210 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 
a 
carries in a great deal of soft material—soft grass, 
wool, and feathers—to re-line the cavity, and lays 
five or six white, pointed eggs. 
CHICLI SPINE-TAIL 
Synallaxis spixi 
Above, crown chestnut; lores and sides of head dark cinereous ; 
hind neck, back, also wing- and tail-feathers olive-brown ; upper wing- 
coverts chestnut; beneath dark cinereous, becoming whitish on the 
belly, throat blackish ; under wing-coverts fulvous chestnut ; length 
6.7 inches. 
I LIKE Azara’s name Chicli, which, to one acquainted 
with the habits of this and of the following species, 
seems very appropriate, suggesting, as I imagine it 
does, a small creature possessing a sharp two- 
syllabled note ; for although Hartlaub, in his Nomen- 
clature of Azara, gives S. ruficapilla as the species 
meant by Chicli, the account of its habits in the 
Birds of Paraguay seems to point to S. spixi or to 
S. albescens. 
Azara says: “I give it this name because it 
sings it plainly, in a loud sharp tone, which may be 
heard at a distance, repeating it so frequently that 
the pauses last no longer than the sound. It is 
resident (in Paraguay), solitary and not abundant : 
inhabits thickets of aloes and thorn, without rising 
more than two yards above the surface, or showing 
itself in open places. It moves about incessantly, 
but does not leave its thicket to visit the woods or 
