670 OVEN-BIRD 
It seeks no concealment, for its wonderful nest! is placed in the 
most conspicuous situations, on the top of a post, a bare rock or a 
leafless branch, being a massive structure with strong thick walls, 
composed of mud mixed with bits of straw or fibres, roughly 
‘“\ ‘ort 
“ 
Ne Pek 
A cpilgg  e 
SrcTion OF OVEN-BIRD’s NEST. 
globular in form with an upright opening in front whence a 
partition extends nearly to the back, forming an ante-chamber to 
the portion which contains the 4 or 5 white eggs, laid on a bed of 
soft dry grass. The habits of this species have been mentioned 
by Mr. Darwin (Nat. Voy. chap. v.) and described at some length 
by Mr. Hudson (4rgent. Orn. 1. pp. 167-170), beside Durnford (Lis, 
GEOBATES, GEOSITTA. 
(After Swainson.) 
1877, p. 179) and Mr. E. Gibson (op. cié. 1880, pp. 16-18), to say 
nothing of Burmeister (Syst. Uebers. Th. Brasil: Vogel, iti. pp. 3, 4) 
and Dorbigny (Voy. Amér. Meérid. Ois. p. 250). 
Alhed to /urnarius are the genera Geobates and Geositta, of which 
' Not many figures of this have been given. There is one, such as a child 
might draw, in Molina’s Compendio (tav. 2, Bologna: 1776), and that in a 
Natural History (iv. p. 113) edited by Duncan is hardly more instructive; 
Dr. Goldi’s figures (Zool. Gart. 1886, pp. 268, 271) are fair, 
