376 A VES— ORDER PASSERIFORMES. 



known, but they appear to make their nests in trees and bushes, some of 

 them being pensile, and suspended in a forked branch near the extremity of 

 a bough. The eggs, according to Mr. Salvin, vary greatly, from rich dark- 

 greenish blue to a mottled mahogany colour, and many are pure white, or are 

 white with few or many spots. Although commonly known as "ant "-birds 

 whence also their scientific name, it is now believed that the ^ormicariida 

 do not eat ants, but only feed on the insects driven up by the swarms of 

 foraging-ants (Echiton). 



The GonopophagidcB consist of a couple of genera, with eleven species, 

 found in South America, from Colombia to South-Eastern Brazd and Bolivia. 

 Tliey bear a general resemblance to the Formicariidce, but have four posterior 

 notches in the sternum. 



The tapacolas, or Pteroptochidce, are a family of small wren-like birds, 

 occurring in the Andes of Ecuador and Colombia, but more plentifully re- 

 presented in Chili and Patagonia. 



In the AtricMidcR the sternum is single-notched, and they have a rudi- 

 mentary f urcula or " merry-thought." The wings are so small that the power 

 of flight must be very limited, and the planta tarsi is scaled 

 Tlie Scrub-Birds, like that of a lark. Only two species are known, both from 

 — Family Australia. Of the noisy scrub-bird (Atrichia clamosa), whom 



Atrichiidce. Gilbert discovered in Western Australia, Gould says that 

 it is a very difficult bird to find among the tangled beds of 

 dwarf-ferna and dense thickets, and is only detected by its peculiar and 

 noisy note. 



