HOMORUS GUTTURALIS. 197 



213. HOMORUS GUTTURALIS (d'Orb. et Lafr.). 

 (WHITE-THROATED CACHALOTE.) 



Anabates gutturalis, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 467 (Mendoza). Homo- 

 rus gutturalis, Scl. et Sale. Nomencl. p. 65; Hudson, P. Z. S. 1872, p. r,J", 

 (Rio Negro); id. Ibis, 1885, p. 284; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 36, et 1878, 

 p. 396 (Chupat, Central Patagonia). 



Description. Nearly uniform earthy grey, faintly tinged with olivaceous 

 brown above, and much paler beneath ; lores and upper part of throat pure 

 white, lower part of throat black, or white and black mixed ; under wing- 

 coverts white, faintly tinged with pale cinnamon ; beak and feet bluish grey : 

 whole length 9*4 inches, wing 4-0, tail 3'2. Female similar. 



Bab. Patagonia. 



I found this bird quite common on the dry open plains in the 

 neighbourhood of the Rio Negro in Patagonia. In size, form, and 

 crest it is like the northern Cachalote, but lias a white throat, while 

 the rest of the plumage is of a pale earthy brown instead of rufous. 

 Like the Brown Cachalote it is also shy in disposition, and, being so dull 

 in colour and without the bright beak and eye tints, has not the bold, 

 striking appearance of that species; still I do not think any ornitho- 

 logist can meet with it and fail to be strongly impressed with its 

 personality, if such a word can be applied to a bird. 



Dendrocolaptine birds are, as a rule, builders of big nests and very 

 noisy ; H. gutturalis is, I believe, the loudest screamer and greatest 

 builder of the family. Male and female live together in the same 

 locality all the year; the young, when able to fly, remain with their 

 parents till the breeding-season, so that the birds are found occasionally 

 in pairs, but more frequently in families of five or six individuals. 

 When feeding they scatter about, each bird attaching itself to a large 

 bush, scraping and prodding for insects about the roots; and at 

 intervals one of the old birds, ascending a bush, summons the others 

 with loud shrill cries, on which they all hurry to the place of meeting, 

 and from the summits of the bushes burst forth in a piercing chorus, 

 which sounds at a distance like screams of hysterical laughter. At one 

 place, where I spent some months, there were some bushes over a mile 

 and a quarter from the house I lived in, where these birds used to hold 

 frequent meetings, and in that still atmosphere I could distinctly hear 

 their extravagant cries at this distance. After each performance they 

 pursue each other, passing from bush to bush with a wild jerky flight, 

 and uttering harsh angry notes. 



They select a low, strong, wide-spreading bush to build in ; the nest, 

 which is made of stout sticks, is perfectly spherical and four to five feet 

 deep, the chamber inside being very large. The opening is at the side 



