284 Mr. W. H. Hudson on Birds of the Genus 



subtropical wood fringing the low shores of the river Plata, 

 and this shows that the bird comes to us from the north. 

 Possibly its true home is somewhere in the South-Brazilian 

 subregion. 



When surprised its white eye, blue dagger-like beak, and 

 raised crest give it a strikingly bold angry appearance, the 

 effect of which is heightened by the harsh rasping scream it 

 utters when disturbed. This resentful look is decej)tive, 

 however, for the bird is the shyest creature imaginable. Its 

 language has the shrill excited character common to this 

 most loquacious family; and at intervals throughout the 

 day two birds, male and female, meet together and make 

 the woods echo with their screaming concert. For many 

 weeks after I had become familiar with these loud-sovmdiug 

 notes, while collecting in the littoral forest where it is found, 

 the bird was still to me only a " wandering voice ;" but I 

 did not give up the pursuit till 1 had seen it several times 

 and had also secured two or three specimens. I found one 

 nest, though without eggs, a rough-looking domed struc- 

 ture, made with material enough to fill a barrow. I also 

 discovered that the bird feeds exclusively on the ground, 

 close to the boles of low-branching trees, where there is 

 usually an accumulation of fallen bark, dead leaves, and 

 other rubbish. Here the bird digs with its sharp beak for 

 the small insects it preys on. When approached it does not 

 fly away, but runs swiftly to the nearest tree, behind the 

 trunk of which it hides, then scuttles on to the next tree, 

 and so escapes without showing itself. 



2. HoMORUs GUTTURALis (d'Orb. et Lafr.). 



I found this bird quite common on the dry open plains in 

 the neighbourhood of the Patagoniaii Rio Negro. It avoids 

 close thickets. Like the northern Homorus, it is shy, and 

 being paler-plumaged and without the bright beak and eye- 

 tints, has not the bold striking appearance of that bird ; still 

 I do not think any ornithologist can meet with it and fail to 

 be strongly impressed with its personality, if such a word 

 can be applied to a bird. Dendrocolaptine birds are, as a 



