486 PASSERIFORMES 



CHAP. 



insects and their larvae are sought upon the ground, and both 

 sexes incubate, the pairs Ivceping together throughout the year. 

 The curious nest (Fig. 105) is placed in exposed situations on 

 branches, in forks of trees or shrubs, on posts, rocks, or house- 

 roofs ; it has thick walls, almost unbreakable when dry, of clayey 

 mud and dung mixed with a little hair or dry grass, a lining of 

 the same materials underlying tlie three to five white eggs. This 

 massive structure has an inner chamber with an outer passage 

 running partly round it, and is generally the work of several 

 months, the materials being only prociirable in damp w^eather. 

 The above refers at least to Furnarius cinnamomeus, F. minor, 

 and F. rufus (the " Hornero " or Baker) ; but White ^ states that 

 F. figulus builds a stick nest, and E. Bartlett ^ that F. torridus 

 deposits four creamy white eggs on twigs and bents in holes in 

 banks. Upucerthia, resembling Geositta in general habits, ranges 

 to an altitude of nine thousand feet. The lively Cinclodes recalls 

 both the Wheatear and the Dipper, as it runs with upturned tail 

 from stone to stone, takes short, low flights, or hunts for crusta- 

 ceans, molluscs, and insects in the water, equally happy on the 

 streams of the Andes, or the desolate lake-sides of Patagonia. The 

 note is a sharp trill, while three white eggs are laid on a bed of 

 grass and fur in holes. Schrurus frequents damp forests, scratch- 

 ing among the leaves, and crouching, when startled, on some trunk. 

 Phloeocryptes flies weakly, but hops actively about reed-beds in 

 pursuit of flies, uttering reiterated grating notes ; it attaches its 

 Wren-like nest of grass or rushes and mud, lined with feathers, 

 moss and hair, to a few of the reed-stems, and builds a projection 

 over the entrance. The two or three oval eggs are glossy blue. The 

 &\\vi\l-\oicediLeptasthenura clings to thebranches in search of insects 

 like a Tit, and lays from three to six pointed white eggs on soft 

 materials in holes in trees, sometimes utilizing nests of Furnarius 

 rufus, Siptornis sordida, and other species. Synallaxis, usually seen 

 in pairs searching for food upon the bushes, has a persistent harsli 

 double call or a cat-like cry ; it forms a loose, oval structure, which 

 would fill an ordinary wheel-barrow, of thorny sticks and twigs in 

 forks of trees, lining it with hair, feathers, woolly leaves,and the like, 

 and often capping it with more leaves. This generally possesses a 

 lower chamber connected by a vertical or horizontal passage with 

 the entrance, itself protected by a tubular fabric; while more than 



1 P.Z.S. 1882, p. 609. - Op. cit. 1873, p. 268. 



