76 
ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 
2. Synallaxis major. Gould. 
Plate XXII. 
S. olivaceo fuscus ; infra fulvus albo distinct b maculatus ; plumis singulis stria ob- 
scura centrali notatis ; fronte rufo, remigibus fuscis, cinereo-fusco extern £ maculatis, 
tertiariis nigro fuscis apice margineque late cinereo fuscis ; guld alba , plumarum 
flavescentium serie fusco maculatarum circumdata. 
Long. tot. 8 unc. ; rost. 1 ; alee , 3 j ; caudce , 4 ; tarsi, 1 . 
Forehead rufous ; crown of the head, back of the neck and back olive brown, 
with a conspicuous stripe of blackish brown down the centre of each feather ; 
wing-coverts and lower part of the back olive brown, with a faint trace of the 
dark patch in the centre of each feather ; primaries brown, margined exter- 
nally with greyish brown ; spurious wing and secondaries rufous tipped with 
brown ; tertiaries blackish brown broadly margined and tipped with greyish 
brown ; two centre tail feathers dark olive brown ; the remainder blackish 
brown largely tipped with white ; throat white encircled with a series of 
feathers of a buff colour spotted with dark brown ; breast and all the under 
surface tawny indistinctly blotched with white ; tarsi with a very pale blue 
tinge. 
Habitat, Maldonado, north bank of La Plata. (June). 
This bird is not very common. Those which I saw lived on the ground in 
dry and open places, and did not frequent the neighbourhood of lakes abounding 
with rushes or thickets, like the greater number of species of Synallaxis, and the 
allied genus Limnornis. The flight of this bird is peculiar, which seems chiefly 
due to the length of its elegantly acuminated tail. It sometimes alights and 
rests on the summit of a thistle or twig, a habit different from that of any species 
of the genus which I have seen. Its manner of living and feeding on the ground 
might have been suspected, from the length of the soft secondaries, like those of a 
lark or of Furnarius cunicularius. The claws also of the front toes are produced 
and perhaps they are rather straighter than in other members of the family. The 
tongue is bifid and divided into bristly points. The nest, of which I have seen 
two, is very peculiar. It is cylindrical, about two feet long, and placed vertically 
in the middle of a thick bush in an exposed situation. It is made externally of 
prickly branches, and is very large compared with the size of the bird. The 
opening is at the upper extremity, from which a passage leads to the true nest, 
which is lined with feathers and hairs. There is a slight bend in the passage 
both at its exit and where it enters the nest. 
