Volume I Part 38 (2/2)

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.)

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