The scribble-tailed canastero (Asthenes maculicauda) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae.

Adults have a faint pale supercilium and a dark brown stripe behind the eye on an otherwise buffy face.

Their uppertail coverts and central tail feathers have a ragged mix of rufescent to buff-brown, dark brown, and olive-brown streaks.

Their throat is pale grayish buff, their breast washed with tawny with a band of dark brown streaks on its lower part, and their belly light buff-brownish.

One population is found in the Andes of southern Peru's Department of Puno and west-central Bolivia.

Both populations inhabit páramo grasslands near tree line, a landscape characterized by lush tall bunch grass and low shrubs.

The scribble-tailed canastero's song is "a series of 'tree' notes that end in fast, descending trill".