Fam. XVI. PHYTOTOMIDae, or PLANT-CUTTERS.

The peculiar form _Phytotoma_, remarkable for its toothed Fringilline bill, was a.s.sociated by the older authors with the Finches. But modern researches have shown that it is not an Oscinine genus, and that its true place is near the _Cotingidae_; indeed, some authors have placed it within the limits of that family.

Of the four known species of Plant-cutters, all restricted to South America, one is a well-known denizen of the Argentine Republic.

175. PHYTOTOMA RUTILA, Vieill.

(RED-BREASTED PLANT-CUTTER.)

[Plate VIII.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PHYTOTOMA RUTILA ? et ?]

+Phytotoma rutila+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 451 (Parana, Mendoza, Cordova, Tuc.u.man, Catamarca); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 60; _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 537 (Rio Negro); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 203 (Entrerios); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 609 (Catamarca).

_Description._--Above plumbeous, with slight darker shaft-spots; front of head bright red; wings and tail blackish, two well-marked wing-bars and tips of all lateral rectrices white; beneath bright red; flanks plumbeous; under wing-coverts whitish: whole length 70 inches, wing 35, tail 33. _Female_: above grey, densely striated with black; beneath dirty white, with dense black striations, belly and crissum fulvous.

_Hab._ Argentine Republic.

I found this curious little bird quite common in Patagonia, where the natives call it _Chingolo grande_, on account of its superficial resemblance to the common Song-Sparrow (_Zonotrichia pileata_). The colouring of the s.e.xes differs considerably, the forehead and under surface of the male being deep brick-red; the upper parts dull grey, with a bar on the wing and the tips of the rectrices white; while in the female the upper parts are yellowish grey, obscurely mottled, and the breast and belly buff, with dark spots. In both s.e.xes the eye is yellow, and the feathers of the crown pileated to form a crest.

This bird is usually seen singly, but sometimes a.s.sociates in small flocks; it is resident, and a very weak flier, and feeds on tender buds and leaves, berries and small seed. The male is frequently seen perched on the summit of a bush, and, amidst the dull-plumaged species that people the grey thickets of Patagonia, the bright red bosom gives it almost a gay appearance. When singing, or uttering its alarm notes when the nest is approached, its voice resembles the feeble bleatings of a small kid or lamb. When approached it conceals itself in the bush, and when flying progresses by a series of short jerky undulations, the wings producing a loud humming sound.

The nest is made in the interior of a th.o.r.n.y bush, and built somewhat slightly of fine twigs and lined with fibres. The eggs are four, bluish-green in colour, with brownish flecks.

This species is found throughout the Argentine country, in dry, open situations, abounding with a scanty tree and bush vegetation.

Suborder III. _TRACHEOPHONae._

Fam. XVII. DENDROCOLAPTIDae, or WOOD-HEWERS.

The _Dendrocolaptidae_ are an important family in American Ornithology, numbering some 220 species, and distributed in greater or less abundance over every part of the Neotropical Region from Mexico to Patagonia.

Within Argentine limits 46 species occur.

While green is the characteristic colour of the _Tyrannidae_, brown is the favoured hue of the _Dendrocolaptidae_, both the forest-loving and campos-frequenting members of the group being nearly without exception arrayed in various shades of that sombre colour, to which a ferruginous tail is a very frequent appendage.

The _Dendrocolaptidae_ fall into four subfamilies, all of which have representatives in Argentina. These are (1) the _Furnariinae_, or Oven-birds, which are terrestrial in habits and have their feet adapted for this mode of life; (2) the _Sclerurinae_, or Leaf-sc.r.a.pers, known by their spiny tail, which keep to the ground inside the forests; (3) the _Synallaxinae_, or Sharp-tails, mostly bush-frequenting birds; and (4) the _Dendrocolaptinae_, or Wood-hewers, which have the habits of our Creepers (_Certhia_), and use their tail as a climbing-organ. All the members of this great family feed exclusively on insects.

Subfam. I. _FURNARIINae._

176. GEOSITTA CUNICULARIA (Vieill.).

(COMMON MINER.)

+Geositta cunicularia+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 405 (Mendoza, Parana); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 61; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 178 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 395 (Chupat); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 203 (Entrerios). +Geositta tenuirostris+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 609 (Salta).

_Description._--Above nearly uniform earthy brown; wing-feathers pale cinnamon-red; greater part of the outer webs, excepting the inner secondaries and a transverse bar across the secondaries, blackish; tail pale cinnamon-red, with a broad blackish band across the terminal half; beneath pale fulvous white, breast more or less variegated with blackish; under wing-coverts pale cinnamomeous; bill horn-colour, pale at the base; feet horn-colour: whole length 55 inches, wing 35, tail 20. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Chili, Patagonia and Argentina.

The country people have a variety of names for this common and well-known species. In Buenos Ayres it is usually called _Manea-cola_ (Shake-tail), in Patagonia _Caserita_ (Little House-builder), and in other places _Minera_ (Miner) or _Caminante_ (Traveller), from its habit of running rapidly along a clean road or bridle-path before a person riding or walking.

It is a stout little bird, with very short toes quite unsuited for perching, and it does not, in fact, ever perch on a tree, though it manages to cling to a perpendicular bank very well, when engaged in opening its breeding-hole. It is resident and pairs for life, and lives in sterile places, feeding on small insects and spiders. In manner it is very lively, and runs swiftly over the bare ground, stopping very abruptly, then running on again, and at every pause slowly moving its half-open tail up and down. It flies swiftly, close to the ground, and always during its short flight trills out its clear, ringing, rapidly reiterated cry, which in sound resembles the laughter of a child.

