Part 23

This Spine-tail is resident, solitary, and extremely timid and stealthy in its movements, living always on the ground among the long grass and cardoon-thistles. At times its inquisitiveness overcomes its timidity, and the bird then darts up three or four yards into the air, and jerking its tail remains some moments poised aloft with breast towards the intruder, emitting sharp little notes of alarm, after which it darts down again and disappears in the grass. When driven up it has a wild zigzag flight, and after reaching a considerable height in the air darts down again with astonishing swiftness, and comes back to the very spot from which it rose. It is, however, incapable of sustained flight, and after being flushed two or three times refuses to rise again. In spring the male perches on the summit of a cardoon-bush, or other slight elevation, and at regular intervals utters a pleasing and melancholy kind of song or call, which can be heard distinctly at a distance of a thousand yards, composed of four long clear plaintive notes, increasing in strength, and succeeded by a falling trill. When approached it becomes silent, and dropping to the ground conceals itself in the grass. Under a cardoon-bush or tussock of grass it scoops out a slight hollow in the ground, and builds over this a dome of fine dry grass, leaving a small aperture arched like the door of a baker's oven. The bed is lined with dry powdered horse-dung, and the eggs are five, bluntly pointed and of a very pale buff colour. The interior of the nest is so small that when the five young birds are fledged they appear to be packed together very closely, so that it is difficult to conceive how the parent bird passes in and out.

The nest is always very cunningly concealed, and I have often spent days searching in a patch of cardoon-bushes where the birds were breeding without being able to find it.

204. SYNALLAXIS MALUROIDES, d'Orb.

(WREN-LIKE SPINE-TAIL.)

+Synallaxis maluroides+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 64; _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1874, p. 26; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 180, et 1878, p. 61 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 208 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Above, front and middle of crown chestnut; hind head, neck, and back pale fulvous brown, thickly marked with longitudinal black shaft-spots; lores white; wings blackish, the feathers edged with pale ochraceous, the basal part of secondaries very pale brown, forming a transverse bar; tail pale chestnut-brown, the two middle feathers with a broad black mark on the inner web; beneath white, breast and flanks washed with pale brown, and freckled with very small dark brown spots; under wing-coverts white; bill and feet pale horn-colour: whole length 6·1 inches, wing 2·0, tail 2·9. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ South Argentina.

D'Orbigny discovered this small Spine-tail near Buenos Ayres city, but did not record its habits. Like the species just described it is abundant on the pampas, but in its habits resembles a Wren of the genus _Cistothorus_ rather than a Pipit, being partial to moist situations, where there is a rank growth of grass and herbage. The wings are very short, and the flight so feeble that the bird refuses to rise after being pursued a distance of one or two hundred yards. And yet I am not prepared to say that it does not migrate, as I have found that in spring it all at once becomes very abundant, while in the cold season it is rarely seen. It is solitary, and in spring sits on a thistle or stalk, uttering at short intervals its small grasshopper-like song or call. The nest is a slight open structure of grass, lined with a few feathers, placed in a tuft of grass or reeds. The eggs are pure white in colour.

205. CORYPHISTERA ALAUDINA, Burm.

(LARK-LIKE CORYPHISTERA.)

+Coryphistera alaudina+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 470 (Paraná); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 64; _Salv. Ibis_, 1880, p. 359 (Tucuman, Salta); _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 40 (Cordova).

_Description._--Above dark greyish brown; elongated crest-feathers blackish; ear-coverts chestnut; on the back, upper tail-coverts, and upper wing-coverts the feathers have white and whity-brown edgings; wing-feathers blackish, the basal part of the inner webs pale brown; rectrices bright chestnut, broadly tipped with blackish; beneath white, thickly striated with fulvous brown; under wing-coverts pale cinnamon; bill and feet light brown: whole length 6·2 inches, wing 2·7, tail 2·3. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Argentina.

