202 FORMICARIID.E. 



brown, brighter on the rump ; wing-feathers pale obscure chestnut ; outer webs 

 and broad tips of primaries blackish ; tail chestnut ; beneath white, clearer on 

 the throat ; sides of breast and belly thickly marked with faint blackish stripes ; 

 under wing-coverts cinnamon ; bill pale horn-colour ; feet grey : whole length 

 8-2 inches, wing 3-8, tail 2'5. Female similar. 



Hob. Paraguay and Argentina. 



This is the only member of the genus Picolaptes as yet met with 

 within the limits of the Argentine Republic. Azara found it abundant 

 in Paraguay, and on this account named it the Common Climber, 

 " Trepador comun." In Buenos Ayres it is a summer visitant, 

 appearing at the end of September. It is a solitary bird, never seen 

 away from the woods, and invariably utters a loud melancholy cry 

 when passing from one tree to another. It always alights on the 

 trunk close to the ground, clinging to the bark in a vertical position, 

 supported by the tail, and with head thrown far back in order to give 

 free play to the extremely long beak. Having thus alighted, it pro- 

 gresses upwards by short hops, exploring the crevices in the wood for 

 small insects, until it reaches the branches, when it flies off to the next 

 tree. 



Fam. XVIII. FORMICARIID^E, OR ANT-BIRDS. 



The Formicariidse, or Ant-birds, are another very important con- 

 stituent of the Neotropical Avifauna, but are less generally diffused 

 than the Dendrocolaptidae, the greater number of the forms being 

 restricted to the hot forests of South and Central America. In the 

 Argentine Republic we meet with only four species of the widely- 

 spread genus ThamnophiluSj and of them only one appers to extend as 

 far south as Buenos Ayres. 



222. THAMNOPHILUS LEACHI (Such). 

 (LEACH'S BUSH-BIRD.) 



Thamnophilus leachi, Scl et Salv. Nomencl. p. 69; White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 614 

 (Misiones). 



Description. Black, thickly and conspicuously spotted above with white or 

 pale yellowish ; on the wings the spots occur on the outer webs of the feathers ; 

 upper tail-coverts faintly edged with grey ; tail black, unspotted ; feathers on 

 the lower breast and belly slightly edged with grey ; bill and feet black : whole 

 length 10-5 inches, wing 3'4, tail 5*0. Female : spots larger and yellow, on the 