On the gra.s.sy pampas the Miners invariably attach themselves to the _Vizcacheras_--as the groups of great burrows made by the large rodent, the Vizcacha, are called; for there is always a s.p.a.ce free from gra.s.s surrounding the burrows where the birds can run freely about. In the sides of the deep pit-like entrance to one of these burrows the bird bores a cylindrical hole, from three to six feet long, and terminating in a circular chamber. This is lined with soft dry gra.s.s, and five white eggs are laid.

Though the birds inhabit the Vizcacha village all the year, they seem always to make a fresh hole to breed in every spring, the forsaken holes being given up to the small Swallow, _Atticora cyanoleuca_.

177. GEOBAMON RUFIPENNIS, Burm.

(RED-WINGED MINER.)

+Geobamon rufipennis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 465 (Parana).

_Description._--Above reddish grey-brown; lores, rim round the eye, cheeks, and body below white; breast tinged with yellowish grey; wings blackish brown, inner webs ferruginous, with their tips and outer basal edges pale ferruginous; tail bright ferruginous, with a broad black transverse band near the tip; bill black, base of under mandible and legs pale brown: whole length 70 inches, wing 40, tail 20.

_Hab._ Parana.

This form is unknown to us, and we can only give a short translation of Burmeister's description of it. It is said to resemble _Geositta_, but has a much shorter and perfectly straight beak.

178. FURNARIUS RUFUS (Gm.).

(RED OVEN-BIRD.)

+Furnarius rufus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 462 (La Plata); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 61; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 179 (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 16 (Buenos Ayres).

_Description._--Above earthy brown, with a slight rufescent tinge, wing-feathers blackish, margined with pale brown; whole of the outer secondaries pale brown, like the back; tail and upper tail-coverts bright ferruginous brown; below white, breast and flanks and under wing-coverts pale sandy-brown; under surface of the wing with a broad sandy bar across the basal portion; bill and feet horn-colour: whole length 78 inches, wing 40, tail 28. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.

The Red Oven-bird is an extremely well-known species in Argentina, and, where found, a great favourite on account of its familiarity with man, its loud, ringing, cheerful voice, and its wonderful mud nest, which it prefers to build near a human habitation, often on a cornice, a projecting beam, or on the roof of the house itself.

It is a stout little bird, about 8-1/2 to 9 inches long, with a slender, slightly-curved beak nearly an inch in length, and strong legs suited to its terrestrial habits. The upper plumage is uniform rufous-brown in colour, brightest on the tail; the under surface very light brown. It ranges throughout the Argentine Republic to Bahia Blanca in the south, and is usually named _Hornero_ or _Casera_ (Oven-bird or House-builder), but in Paraguay and Corrientes it is called _Alonzo Garsia_ or _Alonzito_. Azara could give no reason for such a name; but it seems to me that one need not look for one beyond the fact that this species inspires an affectionate admiration in the country people: I mean in those of _Spanish_ origin, for the bird-killing French and Italians have no tenderness for it. I have frequently been a.s.sured by natives that the Hornero is a _pious_ bird, and always suspends its labours on sacred days. With this pretty belief about it in their minds, it is not strange that in some districts they have called it by a human name.

It is resident, pairs for life, and finds its food, which consists of larvae and worms, exclusively on the ground. It delights in open places, where it can move freely about on the ground; and is partial to courtyards, clean garden-walks, &c., where, with head thrown back and bosom prominent, it struts along with an air of great gravity, lifting its foot high at each step, and holding it suspended for a moment in the air before setting it firmly down. I once saw one fly down on to a narrow plank about ten feet long lying out on the wet gra.s.s; it walked gravely to the end of the plank, then turned, and deliberately walked back to the other end, and so on for about twenty times, appearing to take the greatest pleasure in the mere act of promenading on a smooth level surface. When disturbed, the Oven-bird has a loud, monotonous note of alarm or curiosity, which never fails to bring all its fellows within hearing-distance to the spot. The movements of a fox, weasel, or cat in a plantation can always be known from the noisy turmoil among the Oven-birds. At frequent intervals during the day the male and female meet and express their joy in clear, resonant notes sung in concert--a habit common to a very large number of Dendrocolaptine birds, including, I think, all those species which pair for life. In a majority of species this vocal performance merely consists of a succession of confused notes or cries, uttered with great spirit and emphasis; in the Oven-bird it has developed into a kind of harmonious singing. Thus, the first bird, on the appearance of its mate flying to the place of meeting, emits loud measured notes, sometimes a continuous trilling note with a somewhat hollow metallic sound; but immediately on the other bird joining, this introductory pa.s.sage is changed to rapid triplets, strongly accented on the first and last notes, while the second bird utters a series of loud measured notes perfectly according with the triplets of the first. While thus singing they stand facing each other, their necks outstretched, wings hanging, and tails spread, the first bird trembling with its rapid utterances, the second beating on the branch with its wings. The finale consists of three or four notes uttered by the second bird alone, and becoming successively louder and more piercing until the end. There is an infinite variety in the tone in which different couples sing, also in the order in which the different notes are uttered, and even the same couple do not repeat their duet in precisely the same way; but it is always a rhythmical and, to some extent, an harmonious performance, and as the voices have a ringing, joyous character, it always produces a pleasing effect on the mind.

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.