This highly interesting little bird, the only known member of its genus, inhabits the dry plains of Paraná and Cordova.

The following meagre note from White, which only serves to excite curiosity, comprises all that we know of its habits:--

"These birds are not found in dense woods, but in the open, tenanted only by a few small trees or bushes. Five or six are usually seen running about together with a quick, abrupt movement, meanwhile uttering a sharp cry."

206. ANUMBIUS ACUTICAUDATUS (Less.).

(FIREWOOD-GATHERER.)

+Anumbius acuticaudatus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 467 (Paraná, Mendoza); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 64; _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1874, p. 159 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 181 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 612 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 211 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Above earthy brown, forehead chestnut, superciliaries white, head, neck, and back marked with black striations; primaries blackish, secondaries pale chestnut-brown; tail black, all the feathers except the middle pair broadly tipped with cream-colour; beneath pale ochraceous brown, white on the throat, the white bordered on each side by numerous small black spots; bill and feet pale horn-colour: whole length 8·3 inches, wing 3·6, tail 3·7. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay.

This is a common and very well-known species throughout the Argentine country and Patagonia, also in Uruguay and Paraguay, and is variously called _Espinero_ (Thorn-bird), _Tiru-riru_, in imitation of its note, and _Añumbi_ (the Guarani name); but its best known name is _Leñatero_, or "Firewood-Gatherer," from the quantity of sticks which it collects for building-purposes.

The Firewood-Gatherer is a resident in Argentina, and pairs for life. Sometimes the young birds remain with their parents for a period of three or four months, all the family going about and feeding in company, and roosting together in the old nest. The nest and the tree where it is placed are a favourite resort all the year round. Here the birds sit perched a great deal, and repeat at intervals a song or call, composed of four or five loud ticking chirps, followed by a long trilling note. They feed exclusively on the ground, where they creep about, carrying the body horizontally and intently searching for insects. When disturbed, they hurry to their usual refuge, rapidly beating their very feeble wings, and expanding the broad acuminated tail like a fan. When the male and female meet at their nest, after a brief separation, they sing their notes in concert, as if rejoicing over their safe reunion; but they seldom separate, and Azara says that when one incubates, the other sits at the entrance to the nest, and that when one returns to the nest with food for the young the other accompanies it, though it has found nothing to carry.

To build, the _Añumbi_ makes choice of an isolated tree in an open situation, and prefers a dwarf tree with very scanty foliage; for small projecting twigs and leaves hinder the worker when carrying up sticks. This is a most laborious operation, as the sticks are large and the bird's flight is feeble. If the tree is to its liking, it matters not how much exposed to the winds it may be, or how close to a human habitation, for the bird is utterly unconcerned by the presence of man. I have frequently seen a nest in a shade or ornamental tree within ten yards of the main entrance to a house; and I have also seen several on the tall upright stakes of a horse-corral, and the birds working quietly, with a herd of half-wild horses rushing round the enclosure beneath them, pursued by the men with lassos. The bird uses large sticks for building, and drops a great many; frequently as much fallen material as would fill a barrow lies under the tree. The fallen stick is not picked up again, as the bird could not rise vertically with its load, and is not intelligent enough, I suppose, to recover the fallen stick, and to carry it away thirty yards from the tree and then rise obliquely. It consequently goes far afield in quest of a fresh one, and having got one to its liking, carefully takes it up exactly by the middle, and, carrying it like a balancing-pole, returns to the nest, where, if one end happens to hit against a projecting twig, it drops like the first. The bird is not discouraged, but, after a brief interview with its mate, flies cheerfully away to gather more wood.

Durnford writes wonderingly of the partiality for building in poplar trees shown by this bird in Buenos Ayres, and says that in a tall tree the nest is sometimes placed sixty or seventy feet above the ground, and that the bird almost invariably rises with a stick at such a distance from the tree as to be able just to make the nest, but that sometimes failing it alights further down, and then climbs up the twigs with its stick. He attributes the choice of the tall poplar to _ambition_; but the _Añumbi_ has really a much simpler and lowlier motive. In the rich Buenos Ayres soil all trees have a superabundance of foliage, and in the slim poplar alone can the nest be placed where the bird can reach it laden with building-material, without coming in contact with long projecting twigs.

