface tawny indistinctly blotched with white ; tarsi with a very pale blue 

 tinge. 



Habitat, Maldonado, north bank of La Plata. (June). 



This bird is not very common. Those which I saw lived on the ground in 

 dry and open places, and did not frequent the neighbourhood of lakes abounding 

 with rushes or thickets, like the greater number of species of Synallaxis, and the 

 allied genus Limnornis. The flight of this bird is peculiar, which seems chiefly 

 due to the length of its elegantly acuminated tail. It sometimes alights and 

 rests on the summit of a thistle or twig, a habit diflerent from that of any species 

 of the genus which 1 have seen. Its manner of living and feeding on the ground 

 might have been suspected, from the length of the soft secondaries, like those of a 

 lark or of Furnarius cuniculariits. The claws also of the front toes are produced 

 and perhaps they are rather straighter than in other members of the family. The 

 tongue is bifid and divided into bristly points. The nest, of which I have seen 

 two, is very peculiar. It is cylindrical, about two feet long, and placed vertically 

 in the middle of a thick bush in an exposed situation. It is made externally of 

 prickly branches, and is very large compared with the size of the bird. The 

 opening is at the upper extremity, from which a passage leads to the true nest, 

 which is lined with feathers and hairs. There is a slight bend in the passage 

 both at its exit and where it enters the nest. 



