Part 21

In favourable seasons the Oven-birds begin building in the autumn, and the work is resumed during the winter whenever there is a spell of mild wet weather. Some of their structures are finished early in winter, others not until spring, everything depending on the weather and the condition of the birds. In cold dry weather, and when food is scarce, they do not work at all. The site chosen is a stout horizontal branch, or the top of a post, and they also frequently build on a cornice or the roof of a house; and sometimes, but rarely, on the ground. The material used is mud, with the addition of horsehair or slender fibrous rootlets, which make the structure harder and prevent it from cracking. I have frequently seen a bird, engaged in building, first pick up a thread or hair, then repair to a puddle, where it was worked into a pellet of mud about the size of a filbert, then carried to the nest. When finished the structure is shaped outwardly like a baker's oven, only with a deeper and narrower entrance. It is always placed very conspicuously, and with the entrance facing a building, if one be near, or if at a roadside it looks toward the road; the reason for this being, no doubt, that the bird keeps a cautious eye on the movements of people near it while building, and so leaves the nest opened and unfinished on that side until the last, and there the entrance is necessarily formed. When the structure has assumed the globular form with only a narrow opening, the wall on one side is curved inwards, reaching from the floor to the dome, and at the inner extremity an aperture is left to admit the bird to the interior or second chamber, in which the eggs are laid. A man's hand fits easily into the first or entrance chamber, but cannot be twisted about so as to reach the eggs in the interior cavity, the entrance being so small and high up. The interior is lined with dry soft grass, and five white pear-shaped eggs are laid. The _oven_ is a foot or more in diameter, and is sometimes very massive, weighing eight or nine pounds, and so strong that, unless loosened by the swaying of the branch, it often remains unharmed for two or three years. The birds incubate by turns, and when one returns from the feeding-ground it sings its loud notes, on which the sitting bird rushes forth to join in the joyous chorus, and then flies away, the other taking its place on the eggs. The young are exceedingly garrulous, and when only half-fledged may be heard practising trills and duets in their secure oven, in shrill tremulous voices, which change to the usual hunger-cry of young birds when the parent enters with food. After leaving the nest, the old and young birds live for two or three months together, only one brood being raised in each year. A new oven is built every year, and I have more than once seen a second oven built on the top of the first, when this has been placed very advantageously, as on a projection and against a wall.

A very curious thing occurred at the estancia house of a neighbour of mine in Buenos Ayres one spring. A pair of Oven-birds built their oven on a beam-end projecting from the wall of a rancho. One morning one of the birds was found caught in a steel trap placed the evening before for rats, and both of its legs were crushed above the knee. On being liberated it flew up to and entered the oven, where it bled to death, no doubt, for it did not come out again. Its mate remained two days, calling incessantly, but there were no other birds of its kind in the place, and it eventually disappeared. Three days later it returned with a new mate, and immediately the two birds began carrying pellets of mud to the oven, with which they plastered up the entrance. Afterwards they built a second oven, using the sepulchre of the dead bird for its foundation, and here they reared their young. My neighbour, an old native, had watched the birds from the time the first oven was begun, feeling greatly interested in their diligent ways, and thinking their presence at his house a good omen; and it was not strange that, after witnessing the entombment of one that died, he was more convinced than ever that the little House-builders are "pious birds."

179. FURNARIUS TRICOLOR, Cab.

(CRESTED OVEN-BIRD.)

+Furnarius tricolor+, _Cab. Journ. f. Orn._ 1878, p. 196 (Cordova). +Furnarius figulus+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 609 (?).

_Description._--Above nearly uniform earthy brown, head slightly crested; tail bright ferruginous; beneath paler, throat pure white; middle of belly and crissum white; under surface of wings blackish, with a transverse bar of pale cinnamon; bill hazel, paler at the base; feet blackish: whole length 5·7 inches, wing 2·8, tail 2·2.

_Hab._ Cordova.

This pretty little species is a recent discovery of Döring in the Sierras of Cordova; it may be at once recognized by its small size and crested head.

180. UPUCERTHIA DUMETORIA (Geoffr. et d'Orb.).

(PATAGONIAN EARTH-CREEPER.)

+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.

The straight bill and red colour of the tail-feathers at once distinguish this species from the former. Burmeister obtained specimens of it in the Sierra of Uspallata, where it was met with hopping about the rocks and feeding on insects.

182. UPUCERTHIA LUSCINIA (Burm.).

(WARBLING EARTH-CREEPER.)

