Volume I Part 38 (1/2)

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.