The nest of the _Añumbi_ is about two feet in depth, and from ten to twelve inches in diameter, and rests in an oblique position amongst the branches. The entrance is at the top, and a crooked or spiral passage-way leads down to the lower extremity, where the breeding-chamber is situated; this is lined with wool and soft grass, and five white eggs are laid, varying considerably in form, some being much more sharply pointed than others.

The nest, being so secure and comfortable an abode, is greatly coveted by several other species of birds to breed in; but on this subject I have already spoken in the account of the genus _Molothrus_. When deprived of their nest, the birds immediately set to work to make a new one; but often enough, without being ejected from the first they build a second nest, sometimes demolishing the first work to use the materials. I watched one pair make three nests before laying; another pair made two nests, and after the second was completed they returned to the first and there elected to remain. Two or three nests are sometimes seen on one tree, and Azara says he has seen as many as six. Mr. Barrows observed the bird at Concepcion, where it is very common, and writes that in that district the nest is sometimes four feet long with an average diameter of two feet, and that the same nest in some cases is used for several seasons successively; also that several nests are sometimes joined together and all occupied at the same time.

207. LIMNORNIS CURVIROSTRIS, Gould.

(CURVED-BILL RUSH-BIRD.)

+Limnornis curvirostris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 64; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 182 (Buenos Ayres).

_Description._--Above rufous-brown, brighter on the rump; lores and superciliaries white; wings and tail chestnut-brown; beneath white; flanks and under tail-coverts pale brown; under wing-coverts white; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 3·0, tail 2·0. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Argentina and Uruguay.

This species is found everywhere in marshy places in the eastern part of the Argentine Republic, and is also common in Uruguay, where Darwin discovered it. It inhabits dense reed-beds which grow in the water, and is not found in any other situation. It pairs for life, has a very feeble flight, and flies with great reluctance, but lives always in close concealment in one spot. It is, however, very inquisitive, and when approached the two birds creep up to the summit of the rushes and utter peculiar loud, rattling, and jarring notes, as if angrily protesting against the intrusion.

The Rush-bird has a stout body and short graduated tail, strong claws, and a slender curved beak three-fourths of an inch long. The upper plumage is brown, the tail rufous, the under surface and a mark over the eye white.

208. PHACELLODOMUS FRONTALIS (Licht.).

(RED-FRONTED THORN-BIRD.)

+Phacellodomus frontalis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 467 (Tucuman); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 65; _Salvin, Ibis_, 1880, p. 359 (Salta); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 612 (Buenos Ayres). +Phacellodomus sincipitalis+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 433.

_Description._--Above nearly uniform olive-brown, crown blackish brown, superciliaries white; beneath dirty brownish white; under wing-coverts pale cinnamon; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 6·8 inches, wing 2·6, tail 2·6. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ S. America, from Venezuela to Argentina.

The Red-fronted Thorn-bird, which is found in the Northern provinces of Argentina, and only occurs as a straggler near Buenos Ayres, resorts to the thickets, and in its habits is said to resemble the _Synallaxes_ of the group to which _S. spixi_ and _S. albescens_ belong. It builds a large nest of sticks, and White says that it makes a peculiar chattering sound that has the effect of exciting other small birds, and causes them to crowd about it.

209. PHACELLODOMUS SIBILATRIX, Scl.

(WHISTLING THORN-BIRD.)

+Phacellodomus sibilatrix+, _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1879, p. 461; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 612 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 209 (Entrerios).

