2i8 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



the Phacellodomus ruber. In its nidification it also 

 comes nearest to that species. The nest is a large 

 structure of sticks, eighteen inches to two feet long, 

 placed upright among the twigs at the summit of a 

 bush. From the top where the entrance is placed, 

 a winding passage leads down to the chamber at 

 the bottom of the nest ; this is lined with soft dry 

 grass and feathers, and four pure white eggs are laid* 



YELLOW-SPOT SPINE-TAIL 



Synallaxis sulphurifera 



Above brown, slightly olivaceous ; wings blackish ; lesser wing- 

 coverts, margins of the feathers of the greater wing-coverts, and 

 outer webs of the basal halves of the wing-feathers pale chestnut ; 

 tail-feathers chestnut-brown, ends much elongated and pointed ; be- 

 neath white, throat and breast mottled with grey, spot in middle of 

 throat sulphur-yellow ; flanks washed with brown ; bend of wing and 

 under tail-coverts fulvous ; length 6.5 inches. 



I HAVE found this Synallaxis, which was first de- 

 scribed by Prof. Burmeister from specimens obtained 

 near Buenos Ayres, in the swamps along the Plata 

 river ; also on the Rio Negro, in Patagonia, where, 

 however, it is rare. It inhabits the dense sedge- and 

 rush-beds growing in the water, where the Limnornis 

 curvirostris is also found. It closely resembles that 

 species in habits and language, and is also like it in 

 colour and in the rather long, curved beak, sharp 

 claws, stout body, and short, stiff tail. It is stationary, 

 pairs for life, and lives always closely concealed in 

 its chosen bed of close-growing sedge. When a 



