2io BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



carries in a great deal of soft material soft grass, 

 wool, and feathers to re-line the cavity, and lays 

 five or six white, pointed eggs. 



CHICLI SPINE-TAIL 



Synallaxis spixi 



Above, crown chestnut ; lores and sides of head dark cinereous ; 

 hind neck, back, also wing- and tail-feathers olive-brown ; upper wing- 

 coverts chestnut; beneath dark cinereous, becoming whitish on the 

 belly, throat blackish; under wing-coverts fulvous chestnut; length 

 6.7 inches. 



I LIKE Azara's name Chicli, which, to one acquainted 

 with the habits of this and of the following species, 

 seems very appropriate, suggesting, as I imagine it 

 does, a small creature possessing a sharp two- 

 syllabled note ; for although Hartlaub, in his Nomen- 

 clature of Azara, gives S. ruficapilla as the species 

 meant by Chicli, the account of its habits in the 

 Birds of Paraguay seems to point to 5, spixi or to 

 S. albescens. 



Azara says : " I give it this name because it 

 sings it plainly, in a loud sharp tone, which may be 

 heard at a distance, repeating it so frequently that 

 the pauses last no longer than the sound* It is 

 resident (in Paraguay), solitary and not abundant : 

 inhabits thickets of aloes and thorn, without rising 

 more than two yards above the surface, or showing 

 itself in open places. It moves about incessantly, 

 but does not leave its thicket to visit the woods or 



