TIT-LIKE SPINE-TAIL 209 



TIT-LIKE SPINE-TAIL 



Leptasthenura xgithaloides 



Above pale earthy brown ; crown black, striped with clear brown ; 

 lores, sides of head, and throat white, with minute black spots ; wings 

 blackish, the edges of the outer webs of the primaries and the basal 

 part of the secondaries light rufescent brown; tail black, lateral 

 rectrices tipped and margined with pale grey; beneath pale grey, 

 throat white ; length 6.8 inches. 



THIS is a restless little bird, seen singly or in parties 

 of three or four. In manner and appearance it 

 resembles the Long- tailed Titmouse (Partis) , as it 

 diligently searches for small insects in the trees and 

 bushes, frequently hanging head downwards to 

 explore the under surface of a leaf or twig, and while 

 thus engaged continually uttering a little sharp 

 querulous note* They are not migratory, but in 

 winter seem to wander about from place to place a 

 great deal ; and in Patagonia, in the cold season, I 

 have frequently seen them uniting in flocks of thirty 

 or forty individuals, and associating with numbers 

 of Spine-tails of other species, chiefly with Synallaxis 

 sordida t and all together advancing through the 

 thicket, carefully exploring every bush in their way* 

 D'Orbigny says that it makes a nest of rootlets 

 and moss in a bush ; but where I have observed 

 this bird it invariably breeds in a hole in a tree, or 

 in the nest of some other bird, often in the clay 

 structure of the Oven-bird. But in Patagonia, where 

 the Oven-bird is not known, this Spine-tail almost 

 always selects the nest of the Synallaxis sordida. It 



