STPTORNIS ANTHOIDES 79 



dark forests of Tierra del Fuego, both high up and low down, 

 in the most gloomy, wet, and scarcely penetrable ravines, 

 this little bird may be met with. No doubt, it appears more 

 common than it really is, from its habit of following, with 

 seeming curiosity, every person who enters these silent woods ; 

 continually uttering a harsh twitter, it flutters from tree to tree, 

 within a few feet of the intruder's face. It is far from wishing 

 for the modest concealment of the Creeper ( Certhia familiaris) ; 

 nor does it, like that bird, run up the trunks of trees, but 

 industriously, after the manner of a Willow Wren, hops about 

 and searches for insects on every twig and branch." 



SIPTORNIS ANTHOIDES (King) 

 Synallaxis anthoides, King, Pro. Zool. Soc, p. 30, 1831. 



SynallaxiS rufogUlariS, Gould and Darwin, Voij. " Beagle," Birds, 



p. 77, pi. xxiii, 1841. 

 SiptorniS anthoides, Sdater, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XV, p. 70, 1890. 



Habitat. — Chili, Patagonia, and Tierra del Fuego ; the Falkland Islands. 



S, Rio McClelland Settlement, 29th Nov., 1904. 

 Iris — brown ; bill and legs — drab. 



Few expeditions record this Spine -Tail, and none from the 

 island. It was originally obtained by King in the Strait of 

 Magellan and described by him, but he does not give his exact 

 locality, neither does he say anything of its life history. It is 

 again described, and beautifully^ figured, by Gould from Darwin's 

 Patagonian example. 



The series of twelve in the British Museum shows much 

 variation. 



The most southerly specimens are Darwin's, which differ 

 materially from one another. His bird from the Falkland 

 Islands is paler and shows no mottling on the breast ; his 

 bird from Santa Cruz, Patagonia, agrees more nearly than any 

 other with mine from Tierra del Fuego, but above has the 



12 



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