334 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



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 dis- 

 tinctly hear their extravagant cries at that distance. 

 After each performance they pursue each other, 

 passing from bush to bush with a wild jerky flight, 

 and uttering harsh excited 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, near the top, and is approached by a narrow 



