Argentine Ornithology Volume I Part 38

Under a cardoon-bush or tussock of gra.s.s it scoops out a slight hollow in the ground, and builds over this a dome of fine dry gra.s.s, 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 pa.s.ses 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 61 inches, wing 20, tail 29. _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 gra.s.s 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 gra.s.shopper-like song or call. The nest is a slight open structure of gra.s.s, lined with a few feathers, placed in a tuft of gra.s.s 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 (Parana); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 64; _Salv. Ibis_, 1880, p. 359 (Tuc.u.man, 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 62 inches, wing 27, tail 23. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Argentina.

This highly interesting little bird, the only known member of its genus, inhabits the dry plains of Parana 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 (Parana, 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 83 inches, wing 36, tail 37.

_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 _Anumbi_ (the Guarani name); but its best known name is _Lenatero_, or "Firewood-Gatherer," from the quant.i.ty 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 ac.u.minated 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 _Anumbi_ 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 rus.h.i.+ng round the enclosure beneath them, pursued by the men with la.s.sos. 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 _Anumbi_ 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 _Anumbi_ 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 pa.s.sage-way leads down to the lower extremity, where the breeding-chamber is situated; this is lined with wool and soft gra.s.s, 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 demolis.h.i.+ng 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 70 inches, wing 30, tail 20. _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 (Tuc.u.man); _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 68 inches, wing 26, tail 26. _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.)