io Idle Days in Patagonia. 



occasionally suspending themselves from the twigs 

 head downwards, after the manner of tits. From 

 the distance at intervals came the piercing cries of 

 the cachalote (Homorus gutturalis) a much larger 

 bird, sounding like bursts of hysterical laughter. 

 All these Dendrocolaptine birds have an inordinate 

 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 archi- 

 tects do assuredly occupy themselves with a vain 

 unprofitable labour. 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 demolishing it to get the 

 materials for constructing a second nest. One 

 very common species, Anumbius acuticaudatus, 

 variously called in the vernacular the thorn-bird, 

 the woodman, and the firewood-gatherer, sometimes 

 makes three nests in the course of a year, each com- 

 posed of a good armful of sticks. The woodman's 

 nest is, however, 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 centre of 

 it builds a domed nest of sticks, perfectly spherical 

 and four or five feet deep. The opening is at the 



