] 88 DEND11OCOL APTID.E. 



appear to be packed together very closely, so that it is difficult to 

 conceive how the parent bird passes in and out. 



The nest is always very cunningly concealed, and I have often 

 spent days searching in a patch of cardoon-bushes where the birds were 

 breeding without being able to find it. 



204. SYNALLAXIS MALUROIDES, d'Orb. 

 (WREN-LIKE SPINE-TAIL.) 



Synallaxis maluroides, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl.y. 64; Scl. P. Z. S. 1874, p. 26; 

 Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 180, et 1878, p. 61 (Buenos Ayres) ; Barrows, Bull. 

 Nutt. Orn. Cl viii. p. 208 (Entrerios). 



Description. Above, front and middle of crown chestnut ; hind head, neck, 

 and back pale fulvous brown, thickly marked with longitudinal black shaft-spots ; 

 lores white ; wings blackish, the feathers edged with pale ochraceous, the basal 

 part of secondaries very pale brown, forming a transverse bar ; tail pale chestnut- 

 brown, the two middle feathers with a broad black mark on the inner web ; 

 beneath white, breast and flanks washed with pale brown, and freckled with 

 very small dark brown spots ; under wing-coverts white ; bill and feet pale horn- 

 colour : whole length 6-1 inches, wing 2*0, tail 2-9. Female similar. 



Hob. South Argentina. 



D'Orbigny discovered this small Spine-tail near Buenos Ayres city, 

 but did not record its habits. Like the species just described it is 

 abundant on the pampas, but in its habits resembles a Wren of the 

 genus Cistothorus rather than a Pipit, being partial to moist situations, 

 where there is a rank growth of grass and herbage. The wings are 

 very short, and the flight so feeble that the bird refuses to rise after 

 being pursued a distance of one or two hundred yards. And yet I 

 am not prepared to say that it does not migrate, as I have found that in 

 spring it all at once becomes very abundant, while in the cold season 

 it is rarely seen. It is solitary, and in spring sits on a thistle or stalk, 

 uttering at short intervals its small grasshopper-like song or call. 

 The nest is a slight open structure of grass, lined with a few feathers, 

 placed in a tuft of grass or reeds. The eggs are pure white in colour. 



205. CORYPHISTEEA ALAUDINA, Burm. 

 (LARK-LIKE CORYPHISTERA.) 



Coryphistera alaudina, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 470 (Parana) ; Scl. et 

 Salv. Nomencl. p. 64; Salv. Ibis, 1880, p. 359 (Tucuuian, Salta); White, 

 P. Z. S. 1883, p. 40 (Cordova). 



