BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 275 



less alarmed, and in the dense scrub were easily overlooked. It 

 was not unusual to see them feeding on open ground among thorny 

 bushes where, like an ovenbird, they walked about with long strides. 

 When startled they rise at once into the limbs of the trees where 

 they clamber quickly away until they are concealed behind twigs or 

 leaves. Frequently they work rapidly along, flying from tree to 

 tree, until they are lost to view. In fact, when thoroughly alarmed 

 it is difficult to keep near them, so artful are they in seeking a 

 screen behind which they may move rapidly away without being 

 observed. Though not breeding at this season, they spent con- 

 siderable time about nests, constructed of sticks, placed at low 

 elevations in the trees. The little bands frequently rested in close 

 proximity to these structures, or when not too much alarmed hopped 

 or climbed rapidly to shelter behind them, where they rested in a 

 crouching attitude with crest erect and head turning quickly from 

 side to side. Their need for protection from sight was obvio.us 

 since the light, streaked color pattern and the erect crest made them 

 very conspicuous. When alarmed they gave a sputtering metallic 

 rattle that was very peculiar. 



The stick nests that they frequented were 300 mm. in diameter, 

 globular in form, with an entrance through a small tunnel that 

 led into one side. The nests were strongly made with thorny, 

 crooked twigs so interwoven that it was difficult to open them for 

 examination. The twigs used were often 300 mm. or over long and 

 as large around as a pencil. The birds delighted in resting in the 

 entrance tunnel or in clambering about over the top. On April 12 

 I observed three busy with the arrangement of a few small twigs 

 about the entrance to one of these domiciles, a labor that was ac- 

 companied by odd chattering and trilling notes. These changed 

 to the sputtering alarm note as soon as I was "sighted and the whole 

 part}^ moved rapidly away. 



In the collections of the United States National Museum there 

 is a specimen secured in February, 1860, on the Rio Bermejo. 



ANUMBIUS ANNUMBI (Vieillot) 



Furnarius annumM Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., vol. 12, 1817, p. 

 117. (Paraguay.) 



The present species, the one usually indicated by the name 

 leiiatero^ though that designation is applied to all of the tracheo- 

 phones that build stick nests, was recorded and skins were col- 

 lected as follows: Kilometer 182, Formosa, August 21, 1920; For- 

 mosa, Formosa, August 23 (adult male) and 24 (adult female) ; 

 Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay, September 3 (adult male) ; Kilometer 

 80, west of Puerto Pinasco, September 6 to 18 (adult male, Sep- 



