(CHESTNUT WOOD-HEWER.)
+Xiphocolaptes major+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 68; _White, P. Z.
S._ 1882, p. 613 (Salta); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1880, p. 359
(Tucuman).
_Description._--Above and below nearly uniform chestnut, tinged
with olivaceous on the crown and throat; narrow shaft-spots on the
breast-feathers whitish, forming faint lines; beak pale horn-colour;
feet bluish grey: whole length 11·10 inches, wing 5·5, tail 4·0.
_Female_ similar.
_Hab._ North Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia.
This large and powerful Wood-hewer is confined to the hottest portion of
the Argentine Republic, and also inhabits Paraguay and Bolivia. White
met with it at Oran, in the province of Salta, and writes concerning its
habits:--"Common here in the dense forest, where their continued hard
pecking at the lofty tree-trunks is very accentuated. Two or three at a
time maintain a continued race up a magnificent clear stem as far as the
branches, when they fly to the bottom of the next and do likewise."
This species is nearly a foot in length, the beak being about two inches
long, curved and very powerful. The tail is stiff, being used as a
support in climbing, and the claws are strong and sharply hooked. The
colour of the whole plumage is nearly uniformly bright rufous.