+Ochetorhynchus luscinia+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 464 (Mendoza, Paraná). +Upucerthia luscinia+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 62; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 610 (Catamarca); _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 358 (Salta).

_Description._--Above earthy brown; front, lores, and rim round the eye bright rufous; wings blackish, outer webs more or less edged with rufous earthy brown; tail earthy brown, lateral rectrices tinged with rufous; below pale cinereous with a slight rufescent tinge; throat clear white; under wing-coverts and inner margins of the wing-feathers cinnamon-red; bill hazel, paler at the base; feet pale brown: whole length 7·5 inches, wing 3·0, tail 3·1. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Argentina.

Professor Burmeister was the first discoverer of this species, which he tells us is common near Mendoza, in Paraná, and in the neighbouring pampas. In Paraná he found it nesting under the roof of his house and feeding upon insects. The eggs are pure white. It is the _Ruisiñor_ or "Nightingale" of the natives, whence he gave it the specific name _luscinia_--a strange name for any species in the shrill-voiced Dendrocolaptine family.

183. CINCLODES FUSCUS (Vieill.).

(BROWN CINCLODES.)

+Cinclodes fuscus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 62; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 179 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 610 (Catamarca); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 205 (Entrerios and Pampas). +Cinclodes vulgaris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 463 (Mendoza, Paraná).

_Description._--Above dark earthy brown, lores and superciliaries whitish; wings blackish, with a broad transverse cinnamomeous bar; outer tail-feathers blackish, broadly tipped with pale cinnamomeous white; beneath pale cinereous, with a cinnamomeous tinge; throat white, slightly spotted with blackish; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 7·3 inches, wing 4·0, tail 3·0. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Argentina, Chili, Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador.

This homely little species differs considerably from most Dendrocolaptine birds in colour and habits; and being of a uniform dull, fuscous hue, its appearance is most uninteresting. It inhabits the whole of Patagonia, but is migratory, possessing, what is rare in this family, a powerful flight. In winter it is common all over the pampas and the Plata district, ranging north to Paraguay. It is always found near water, its favourite hunting-ground being the borders of a stream. On the ground its motions are quick and lively, but when perching on a tree it sits motionless in one position, and when attempting to move appears to lose its balance. These birds cannot be called strictly gregarious, but where abundant they are fond of gathering in loose flocks, sometimes numbering one or two hundred individuals, and when thus associating are very playful, frequently pursuing and wheeling about each other, and uttering a sharp, trilling note. On a warm day in winter they are occasionally heard attempting to sing, the bird darting up vertically into the air and pouring out with great energy a confused torrent of unmelodious sounds.

Their habits, so much less sedate and strikingly in contrast with those of most of the birds in this family, are no doubt due to the greater powers of flight possessed by _Cinclodes_.

184. CINCLODES BIFASCIATUS, Sclater.

(WHITE-WINGED CINCLODES.)

+Cinclodes bifasciatus+, _Sclater, P. Z. S._ 1858, p. 448.

_Description._--Above earthy brown with a rufescent tinge on the back, superciliaries white; wings blackish, with a white bar on the secondaries and a second white bar on the inner primaries; tail blackish, outer rectrices tipped with white; beneath white, passing into greyish cinnamomeous on the flanks and crissum; bend of the wing and under wing-coverts white; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 8·0 inches, wing 4·0, tail 3·3.

_Hab._ Bolivia and Eastern Argentina.

Weisshaupt obtained examples of this species in the vicinity of Mendoza, from one of which our description is taken.

185. HENICORNIS PHOENICURUS (Gould).

(DARK-TAILED HENICORNIS.)

+Henicornis phoenicurus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 62; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 395 (Central Patagonia).

_Description._--Above earthy brown, slight superciliary line white, edges of outer secondaries, lower back, and upper tail-coverts bright ferruginous red; tail black, outer webs of outer tail-feathers and slight external edging of the others bright ferruginous; beneath, throat and breast pure white, belly cinereous, flanks tinged with rufous; crissum bright ferruginous; bill dark horn-colour, base of lower mandible yellowish; feet horn-colour: whole length 7·5 inches, wing 3·3, tail 3·0.

_Hab._ Chili and Patagonia.

Durnford met with this peculiar form in Central Patagonia in 1877-78. He says that it was resident and common among the bushes throughout his journey.

186. LOCHMIAS NEMATURA (Licht.).

(BRAZILIAN LOCHMIAS.)

+Lochmias nematura+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 462 (Paraná).

