TO IDLE DAYS IN PATAGONIA 



All these Dendrocolaptine birds have an inordi- 

 nate passion for building, and their nests are very 

 much larger than small birds usually make. 

 Where they are abundant the trees and bushes are 

 sometimes laden with their enormous fabrics, so 

 that the thought is forced on one that these busy 

 little architects do assuredly occupy themselves 

 with a vain unprofitable labor. It is not only the 

 case that many a small bird builds a nest as big as 

 a buzzard's, only to contain half a dozen eggs the 

 size of peas, which might very comfortably be 

 hatched in a pill-box; but frequently, when the 

 nest has been finished, the builder sets about de- 

 molishing it to get the materials for constructing 

 a second nest. One very common species, Anum- 

 bius acuticaudatus, variously called in the ver- 

 nacular the thorn-bird, the woodman, and the fire- 

 wood-gatherer, sometimes makes three nests in 

 the course of a year, each composed of a good 

 armful of sticks. The woodman's nest is, how- 

 ever, an insignificant structure compared with 

 that of the obstreperous cachalote mentioned a 

 moment ago. This bird, which is about as large 

 as a missel thrush, selects a low thorny bush with 

 stout wide-spreading branches, and in the center 

 of it builds a domed nest of sticks, perfectly 

 spherical and four or five feet deep. The opening 

 is at the side near the top, and leading to it there 

 is a narrow arched gallery resting on a horizontal 

 branch, and about fourteen inches long. So com- 

 pactly made is this enormous nest that I have 



