132 Mr. J. Graliam Kerr on the Avifauna 



(M . SyNALLAXIS PHRYGANOPHILA. {Op. c'lt. \. p. 181.) 



(No. 179, S ; 13, ? .) Fortin Page. August 18tli, 

 1890. 



One of the commonest Spine-tails in the Cliaco, abundant 

 wherever there is open ground. Has a pleasing gurgly 

 song. 



68. SiPTORNIS STRIATICEPS. (O/). Clt. i. p. 182.) 



(No. 80, J .) Near Fortin Donovan. April 28th, 1890. 



69. Phacellodomus striaticollis. {Op. cit. i. p. 194'.) 

 (No. 109, J ; 110 ? .) Fortin Donovan. May 3rd, 1890. 

 Exceedingly common, frequenting the zone of brushwood 



which bordei's the river. It is always seen in pairs, and 

 their song is, like that of many of their congeners, a duet 

 between male and female. One bird utters a sharp call- 

 note, the other answers, and then begins a succession of 

 clear hard notes — at first distinct, then becoming shorter 

 and more rapidly repeated, until at last they become fused 

 together in a tumnltuous rush of notes. The two birds sing 

 in concert, one being throughout a few notes ahead of the 

 other. 



The nest is a large twig-built structure, dependent from 

 the end of a branch, which it weighs down until, in some 

 cases, it nearly touches the ground. 



70. SiTTOsoMus olivaceus (Max.) : Sclater, Cat. B. xv. 

 p. 119. 



(No. 77, c?.) 



Common. In habits resembles Picolaptes angustirostris. 

 Song of sul)dued whistle-like notes, in tone resembling the 

 call-note of the Charata. 



[This widely distributed bird, already met with at Chapada, 

 in Matto Grosso, by H. H. Smith (/. s. c), must now be added 

 to the Argentine list. It is curious that White's specimen 

 from Oran (now in the British Museum) belongs certainly 

 to the allied species >S^. erithacus. Cf, Arg. Orn. i. p. 198. — 

 P.L.S.] 



71. Picolaptes angustirostris. {Op. cit. i. p. 201.) 

 (No. 177, S ■) Fortin Page. August 17th, 1890. 



