"■Joie J HussEY, Spring Birds of La Plata. 391 



one which I saw at La Plata, is rather rare and is confined to the swampy 

 woods along the river. 



31. Fumarius rufus rufus (Gm.). " Hornero." — The Ovenbird is 

 one of the most common birds in the region about La Plata wherever there 

 is a support for its nest, and its huge mud oven is a very familiar sight 

 when travelling through the country. The oven is usually placed high and 

 in a commanding position, but not invariably. One of the most unusual 

 nest sites I have ever seen was adopted by a pair of these birds : there is a 

 large copy of the Venus of Melos on a large pedestal in a stream about 

 midway between La Plata and Buenos Aires, and a pair of Horneros built 

 their oven between the feet of the goddess! 



32. Phloeocryptes melanops (Vieill.). — A tiny bird, yet not hard to 

 find. It is one of the most common birds in the rushes, where its curious 

 woody creaks and tapping notes are most familiar sounds. The bird is 

 possessed of a great deal of curiosity. 



33. Synallaxis albescens albescens (Temm.). — Several birds either 

 of this species or of S. spixi, possibly of both, were rather frequently met 

 with at Los Talas. Each pair seemed much attached to a particular part 

 of the woods, and could usually be found there. They kept well concealed 

 in dense bushes for the most part, where they were difficult to locate despite 

 their loud persistent song. A nest which I saw one of these birds enter 

 was very large, of thorny sticks in a thorny bush, about four feet from the 

 ground, and had a very narrow and crooked passage leading through the 

 thick front wall to the nest proper. It contained no eggs at the time. 



34. Cranioleuca maluroides (Orb. et Lafr.). — The harsh cackling 

 notes of this bird were not infrequently heard in the marsh, but I was only 

 once able to catch the bird in the act of singing. 



35. Anumbius anumbi (Vieill.). " Lenatero." — The common name 

 of this bird, which may be translated "wood-gatherer," seems particularly 

 appropriate when its nest is seen. These immense stick nests may be found 

 wherever there is suitable support, yet the bird prefers open situations and 

 above all delights in building its home in the top of a slender poplar. Only 

 once did I find a nest in a eucalyptus, and once, on July 25, I found a pair 

 of the Lefiateros starting a nest among the lower branches of an ombii. 



The nest is not always built in trees. In November I found a nest under 

 construction within and around the lattice-work of a semaphore tower 

 beside a railroad. I watched this construction with great interest. First 

 the nest cavity proper was outlined with rather small sticks, then its wall 

 was somewhat thickened before the construction of the passage-way was 

 begun. The wall of the passage way was extended little by little from the 

 original nucleus of the structure ; and when it had reached a length of about 

 ten inches the birds turned their attention to covering the entire outside of 

 the structure with a thick mat of sticks. When the whole had reached 

 about a foot and a half in length and about twelve inches in diameter, it 

 began to interfere with the proper working of the semaphores, and was 

 torn down. 



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