200 PENDROCOLAPTID^E. 



Description. Above and below brown, brightest on the rump, and palest 

 beneath ; long superciliaries extending down the neck, and a inystacal stripe 

 formed of white spots with faint black edgings : wing-feathers blackish ; tail 

 chestnut ; on the throat a broad white band extending to the breast ; breast 

 and belly marked with large oblong white spots, which are margined with 

 narrow black edgings ; under wing-coverts and inner margins of secondaries 

 bright cinnamon : bill and feet horn-colour : whole length 12-10 inches, wing 

 5*6, tail 4-6. Female similar. 



Hab. North and West Argentina. 



Eyton, when he described this species from Bridges's specimens, gave 

 its habitat as Bolivia. It may inhabit the southern part of that 

 Republic, but it is more probable that Bridges's examples were obtained 

 in Northern Argentina, which he likewise visited. Bridges's Wood- 

 hewer is the only member of its genus, and is one of the largest of 

 the whole family Dendrocolaptida, measuring some 13 or 14 inches 

 in length, inclusive of the great curved beak. Although found through- 

 out the northern portion of the Argentine Republic, its habits are as 

 yet imperfectly known, but the following extracts show that they must 

 be very interesting, and that the bird is remarkably versatile. Mr. 

 Barrows writes : " These birds are somewhat gregarious, being oftenest 

 seen in small parties of six to ten. They sometimes cling against the 

 bark of a tree in the manner of Woodpeckers, but also spend much of 

 their time 011 the ground. I think they use their curved bill much 

 oftener for probing in the ground than for searching the bark of trees, 

 as many of those shot had the base of the bill and the frontal feathers 

 plastered with mud. In the stomach of the first one killed I found the 

 silken sac, three fourths of an inch in diameter, or the eggs of a large 

 spider, which makes holes ten or twelve inches deep in the hard soil 

 everywhere." 



White obtained examples of this species at Catamarca, and also 

 notices its strangely contrasted habits. He writes : " The cry of tbis 

 bird is much the same as that of a Woodpecker, and it clings to the 

 algarroba trees in a similar way ; but in the afternoon it is seen scat- 

 tered about on the sandy ground in the pursuit of insects." 



219. XIPHOCOLAPTES ALBICOLLIS (VieilL). 

 (WHITE-THROATED W r OOD-HEWER.) 



Xiphocolaptes albicollis, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. G8 ; White, P. Z. S. 1882, 



p. 613 (Misiones). 



Description. Above, head black, with clear whitish-yellow shaft-spots ; lores 

 and long superciliaries white; neck, back, and upper wing-coverts olive-brown ; 



