LITTLE HOUSEKEEPER 195 
our linear system of classification (and all systems 
must be linear) a species or a family unrelated to 
any other must be given a place somewhere in the 
line. The Tyrant-birds, which come nearest super- 
ficially to the Old World Flycatchers, although 
structurally differing from them, number at least 
350 species ; the Family we now come to, the Wood- 
hewers or Dendrocolaptidz, count about 250. Thus, 
these two South American families alone, both in 
the songless sub-order of the Passeres, outnumber 
all the species of birds in Europe from the Eagle to 
the Wren. 
In Argentina the Dendrocolaptide number about 
fifty species, and of these I have to describe twenty 
known to me from personal observation. 
LITTLE HOUSEKEEPER 
Geositta cunicularia 
Above nearly uniform earthy brown ; wing-feathers pale cinnamon- 
red ; greater part of the outer webs, excepting the inner secondaries, 
blackish ; tail pale cinnamon-red, with a broad blackish band across 
the terminal half; beneath pale fulvous white, breast more or less 
variegated with blackish ; under wing-coverts pale cinnamon ; length 
5.5 inches. 
THE country people have a variety of names for this 
common and well-known species. In Buenos Ayres 
it is usually called Manea-cola (Shake-tail), in Pata- 
gonia Caserita (Little Housekeeper), and in other 
