STOBIES OF SOUTH AMERICAN BIRDS 



2(il 



great gniss nests of tlie yellow-bieasted Hy- 

 eatchers in the tops of the low trees. 



One of the most interesting South American 

 nests I have found is that of the two-banded 

 Bucco or puff bird. This species has the ex- 

 traor(Hnary haljit of excavating into occupied 

 nests of the common termite, or white ant, 

 of the region (whose nests are so conspicuous 

 in many of the forest trees). The Bucco 

 usually makes the entrance to its nest in the 

 middle of the side of the termite nest, the 

 tunnel jiassing backward and upward for 

 nearly the entire diameter of the termite 

 dwelling, and ending in a slightly enlarged 

 spherical chamber about fifteen centimeters 

 in diameter — the entrance tunnel being only 

 about one-half that width. No nesting ma- 

 terial is carried in, th(> eggs being deposited 

 on the debris at the bottom of the nest cavity. 

 It has always been a mystery to me how the 

 birds were able to carry on their work of ex- 

 cavation, because termites, at the slightest 

 disturbance, swarm out in countless thou- 

 sands, and I cannot conceive how any living 

 object could endure being covered by these 

 viciously biting little insects. Another prob- 

 lem I have not been able to solve is how the 

 yoimg birds, particularly immediately after 

 being hatched, could possibly survive. 



No less curious ai"e the bed-fellows some of 

 the jacamars have in their nests. Somewhat 

 kingfisher-like in form, but decidedly more like 

 humming birds in plumage, the jacamars 

 construct their nests after the manner of the 

 kingfishers, that is by excavating a hole in the 

 bank of a stream, or in an embankment of any 

 sort, carrying their tunnel back for a distance 

 of about a yard from its entrance, and usually 

 slanting it slightly upward so that water is 

 prevented from running down into the cavity 

 and accumulating there. No soft lining is 

 taken into these nests, but great quantities 

 of beetles and other insects are deposited 

 around the eggs after they have been laid, 

 or the eggs are deposited on the insect mass 

 after it has been taken in. After the insect 

 mass has remained for some time in the nest 

 cavity, flies are attracted by the decaying 

 bodies. As a result maggots develop, and 

 I have found the eggs resting on a squirm- 

 ing, writhing mass of maggots! There are 

 many natural history problems here pre- 

 sented. Does the parent jacamar incubate 

 the eggs sitting on the top of this mass of 

 maggots, or is the heat from this writhing 

 mass sufficient to induce incubation? If the; 



Nest of broad-billed yellow flycatcher. Brown, 

 black, and gray nests of this species were found, 

 seeming to indicate exercise of individual taste by 

 Iheir builders. — Nest of fox-red spinetail in a mass 

 of drift grass; unlike nests of other spinetail species 



