(SPIX'S SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis spixi+, _Burm. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 636 (Buenos Ayres);
_Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 632 (Buenos Ayres); _Scl. P. Z.
S._ 1874, p. 9.
_Description._--Above, crown chestnut; lores and sides of head
dark cinereous; hind neck, back, also wing- and tail-feathers
olive-brown; upper wing-coverts chestnut; beneath dark cinereous,
becoming whitish on the belly, throat blackish; under wing-coverts
fulvous chestnut; bill black, feet horn-colour; whole length 6·7
inches, wing 2·0, tail 3·2.
_Hab._ Southern Brazil and Argentina.
I like Azara's name _Chicli_, which, to one acquainted with the
habits of this and of the following species, seems very appropriate,
suggesting, as I imagine it does, a small creature possessing a sharp
two-syllabled note; for although Hartlaub, in his Nomenclature of Azara,
gives _S. ruficapilla_ as the species meant by _Chicli_, the account of
its habits in the 'Apuntamientos' seems to point to _S. spixi_ or to _S.
albescens_.
Azara says:--"I give it this name because it sings it plainly, in a loud
sharp tone, which may be heard at a distance, repeating it so frequently
that the pauses last no longer than the sound. It is resident (in
Paraguay), solitary and not abundant: inhabits thickets of aloes and
thorn, without rising more than two yards above the surface, or showing
itself in open places. It moves about incessantly, but does not leave
its thicket to visit the woods or open ground, its flight being only
from bush to bush; and though it is not timid, it is hard to detect it
in its stronghold, and to hear it one would imagine that it was perched
overhead on a tree, when it is hidden all the time in the brushwood at
the roots."
This habit of concealing itself so closely inclines me to think that
this species, rather than _S. albescens_, was the bird described by
Azara, although in both species the language is nearly the same. I have
nothing to add to the above account from the 'Apuntamientos,' except
that in the love-season this species has a low, strange-sounding little
song, utterly unlike its usual strident cry. When singing, it sits
motionless on the summit of a low bush in a dejected attitude with head
drawn in, and murmurs its mysterious little melody at intervals of half
a minute.