The Woodhewer Family. 245 



Synallaxis many species have no tubular passage- 

 ways attached to their nests. One species — ery- 

 throthorax — in Yucatan, makes so large a nest of 

 sticks, that the natives do not believe that so small 

 a bird can be the builder. They say that when the 

 tzapatan begins to sing, all the birds in the forest 

 repair to it, each one carrying a stick to add to the 

 structure ; only one, a tyrant-bird, brings two sticks, 

 one for itself and one for the urubu or vulture, that 

 bird being considered too lai^ge, heavy, and igno- 

 rant of architecture to assist personally in the 

 work. 



In the southern part of South America, where 

 scattered thorn trees grow on a dry soil, these big 

 nests are most abundant. " There are plains," Mr. 

 Barrows writes, " within two miles of the centre of 

 this town (Concepcion, Argentine Eepublic), where 

 I have stood and counted, from one point within a 

 radius of twenty rods, over two hundred of these 

 curious nests, varying in size from that of a small 

 pumpkin to more than the volume of a barrel. 

 Often a single tree will contain half a dozen nests 

 or more ; and, not unfrequently, the nests of several 

 different species are seen crowding each other out 

 of shape on the same bush or tree." 



It would be a mistake to think that the widely 

 different nesting habits I have mentioned are found 

 in different genera. I have just spoken of the big 

 stick nests, with or without passage-ways, of the 

 Synallaxes, yet the nest of one member of this 

 group is simply a small straight tube of woven 

 grass, the aperture only large enough to admit the 

 middle finger, and open at both ends, so that the 