_Description._--Above dull olive-brown, paler on the sides of the head; front and lesser wing-coverts chestnut-red; wing-feathers blackish, edged with olive-brown; tail light chestnut, the middle pair of feathers and the inner webs of the two next pairs brown, like the back; beneath dirty brownish white, washed with ochraceous on the flanks; under wing-coverts bright cinnamon: whole length 5·3 inches, wing 2·2, tail 2·2.

_Hab._ Argentina.

This species resembles _P. frontalis_, but differs in its much smaller size, and in having the upper lesser wing-coverts bright rufous.

It inhabits the thorny woods of the northern districts of the Argentine country, but I have no reason to regret that I have not personally observed this species, since Mr. Barrows's careful account of its nesting-habits leaves nothing to be desired. He writes:--"An abundant species among the open woods along the Uruguay, and hardly distinguishable at ten paces from half a dozen others. Its nest, however, is unmistakable. The birds begin by fixing a few crooked and thorny twigs among the terminal sprays of some slender branch which juts out horizontally from a tree, or rises obliquely from near its base, and around these twigs as a nucleus more are gathered, until, by the time the nest has reached the proper size, its weight has bent the branch so that its tip points directly to the earth. Nests which are thus begun at a distance of fifteen or twenty feet from the ground are often only two or three feet from it when finished, and a thorough soaking by a heavy rain will sometimes weigh them down until they actually touch. They are more or less oval or cylindrical in shape, and commonly about two feet long by twelve or fifteen inches in diameter, and contain from a peck to a bushel of twigs and thorns. The nest-cavity within is small in proportion to the size of the nest, and occupies its upper part. It is reached by a more or less direct passage-way from below, the external opening being very nearly at the lowest part of the nest, though sometimes a little shelf, or even a pocket, is built on to the side, forming a resting-place in front of the door.

"The nests vary interminably in size and shape, but are pretty constant in the material used; this being almost always irregular and thorny twigs of various trees growing in the neighbourhood, while the interior is formed of less thorny twigs and with some wool and hair. Usually, also, if the material be at hand, a quantity of old dry horse-droppings is placed loosely on the top of the nest, and gradually becomes felted into it, rendering it more nearly waterproof. In place of this I have frequently found quantities of broken straw, weed-stalks, grass, and even chips; all doubtless collected from the ridges of drift which the last overflow of the river had left near at hand. So compactly is the whole nest built, that it often lasts more than one year, and may sometimes serve the same pair two successive summers. More often, however, a new nest is built directly above the old one, which serves as a foundation, and occasionally as many as three nests are seen thus on the same branch-tip, two of them at least being occupied. When other branches of the same tree are similarly loaded, and other trees close at hand also bear the same kind of fruit, the result is very picturesque. The eggs, which are white, are laid from October 1 to January 1, but many of the birds work at nest-building all the winter, sometimes spending months on a single nest."

210. PHACELLODOMUS STRIATICOLLIS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).

(RED-WINGED THORN-BIRD.)

+Anumbius striaticollis+, _d'Orb. Voy., Ois._ p. 255 (Buenos Ayres). +Phacellodomus striaticollis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 65.

_Description._--Above, forehead and crown rufous; lores white; sides of head, neck, and back brown; whole wing chestnut, the feathers tipped with blackish; tail chestnut; beneath white, clearer on the throat and breast, which are marked with slight white shaft-spots; sides of breast and flanks washed with reddish brown; under tail-coverts brown; under wing-coverts cinnamon; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 8·0 inches, wing 2·9, tail 3·1. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Argentina and Uruguay.

D'Orbigny, who discovered this species in Uruguay, and found it also near Buenos Ayres, remarks that it lives in pairs in the thorny bushes, and resembles its congeners in habits. It is, however, certainly not common in the vicinity of the Argentine capital, for Hudson has never met with it.

211. PHACELLODOMUS RUBER (Vieill.).

(RED THORN-BIRD.)

+Phacellodomus ruber+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 467 (Paraná, Cordova); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 65; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 183 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 210 (Entrerios). +Phacellodomus maculipectus+, _Cab. J. f. O._ 1883, p. 109 (?).

