RUSH-LOVING SPINE-TAIL 205 



wheeling about each other, and uttering a sharp, 

 trilling note* On a warm day in winter they are 

 occasionally heard attempting to sing, the bird dart- 

 ing up vertically into the air and pouring out with 

 great energy a confused torrent of unmusical sounds* 

 Their habits, so much less sedate and strikingly in 

 contrast with those of most of the birds in this 

 family, are no doubt due to the greater powers of 

 flight possessed by Cinclodes. 



RUSH-LOVING SPINE-TAIL 



Phlceocryptes melanops 



Above, forehead brown, crown blackish, broad superciliaries buffy 

 white ; upper half of back black ; marked with a few grey stripes ; 

 lower back and rump, also sides of back and neck, light brown ; 

 wings blackish, mottled with light chestnut on the coverts ; and a 

 broad band of the same colour occupying the basal half of the wing- 

 feathers ; tail blackish, the two middle feathers brownish grey, the 

 others slightly tipped with the same colour ; beneath white, more or 

 less tinged on the throat, flanks, and under tail-coverts with pale brown ; 

 under wing-coverts fulvous ; length 5.8 inches. 



THIS is one of our few strictly migratory species in 

 the family Dendrocolaptidse. Probably it winters in 

 South Brazil, as in the northern parts of the Argentine 

 country it is said to be a summer visitor. On the 

 pampas it appears in September, and all at once 

 becomes very abundant in the rush-beds growing 

 in the water, where alone it is found* The migration 

 no doubt is very extensive, for in spring I found it 



