TIT-LIKE SPINE-TAIL 209 
TIT-LIKE SPINE-TAIL 
Leptasthenura xgithaloides 
Above pale earthy brown ; crown black, striped with clear brown ; 
lores, sides of head, and throat white, with minute black spots ; wings 
blackish, the edges of the outer webs of the primaries and the basal 
part of the secondaries light rufescent brown; tail black, lateral 
rectrices tipped and margined with pale grey; beneath pale grey, 
throat white ; length 6.8 inches. 
THis is a restless little bird, seen singly or in parties 
of three or four. In manner and appearance it 
resembles the Long-tailed Titmouse (Parus), as it 
diligently searches for small insects in the trees and 
bushes, frequently hanging head downwards to 
explore the under surface of a leaf or twig, and while 
thus engaged continually uttering a little sharp 
querulous note. They are not migratory, but in 
winter seem to wander about from place to place a 
great deal; and in Patagonia, in the cold season, I 
have frequently seen them uniting in flocks of thirty 
or forty individuals, and associating with numbers 
of Spine-tails of other species, chiefly with Synallaxis 
sordida, and all together advancing through the 
thicket, carefully exploring every bush in their way. 
D’Orbigny says that it makes a nest of rootlets 
and moss in a bush; but where I have observed 
this bird it invariably breeds in a hole in a tree, or 
in the nest of some other bird, often in the clay 
structure of the Oven-bird. But in Patagonia, where 
the Oven-bird is not known, this Spine-tail almost 
always selects the nest of the Synallaxis sordida. It 
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