146 INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS 



tunnel. This tunnel is 10 inches long, and is drilled with a 

 slight upward tendency, as is usual with most ground-boring 

 birds. The nest entrance is 2 feet below the surface of 

 the ground, and in a creek bank some 9 feet above the bed 

 of a trickling stream, though with the stream not immedi- 

 ately below the entrance. By this arrangement the young 

 birds are fearlessly able to essay their first flight. Judging 

 by the remains of old vegetable matter at the base of the 

 nest, the hollow has been used in a previous year for the 

 purpose of nesting. 



The nest appears to me as a wonderful piece of archi- 

 tecture when considered it is built in the dark, and not 

 carried whole into the dark cavity. 



The plate of the birds is from a drawing made from 

 specimens by my friend Mr. W. N. Anderson. 



Nest. — A rounded structure made of grass and bark, open 

 at or near the top. It is placed at the enlarged end of a 

 drill in the bank of a creek, or in the hollow of a tree. 



Eggs. — Three to five, white. Length, 0'65 inch ; breadth, 

 55 inch. 



