VII DENDROCOLAPTIDAE 487 
one nest is often found in the same tree. The three or four eggs 
are pale greenish-blue or whitish. Siptornis sordida appears to 
have similar habits, but several of its congeners run like mice; 
or conceal themselves in herbage or holes, the marsh-loving 
species uttering very whirring notes. S. sulphurifera fabricates 
a domed nest of grass among rushes, and lays two white eges; 
that of S. maluroides is open, and lined with feathers and wool, 
though the site is similar; that of S. striaticeps resembles the 
last-mentioned, but is placed in a tree-fork and contains four or 
five white eggs. S. hudsoni arches the grass over a hollow in 
the ground in open spots, and deposits five pale buff eggs on 
a little powdered dung; its flight is Pipit-like, and its cry 
melancholy. Phacellodomus, usually found in hot dry valleys, is 
sluggish, and has a shrill, harsh voice; the nest, containing four 
white eggs, being hung from the end of a branch, and recalling 
that of Synallaxis. Xenops, Sittosomus, Picolaptes, Xiphorhynchus, 
Pseudocolaptes, and many other forms are denizens of damp 
forests, and run up the tree-trunks spirally like Creepers, search- 
ing for prey and tapping the bark as Woodpeckers do; the 
cries are plaintive or noisy, and the white eggs, apparently two 
in number, are laid in holes. Large insects are sometimes 
battered upon the branches. -Anwmbius acuticaudus, the “'Thorn- 
bird” or “ Firewood Gatherer,” makes a bulky nest some two 
feet high of thorny sticks, and places it in isolated trees. From 
an entrance near the top a spiral or zigzag passage leads to a 
lower cavity lined with grass, hair, feathers, and wool, where five 
pointed white eggs are deposited; while sometimes an upper 
roosting chamber is added. This bird utters ticking chirps or 
trills, and feeds mainly upon the ground, regaining the branches 
with difficulty. Homorus lophotes, the “ Cachalote,” with its 
strikingly white eyes and blue beak, haunts plains with scattered 
trees or bushes, being decidedly shy and quick of foot, though 
weak of flight; it eats insects, and turns up the earth with 
its bill or claws. MRasping cries are often emitted in concert ; 
while the nest—even larger than that of Anwmbius—is a loose 
mass of similar structure, placed on some low branch or in a 
bush, the three or four white eggs occasionally shewing through 
the bottom. Drymornis, again, has Woodpecker-like habits, 
whereas Limnornis and Limnophyes creep about dense reed-beds, 
and only appear now and then to utter jarring or chattering sounds. 