_Description._--Above clear brown, rump blackish, elongated superciliaries white; tail blackish; beneath blackish brown, with numerous large white oval spots occupying the centre of the feathers; bill horn-colour, lower mandible pale brown at the base; feet brown: whole length 5·5 inches, wing 2·8, tail 2·0.

_Hab._ South-east Brazil and Northern Argentina.

Professor Burmeister met with this Brazilian species near Paraná, where it lives on the ground among the bushes.

Subfam. II. _SCLERURINÆ._

187. SCLERURUS UMBRETTA (Licht.).

(THE SPINY LEAF-SCRAPER.)

+Sclerurus caudacutus+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 610 (Misiones). +Sclerurus umbretta+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 62.

_Description._--Above dark brown, rump and upper tail-coverts rufous; wing-feathers blackish, glossed with dull brown; tail black; beneath, throat white, the feathers edged with dark brown; breast dull rufous; belly and flanks same colour as back; under wing-coverts whitish brown; bill and feet black: whole length 7·1 inches, wing 3·6, tail 2·6.

_Hab._ Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.

White has the following note on this interesting species:--"Only two of these birds were observed during my trip through Misiones. It frequents the dense gloomy forests, where it busies itself in scraping amongst the dead leaves; and although it may be close at hand and the rustling distinct, a quick eye is required to detect it, as its plumage is of the exact colour of decaying foliage. If startled, it flies up onto the trunk of the nearest tree, and there remains perfectly motionless in an upright position. I never heard it utter a single note."

Subfam. III. _SYNALLAXINÆ._

188. PHLOEOCRYPTES MELANOPS (Vieill.).

(RUSH-LOVING SPINE-TAIL.)

+Synallaxis melanops+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 470 (Mendoza). +Phloeocryptes melanops+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 63; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 179 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 396 (Central Patagonia); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 206 (Bahia Blanca).

_Description._--Above, forehead brown, crown blackish, broad superciliaries buffy white; upper half of back black, marked with a few grey stripes; lower back and rump, also sides of head and neck, light brown; wings blackish, mottled with light chestnut on the coverts; and a broad band of the same colour occupying the basal half of the wing-feathers; tail blackish, the two middle feathers brownish grey, the others slightly tipped with the same colour; beneath white, more or less tinged on the throat, flanks, and under tail-coverts with pale brown; under wing-coverts fulvous; bill and feet pale horn-colour: whole length 5·8 inches, wing 2·3, tail 1·6. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Chili, Patagonia, and Argentina.

This is one of our few strictly migratory species in the family _Dendrocolaptidæ_. Probably it winters in South Brazil, as in the northern parts of the Argentine country it is said to be a summer visitor. On the pampas it appears in September, and all at once becomes very abundant in the rush-beds growing in the water, where alone it is found. The migration no doubt is very extensive, for in spring I found it abundant in the rush-beds in the Rio Negro valley, and Durnford met with it much further south on the river Sanguelen, a tributary of the Chupat. Migratory birds are, as a rule, very little given to wandering; that is to say, they do not go much beyond the limits of the little coppice, reed-bed, or spot of ground which they make their summer home, and this species is no exception. It spends the warm season secluded in its rush-bed: and when disturbed flies with great reluctance, fluttering feebly away to a distance of a few yards, and then dropping into the rushes again, apparently quite incapable of a sustained flight. How a bird so feeble on the wing, and retiring in its habits, is able to perform a long, annual migration, when in traversing vast tracts of open country it must be in great peril from rapacious kinds, is a great mystery. No doubt many perish while travelling; but there is this circumstance in their favour: an incredible number of birds of various kinds, many as weak and exposed to attack as the _Phloeocryptes_, migrate simultaneously; Hawks are very thinly scattered along their route, and as a rule these birds feed only once or twice a day, if the meals are large enough to fill the stomach, so that while the Hawk is inactive, digesting his meal, thousands of migrants have sped by on their journey and are beyond his reach for ever.

This Spine-tail seldom ventures out of its rush-bed, but is occasionally seen feeding in the grass and herbage a few yards removed from the water. Its language is peculiar, this being a long cicada-like note, followed by a series of sounds like smart taps on a piece of dry wood. It frequents the same places as the small Many-coloured Tyrant (_Cyanotis azaræ_), and these little neighbours, being equally inquisitive, whenever a person approaches the rushes often emerge together, one uttering wooden-sounding creaks and raps, the other liquid gurgling notes--a little brown bird and a little bird with many bright colours, both, in very different tones, demanding to know the reason of the intrusion.

