UPUCERTHIA LUSCINIA. 171 



These birds are very common in Patagonia, being resident there ; 

 some individuals, however, migrate north in winter, and I once obtained 

 a pair, male and female, near Buenos Ayres city in the month of June. 



Their legs are short, but on the ground their movements are very 

 rapid, and, like the Miner (Geositta) already described, they fly re- 

 luctantly, preferring to run rapidly from a person walking or riding, 

 and at such times they look curiously like a very small Curlew with an 

 extravagantly long beak. They are active, lively birds, and live in 

 pairs, sometimes uniting in small, loose flocks ; they are partial to places 

 where scattered bushes grow on a dry sterile soil, and have a swift low 

 flight ; when flying they frequently utter a shrill, trilling, or rapidly 

 reiterated note, in sound resembling laughter. In manners, flight, 

 language, and colouring this bird closely resembles the smaller short- 

 beaked Geositta cunicularia, and like that species it also breeds in deep 

 holes in banks; but I am not able to say whether it excavates the 

 breeding-hole or takes possession of one already made. Durnford found 

 it breeding in a hole four feet deep in the bank of a dry lagoon. The 

 nest was of dry grass and lined with the fur of the cavy. It contained 

 three white eggs. 



181. UPUCERTHIA EUFICAUDA (Meyen). 



(RED-TAILED EARTH-CREEPER.) 

 Ochetorhynchus ruficauda, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 463 (Mendoza). 



Description. Above earthy brown, superciliaries whitish, lower half of back 

 and outer secondaries strongly tinged with rufous ; tail deep ferruginous red, 

 inner webs of all the lateral rectrices black ; beneath white, breast more or less 

 freckled with greyish; belly, flanks, and crissum pale cinnamomeous brown ; under 

 surface of wings blackish, with a transverse cinnamomeous bar ; bill and feet 

 blackish : whole length 8-0 inches, wing 3*5, tail 3*3. Female similar. 



Hob. Chili and Mendoza. 



The straight bill and red colour of the tail-feathers at once dis- 

 tinguish this species from the former. Burmeister obtained specimens 

 of it in the Sierra of Uspallata, where it was met with hopping about 

 the rocks and feeding on insects. 



182. UPUCEETHIA LUSCINIA (Burm.). 

 (WARBLING EARTH-CREEPER.) 



Ochetorhynchus luscinia, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 464 (Mendoza, Parana). 

 Upucerthia luscinia, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 62 ; White, P, Z. S. 1882, 

 p. 610 (Catamarca) ; Salvin, Ibis^ 1880, p. 368 (Salta). 



