STRIPED SPINE-TAIL 215 



is pale brown, marked with fuscous ; the crown 

 and wing-coverts rufous. The beauty of the bird is 

 in the throat, which has three strongly contrasted 

 colours, distinguishing it from all other Synallaxes. 

 In the angle of the beak the colour is sulphur-yellow, 

 under this is a patch of velvet black, and on each 

 side of the yellow and black a pure white patch* 



Mr. Barrows has the following interesting note 

 on its nesting-habits : " A nest containing four 

 white eggs, faintly tinted with blue, was found in a 

 thorny tree, and some eight feet from the ground* 

 The nest was quite similar to the one just described 

 (of S. albescens), but the cavity in which the eggs 

 were laid was near the top of the body of the nest, 

 while the passage-way descended from it to the base 

 of the nest, and there becoming external, rose gradu- 

 ally to the level of the eggs at a distance of almost 

 three feet," 



STRIPED SPINE-TAIL 



Synallaxis striaticeps 



Above earthy brown, darker on the crown, which has slight greyish 

 striations ; broad superciliaries white ; upper wing-coverts pale chest- 

 nut; wing feathers blackish, glossed with olive; tail pale chestnut; 

 beneath white ; under wing-coverts pale fulvous ; length 5.9 inches. 



THIS species has a wide range south of the Equator, 

 being found in Bolivia, Uruguay, and throughout 

 the Argentine Republic, including Patagonia. In 

 its habits it differs widely from other Synallaxes, 



