BIRDS. 79 



This little bird frequents the thickets in the dry valleys near Port Desire. It 

 often flies from bush to bush, and its habits are nearly like those of the rest of the 

 genus. From its tail feathers, however, being little used, and the tarsi being slightly 

 elongated, I suppose it lives chiefly on the ground. I may observe, that this species 

 conies nearest to S.JJavogularis, but that in the form of its tail, straightness of bill, 

 and kind of plumage, it departs from Synallaxis, and approaches Eremobius. 



7. Synallaxis jEgithaloides. Kittl. 



S. jEgithaloides. Kittl. Mem. de I'Acad. 11. pi. vii. — Vog. von Chili, p. 15, pi. vii. 



This bird is common throughout Patagonia and Central Chile, being found 

 wherever thickets grow on a rocky or dry soil. It sometimes moves about in small 

 flocks. Its habits, as Kittlitz remarks, resemble in many respects, those of a 

 titmouse (Parus):, but there is one remarkable point of difference, namely, that 

 this bird is able to run very quickly on the ground. It does not always do so, but 

 often hops about with great activity ; nevertheless, I repeat, I have distinctly seen 

 it running very quickly amongst the thickets. When hopping from twig to twig, 

 it does not use its long tail, any more than the long-tailed titmouse {Panis cau- 

 datus) of Europe. It utters a harsh, shrill, quickly reiterated cry, like so many 

 other species of this genus and the allied ones. In Chile, I several times saw a 

 very large cylindrical nest, built of prickly twigs of the mimosa, and placed in the 

 middle of a thorn-bearing bush, with its mouth at the upper extremity ; I was 

 assured by the country people, that although so very large, it belonged to this 

 little bird.* This kind of nidification, the habit of feeding on the ground, and the 

 length of acuminated tail, are points of resemblance with S. major. 



8. Synallaxis ruficapilla. Vieill. 



Synallaxis ruficapilla. Vieill. Gal. des Ois. pi. Ixxiv. 



Parulus ruficeps. SpLx. Av. Sp. Nov. torn. 1. p. 84, t. Ixxxvi. f. 1. m. f. 2. fern. 



Sphenura ruficeps. Licht. Ver. p. 42. 



My specimens were obtained at Maldonado, (June) where it was rare, and at 

 Buenos Ayres. Near Santa F^, in Entre Rios, 3° northward, it was common : 

 Spix found it near the Rio San Francisco in Brazil. Iris yellowish red ; legs 

 with faint tinge of blue ; tongue terminated in bristly points, not deeply bifid. 

 This Synallaxis approaches in character Anumhins ruber. Habits similar to those 

 of S. maluroides. 



* Molina, in his account of Chile, attributes tiiis nest, I believe, through an error, to Miinus thenca. 



