+Ochetorhynchus dumetorius+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 463 (Mendoza). +Upucerthia dumetoria+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 62; _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 544 (Rio Negro); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 35, et 1878, p. 395 (Chupat); _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 433 (Cordova). _Description._--Above earthy brown; long superciliary stripe pale ochraceous; wings blackish, with a broad transverse cinnamomeous bar; tail blackish, lateral rectrices tipped with pale cinnamon; beneath dirty white, clear white on the throat and middle of the belly; breast-feathers margined with blackish; under wing-coverts pale cinnamomeous; bill dark horn-colour, pale at the base; feet horn-colour: whole length 9·0 inches, wing 4·0, tail 3·5. _Female_ similar. _Hab._ Patagonia and Chili. These birds are very common in Patagonia, being resident there; some individuals, however, migrate north in winter, and I once obtained a pair, male and female, near Buenos Ayres city in the month of June. Their legs are short, but on the ground their movements are very rapid, and, like the Miner (_Geositta_) already described, they fly reluctantly, preferring to run rapidly from a person walking or riding, and at such times they look curiously like a very small Curlew with an extravagantly long beak. They are active, lively birds, and live in pairs, sometimes uniting in small, loose flocks; they are partial to places where scattered bushes grow on a dry sterile soil, and have a swift low flight; when flying they frequently utter a shrill, trilling, or rapidly reiterated note, in sound resembling laughter. In manners, flight, language, and colouring this bird closely resembles the smaller short-beaked _Geositta cunicularia_, and like that species it also breeds in deep holes in banks; but I am not able to say whether it excavates the breeding-hole or takes possession of one already made. Durnford found it breeding in a hole four feet deep in the bank of a dry lagoon. The nest was of dry grass and lined with the fur of the cavy. It contained three white eggs. 181. UPUCERTHIA RUFICAUDA (Meyen). (RED-TAILED EARTH-CREEPER.) +Ochetorhynchus ruficauda+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 463 (Mendoza). _Description._--Above earthy brown, superciliaries whitish, lower half of back and outer secondaries strongly tinged with rufous; tail deep ferruginous red, inner webs of all the lateral rectrices black; beneath white, breast more or less freckled with greyish; belly, flanks, and crissum pale cinnamomeous brown; under surface of wings blackish, with a transverse cinnamomeous bar; bill and feet blackish: whole length 8·0 inches, wing 3·5, tail 3·3. _Female_ similar. _Hab._ Chili and Mendoza.