The nest is a very wonderful structure, and is usually attached to three upright stems; it is domed, oval-shaped, about nine inches deep, and the small circular aperture which is close to the top is protected by a sloping tile-like projection. It is built of tough grass-leaves, which are apparently first daubed with wet clay and then ingeniously woven in, with the addition, I think, of some kind of mucilage: the whole nest is, when finished, light but very strong, and impervious to wet. Until the rushes die and drop the nest remains securely fastened to them, and in winter affords a safe and comfortable retreat to the small reed-frogs, of which sometimes as many as three or four are found living in one nest. The interior is very thickly lined with feathers; the eggs are three, pear-shaped, and a bright, beautiful blue colour, sometimes with a slight greenish tinge.

The bird is so abundant in extensive marshes that I have on several occasions, during a day's ramble, found as many as forty or fifty nests, sometimes a dozen or more being placed close together, but I have never taken more than three eggs from one nest. I mention this because I have seen it stated that four or five eggs are sometimes found.

I trust that no reader of this sketch imagines that I robbed all the eggs contained in so many nests. I did nothing so barbarous, although it is perhaps "prattling out of fashion" to say so; but with the destructive, useless egg-collecting passion I have no sympathy. By bending the pliant rushes downwards the eggs can be made to roll out into the hand; and all those which I thus took out to count were, I am glad to say, put back in their wonderful cradles. I had a special object in examining so many nests. A gaucho boy once brought me a nest which had a small circular _stopper_, made of the same texture as the body of the nest, attached to the aperture at the _side_, and when swung round into it fitting it as perfectly as the lid of the trap-door spider fits the burrow. I have no doubt that it was used to close the nest when the bird was away, perhaps to prevent the intrusion of reed-frogs or of other small birds; but I have never found another nest like it, nor have I heard of one being found by any one else; and that one nest, with its perfectly-fitting stopper, has been a puzzle to my mind ever since I saw it.

189. LEPTASTHENURA ÆGITHALOIDES (Kittl.).

(TIT-LIKE SPINE-TAIL.)

+Synallaxis ægithaloides+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 469 (Mendoza); _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 544 (Rio Negro). +Leptasthenura ægithaloides+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1869, p. 632 (Buenos Ayres); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 63; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 180 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 396 (Centr. Patagonia); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 30 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 611 (Catamarca); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 206 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Above pale earthy brown; crown black, striped with clear brown; lores, sides of head, and throat white, with minute black spots; wings blackish, the edges of the outer webs of the primaries and the basal part of the secondaries light rufescent brown; tail black, lateral rectrices tipped and margined with pale grey; beneath pale grey, throat white; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 6·2 inches, wing 2·4, tail 3·5. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Chili, Argentina, and Patagonia.

This is a restless little bird, seen singly or in parties of three or four. In manner and appearance it resembles the Long-tailed Titmouse (_Parus_), as it diligently searches for small insects in the trees and bushes, frequently hanging head downwards to explore the under surface of a leaf or twig, and while thus engaged continually uttering a little sharp querulous note. They are not migratory, but in winter seem to wander about from place to place a great deal; and in Patagonia, in the cold season, I have frequently seen them uniting in flocks of thirty or forty individuals, and associating with numbers of Spine-tails of other species, chiefly with _Synallaxis sordida_, and all together advancing through the thicket, carefully exploring every bush in their way.

D'Orbigny says that it makes a nest of rootlets and moss in a bush; but where I have observed this bird it invariably breeds in a hole in a tree, or in the nest of some other bird, often in the clay structure of the Oven-bird. But in Patagonia, where the Oven-bird is not known, this Spine-tail almost always selects the nest of the _Synallaxis sordida_. It carries in a great deal of soft material--soft grass, wool, and feathers--to reline the cavity, and lays five or six, white, pointed eggs.

190. LEPTASTHENURA FULIGINICEPS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).

(BROWN-CRESTED SPINE-TAIL.)

+Leptasthenura fuliginiceps+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 63; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 611 (Catamarca). +Synallaxis fuliginiceps+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 469.

_Description._--Above pale earthy brown; forehead and slightly crested crown rufous brown; wings blackish, edges of outer webs of all the wing-feathers and basal part of the secondaries chestnut; tail clear brown; beneath paler, earthy brown; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 6·0 inches, wing 2·2, tail 3·1.

_Hab._ Bolivia and N. Argentina.