794 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS: ZOOLOGY. 



"I did not hear of it in Chiloe or Puerto Montt, but observed it about 

 the Rio Pilmaiguen during my stay at Rio Bueno. 



"The oven-shaped nest, built of pieces of rush and mud, which I sent 

 from Hospital, I believe belongs to this bird — at least so a native told me, 

 but I had not been able to identify it to my own satisfaction. It was placed 

 in reeds about a foot and a halfabove the water. . . . 



"These birds appear to feed entirely on insects, which they capture fre- 

 quently on the wing, making a clicking noise. I have also seen them 

 alight on the ground in adjacent fields or grass-banks, to search for food. 

 I never heard more than a slight call-note, and conclude that their vocal 

 abilities are very insignificant." (Ibis, pp. 31-32, 1897.) 



Genus MUSCISAXICOLA d'Orbigny & Lafresnaye. 



Type. 

 Mtiscisaxicola d'Orb. et Lafr. Syn. Av. i. p. 65 (1837) • • ^^- yufivertex. 

 Geographical Range. — South America, restricted to the higher altitudes 

 of the Andes in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia; in southern Chile and in Ar- 

 gentina, Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands reaching 

 down to sea level. 



MUSCISAXICOLA HATCHERI Scott. 



Mitscisaxicoia hate heri Scoii, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, x. p. Iv. (1900) (Rio 

 Chico de Santa Cruz, Patagonia). 



Description. — Adult male, P. U. O. C. 7645, Rio Chico de Santa Cruz 

 (upper waters in the Cordillera), Patagonia, February 18, 1897, J- ^^ 

 Hatcher. Total length, 6.60 inches; wing, 5.10; culmen, .70; tail, 2.75; 

 tarsus, 1.32. Above uniform ashy ("drab" of Ridgway) ; wings dark 

 brown edged on coverts and flight feathers with buff or dull white; tail 

 and upper tail feathers black, outermost feather white on outer web, next 

 two slightly edged with buffy ; frontlet and superciliaries dull white, lores 

 dusky, under parts dull white washed with ashy; bill and feet black. 



Geographical Range. — Western Patagonia. 



Only the single specimen above described was obtained by the expe- 

 dition. 



^Mtiscisaxicola briinnea Gould, Voy. Beagle, Birds, p. 84 (1841), from Port St. Julien, Pata- 

 gonia, is known only from Gould's description and is probably the young of some other species. 



