The wren-like rushbird (Phleocryptes melanops) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae.

[2] It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.

It is a small furnariid whose plumage closely resembles that of the wholly unrelated marsh wren (Cistothorus palustris).

Adults of the nominate subspecies P. m. melanops have a wide buff supercilium, grayish lores, a dark brown band behind the eye, mottled dark brown ear coverts, and a buff malar area.

Their back is blackish with rich brown streaks and obvious white feather shafts.

Some part of the southern population, but apparently not all, moves north in the austral winter.

[5] The wren-like rushbird breeds during the austral spring and summer, in general between September and January with some regional variation.

It weaves a ball-shaped nest of wet grass and other fibers cemented with mud and lines it with feathers and hair.

[5] One author describes it as sounding "like an idling motor, with the throttle occasionally opened".

However, its "[d]ependence on wetlands with emergent vegetation renders it somewhat vulnerable; many local populations [have been] greatly reduced or extirpated by habitat destruction.