EARTH-GREEPER 203 



PATAGONIAN EARTH-CREEPER 



Upucerthia dumetoria 



Above earthy brown ; long superciliary stripe pale ochraceous ; 

 wings blackish, with a broad transverse cinnamon bar ; tail blackish, 

 lateral rectrices tipped with pale cinnamon ; beneath dirty white, 

 clear white on the throat and middle of the belly ; breast feathers 

 margined with blackish ; under wing-coverts pale cinnamon ; bill dark 

 horn-colour, pale at the base ; feet horn-colour ; length 9 inches. 



THESE birds are 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 reluctantly, 

 preferring to run rapidly from a person walking 

 or riding, and at such times they look curiously 

 like a pigmy 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 t 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 