_Description._--Above olive-brown, front chestnut; tail brownish chestnut; beneath whitish, throat, breast, and flanks washed and mottled with bright reddish brown; under wing-coverts and inner margins of wing-feathers bright cinnamon; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 7·3 inches, wing 2·6, tail 3·2. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Argentina.

This is a common species throughout the eastern portion of the Argentine country, and extends as far south as the southern boundary of the Buenos Ayrean province.

It is resident, living in pairs in places where there are scattered thorny trees and bushes, and is never found in deep woods. It never attempts to conceal itself, but, on the contrary, sits exposed on a bush and will allow a person to approach within three or four yards of it. Nor has it the restless manner of most Synallaxine birds which live in the same places with it, but moves in a slow deliberate way, and spends a great deal of time sitting motionless on its perch, occasionally uttering its call or song, composed of a series of long, shrill, powerful notes in descending scale and uttered in a very leisurely manner. It builds a large oblong nest of sticks, about two feet deep, and placed obliquely among the thorny twigs of a bush or low tree. Mr. Barrows writes:--"There are commonly two cavities in the nest, one being half open to the weather, and forming the entrance, the other further back and connected with the former by only a short passage-way, which in many cases is reduced to a simple hole through a broad partition, which alone separates them." The eggs are four and of a pure white.

The name commonly used for this species is founded on the "_Anumbé roxo_" of Azara's 'Apuntamientos'; but the description given there of the bird's nesting-habits shows either that some other species was meant--perhaps _P. sibilatrix_, Döring--or that the nesting-habits of a different bird have been assigned to _P. ruber_.

212. HOMORUS LOPHOTES, Reichenb.

(BROWN CACHALOTE.)

[Plate IX.]

+Homorus lophotes+, _Reichb. Handb._ p. 172; _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ vol. viii. p. 212 (Entrerios); _Hudson, Ibis_, 1885, p. 283 (Buenos Ayres). +Anabates unirufus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 466 (Cordova). +Homorus unirufus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 65; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 612 (Catamarca).

_Description._--Above brown, tinged with olive on the back, but clear and rufescent on the hind head and rump; crest-feathers blackish brown; wings blackish; tail chestnut; beneath earthy brown, throat rufous; under wing- and tail-coverts and inner margins of wing-feathers pale rufous; bill pale bluish, feet bluish horn-colour: whole length 9·8 inches, wing 4·6, tail 4·2. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Argentina.

This species interested me greatly during my observations of the Argentine birds, but, owing to its rarity and to its recluse habits, my knowledge of it is very scanty. It is found in the north and north-western parts of the Argentine territory; in the province of Buenos Ayres its presence is confined to the narrow strip of subtropical wood fringing the low shores of the Plata river.

When surprised, its white eye, blue dagger-like beak, and raised crest give it a strikingly bold and angry appearance, the effect of which is heightened by the harsh rasping scream it utters when disturbed. This resentful look is deceptive, however, for the bird is the shiest creature imaginable. Its language has the shrill excited character common to this most loquacious family; and at intervals throughout the day two birds, male and female, meet together and make the woods echo with their screaming concert. For many weeks after I had become familiar with these loud-sounding notes, while collecting in the littoral forest where it is found, the bird was still to me only a "wandering voice"; but I did not give up the pursuit till I had seen it several times and had also secured two or three specimens. I found one nest, though without eggs, a rough-looking domed structure, made with material enough to fill a barrow. I also discovered that the bird feeds exclusively on the ground, close to the boles of low-branching trees, where there is usually an accumulation of fallen bark, dead leaves, and other rubbish. Here the bird digs with its sharp beak for the small insects it preys on. When approached it does not fly away, but runs swiftly to the nearest tree, behind the trunk of which it hides, then scuttles on to the next tree, and so escapes without showing itself.