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Show 76 ZOOLOGY OF TilE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 2. SvNALLAXIS MAJOR. Gould. PLATli1 XXII. S. olivaceo fuscu,s; infra fulvus albo distincte maculatus; plumis singulis st1·ia ohscum centrali notatis; fronte 1·ujo, r·emigibusfuscis, cinereo-fusco externe maculatis, tertiariis nigro fuscis apice margineque late cinereo-fuscis ,· guld albd, plumarum jiavescentium serie fusco nwcttlatarum circurndatd. Long. tot. 8 uno. ; rose. 1 ; ala!, 3a ; caudaJ, 4; tarsi, I. 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 dat·k olive bt·own; 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. 'rhe 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 difrerent 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 Fut•nat·ius 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 ~wo, is v~ry peculiar .. It is cylindrical, about two feet long, and placed vertically m the nuddle of a tluck bush in an exposed situation. It is made externally of pric~ly ~ranches, and is very large compared with the size of the bird. The op~nm~ 1 ~ at th~ upper extremity, ft·om which a passage leads to the true nest, whiCh ~~ hne~ With feathers and hairs. There is a slight bend in the passage both at Its ex1t and where it enters the nest. |
