228 P. L. Sclater on the 



hood of dwelling-houses, or in deserted fields in the middle of the 

 forests, or more often in the small woods somewhat elevate and 

 full of thorns, called " Chaparrales" by the Spaniards, which 

 are characteristic of certain parts of South America. They 

 generally go alone or in pairs, and are quite familiar, approach- 

 ing inhabited places, keeping in perpetual movement among the 

 lower branches of the bushes, and traversing them in every 

 direction in search of insects, larvse, and ants, rarely descend- 

 ing to the ground, and then indeed only to seize their prey, to 

 devour which they return to the lower branches of the trees. 

 They appeared to us to be sedentary in the countries where 

 they live, but to be always passing from one place to another. 

 "What traveller in the midst of the savage wilds, so common in 

 America, has not, particularly in the spring-time, listened with 

 wonder to the noisy cries of the bush-shrikes, to the sonorous 

 strains which the males pour forth, especially in the pairing- 

 time \ Their whole body trembles with joy — their crest is 

 raised, they open their wings, and shew every symptom of plea- 

 sure, while the female hastens to answer to their transports, 

 though in less energetic strains. These conversations often 

 strike the ear, but in vain one seeks what produces them, the 

 birds being almost always hidden in thickets so dense that even 

 the sun's rays hardly penetrate them. It is there, also, that 

 they build their nests, some feet above the level of the earth, 

 formed outside of sticks, and sometimes lined with horsehair 

 within. Their eggs have much resemblance to those of our 

 shrikes, that is to say, they are whitish, spotted with violet-red." 

 The geographical range of the genus Thamnophilus is some- 

 what confined, one species only, as far as I am aware, having 

 passed the isthmus of Panama, and M. d'Orbigny says he 

 never saw them farther south than 32° south latitude, nor on 

 the western side of the Andes. Dr Tschudi also observes that 

 they are not found in Transandean Peru, but in Ecuador they 

 certainly appear on both sides of the great range, there being 

 several specimens of two species (which I have lately described 

 as new) in the British Museum, from the shores of the Gulf of 

 Guayaquil. M. d'Orbingy also states that their vertical range is 

 confined to 6000 feet above the sea-level, and we accordingly 

 find the species most abundant near the coasts of Brazil and 



