Volume I Part 41 (1/2)

(NARROW-BILLED WOOD-HEWER.)

+Picolaptes angustirostris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 69; _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 433 (Cordova). +Lepidocolaptes atripes+, _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 21 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Above, head and neck blackish, with oblong whitish shaft-spots on the crown and neck; broad superciliaries white, extending nearly to the back and broken at their lower ends into shaft-spots; rest of upper surface dull brown, brighter on the rump; wing-feathers pale obscure chestnut; outer webs and broad tips of primaries blackish; tail chestnut; beneath white, clearer on the throat; sides of breast and belly thickly marked with faint blackish stripes; under wing-coverts cinnamon; bill pale horn-colour; feet grey: whole length 82 inches, wing 38, tail 25. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Paraguay and Argentina.

This is the only member of the genus _Picolaptes_ as yet met with within the limits of the Argentine Republic. Azara found it abundant in Paraguay, and on this account named it the Common Climber, ”_Trepador comun_.” In Buenos Ayres it is a summer visitant, appearing at the end of September. It is a solitary bird, never seen away from the woods, and invariably utters a loud melancholy cry when pa.s.sing from one tree to another. It always alights on the trunk close to the ground, clinging to the bark in a vertical position, supported by the tail, and with head thrown far back in order to give free play to the extremely long beak.

Having thus alighted, it progresses upwards by short hops, exploring the crevices in the wood for small insects, until it reaches the branches, when it flies off to the next tree.

Fam. XVIII. FORMICARIIDae, or ANT-BIRDS.

The Formicariidae, or Ant-birds, are another very important const.i.tuent of the Neotropical Avifauna, but are less generally diffused than the Dendrocolaptidae, the greater number of the forms being restricted to the hot forests of South and Central America. In the Argentine Republic we meet with only four species of the widely-spread genus _Thamnophilus_, and of them only one appears to extend as far south as Buenos Ayres.

222. THAMNOPHILUS LEACHI (Such).

(LEACH'S BUSH-BIRD.)

+Thamnophilus leachi+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 69; _White, P. Z.

S._ 1882, p. 614 (Misiones).

_Description._--Black, thickly and conspicuously spotted above with white or pale yellowish; on the wings the spots occur on the outer webs of the feathers; upper tail-coverts faintly edged with grey; tail black, unspotted; feathers on the lower breast and belly slightly edged with grey; bill and feet black: whole length 105 inches, wing 34, tail 50. _Female_: spots larger and yellow, on the crown lengthening to stripes and tinged with rufous; inner webs of the wing-feathers also spotted on their margins; whole under surface thickly spotted with pale yellow.

_Hab._ Brazil and N. Argentina.

White met with a single individual of this fine Bush-bird at Concepcion, Misiones. It was observed on the ground feeding on a swarm of black ants.

223. THAMNOPHILUS MAJOR, Vieill.

(LARGER BUSH-BIRD.)

+Thamnophilus major+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 69; _White, P. Z.

S._ 1882, p. 614 (Salta); _Salvin, Ibis_. 1880, p. 359 (Salta).

+Thamnophilus stagurus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 471 (Parana, Tuc.u.man).

_Description._--Above black, upper wing-coverts crossed by a row of white spots; the outer rectrix on each side tipped and barred with white, the other rectrices, excepting the middle pair, spotted with white on their inner webs; beneath pure white; bill black, feet grey: whole length 80 inches, wing 36, tail 28. _Female_ above rufous, beneath white, lower flanks and under tail-coverts tinged with ochraceous; tail wholly rufous.

_Hab._ Paraguay and N. Argentina.

White found this species common in the gardens round the town of Oran.

He noted the iris as ”crimson.”