(TIT-LIKE SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis ægithaloides+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 469
(Mendoza); _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 544 (Rio Negro).
+Leptasthenura ægithaloides+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p.
632 (Buenos Ayres); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 63; _Durnford, Ibis_,
1877, p. 180 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 396 (Centr. Patagonia);
_Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 30 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._
1882, p. 611 (Catamarca); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii.
p. 206 (Entrerios).
_Description._--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; bill and feet horn-colour:
whole length 6·2 inches, wing 2·4, tail 3·5. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Chili, Argentina, and Patagonia.
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 carries in a great deal of soft material--soft grass, wool, and
feathers--to reline the cavity, and lays five or six, white, pointed
eggs.