AVES DENDROCOLAPTID^. 769 



usually in flocks, and have a piping call-note, also some chattering and 

 twittering utterances, which are frequently heard. I never found the 

 nest, but observed young ones near Rio Bueno about February. 



"Sometimes large numbers are seen in the forest feeding low down 

 and frequently on the ground, searching amongst dead leaves or decayed 

 wood for insects, which they appear to live on. They are, however, as a 

 rule arboreal." (Birds of Chili, Ibis, p. 38, 1897.) 



M. J. Nicoll says of its occurrence: "In the extreme west of the Straits 

 of Magellan this species is almost the only land-bird to be seen. While 

 walking through the dripping untrodden forests I several times had an 

 individual of this species following me the whole time, uttering its monot- 

 onous shrill chatter. It is curious that, although possessing stiff-pointed 

 rectrices, it never seems to use its tail like our Common Creeper {Cer- 

 thia), but hops about the bushes somewhat as a Tit does; at least that is 

 my experience, and I have often watched it for a considerable time." 

 (Orn. Jour. Voy. round World, Ibis, Jan. 1904, p. 45.) 



Genus SYLVIORTHORHYNCHUS Des Murs. 



Type. 



Sylviorthorhynchiis Des Murs, Icon. tab. 45 (1847) • • • S. desmitrsi. 

 Geographical Range. — Southern Chili and the Straits of Magellan ; 

 southern Patagonia. 



SYLVIORTHORHYNCHUS DESMURSI Gray. 



Syhiorihorhynchiis desmursi Gray, Hist. Chil. Zool. i. p. 316, pi. 3 



(1847). (Valdivia, Chili.) 

 Schizura maluroides Cabanis, Arch, fiir Naturg. 1847, p. 338. 



Description. — Adult male, 6813 Acad. Nat. Sci. Philada., Chili. Total 

 length, 8.50 inches; wing, i.85;culmen, .60; tail, 6.00; tarsus, .90. 

 Upper parts uniform tawny brown ("antique brown " of Ridgway) ; tail of 

 six rigid spine-like feathers with decomposed webs very narrow, except at 

 the end of the central pair, where they are somewhat widened, second 

 pair a little more than half the length of the central feathers and outer 

 pair (apparently lost in this specimen) said to be very short, a whitish 

 superciliary and white lores ; under parts buff, darker and browner on 

 the sides and flanks, center of abdomen white. 



Geographical Range. — Patagonia and southern Chili. This remark- 

 able bird was not found by the Princeton expedition. 



