PLANT-CUTTER 193 
RED-BREASTED PLANT-CUTTER 
Phytotoma rutila 
Above plumbeous, washed with olive; front of head and whole 
under parts bright red; wings and tail blackish, two well-marked 
wing-bars and tips of lateral rectrices white ; length 7 inches. Female, 
above grey, striated with black; beneath light buff with dense black 
striations. 
- THERE are four known species of this curious South 
American group, the Plant-cutters, the only members 
of the family Phytotomide. The older naturalists 
associated them with the Finches on account of their 
toothed Fringilline bill, but they are now placed at 
a great distance from that family, quite outside of 
the Sub-Order Oscines or Songsters. The Red- 
breasted Plant-cutter is the only species found in 
the Argentine Republic. 
I found it quite common in Patagonia, where the 
natives call it Chingolo grande, on account of the 
superficial resemblance of the female to the common 
Song-Sparrow (Zonotrichia pileata). The colouring 
of the sexes differs considerably, the forehead and 
under surface of the male being deep brick-red ; 
the upper parts dull grey, with a bar on the wing 
and the tips of the rectrices white; while in the 
female the upper parts are yellowish grey, obscurely 
mottled, and the breast and belly buff, with dark 
stripes. In both sexes the eye is yellow, and the 
feathers of the crown pileated to form a crest. 
This bird is usually seen singly, but sometimes 
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