VI DENDROCOLAPTIDAE 485 
Siptornis albiceps being white. The bill may be red, or excep- 
tionally the feet white, as in Furnarius leucopus. Crests are 
found in F#. eristatus, Synallaxis semicinerea, Coryphistera, and 
Hlomorus. The sexes, as far as known, are similar. The large 
Drymornis bridgest is over a foot long, but many forms are not 
half that size, and most are comparatively small. 
The habits are extremely diverse. Geositta cunicularia flits 
along low and swiftly, hke a Wheatear, with the tail in motion, 
or crouches and runs before the pedestrian, uttering a note re- 
sembling “ piti-piti,” varied by a ringing trill. It frequents bare 
Fic. 105.—Nest of Oven-bird (Furnarius). xt. 
spots, and bores oblique tunnels in biscacha burrows, sandy banks, 
or mud walls, ending in cavities lined with soft grasses, where it 
lays five white eggs. The food consists of seeds, insects, and 
their larvae, the bill being commonly used to dig.  Lochmias 
nematura fills a similar hole with a large-domed nest of twigs and 
roots, lined with leaves, which contains two white eggs. The Oven- 
birds (Furnarius) run or hop unconcernedly among the wayfarers 
with the head thrown back, or pause with one foot uplifted ; 
they utter incessant and loud, but not unmelodious, cries with 
the beak outstretched, which are even heard at night.' Worms, 
1 Duets are said to be sung; ef. Hudson Argentine Ornithology, i. 1888, p. 168. 
