(WREN-LIKE SPINE-TAIL.)
+Synallaxis maluroides+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 64; _Scl. P. Z.
S._ 1874, p. 26; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 180, et 1878, p. 61
(Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 208
(Entrerios).
_Description._--Above, front and middle of crown chestnut; hind
head, neck, and back pale fulvous brown, thickly marked with
longitudinal black shaft-spots; lores white; wings blackish, the
feathers edged with pale ochraceous, the basal part of secondaries
very pale brown, forming a transverse bar; tail pale chestnut-brown,
the two middle feathers with a broad black mark on the inner web;
beneath white, breast and flanks washed with pale brown, and
freckled with very small dark brown spots; under wing-coverts white;
bill and feet pale horn-colour: whole length 6·1 inches, wing 2·0,
tail 2·9. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ South Argentina.
D'Orbigny discovered this small Spine-tail near Buenos Ayres city,
but did not record its habits. Like the species just described it is
abundant on the pampas, but in its habits resembles a Wren of the genus
_Cistothorus_ rather than a Pipit, being partial to moist situations,
where there is a rank growth of grass and herbage. The wings are very
short, and the flight so feeble that the bird refuses to rise after
being pursued a distance of one or two hundred yards. And yet I am not
prepared to say that it does not migrate, as I have found that in spring
it all at once becomes very abundant, while in the cold season it is
rarely seen. It is solitary, and in spring sits on a thistle or stalk,
uttering at short intervals its small grasshopper-like song or call. The
nest is a slight open structure of grass, lined with a few feathers,
placed in a tuft of grass or reeds. The eggs are pure white in colour.