RED THORN-BIRD 229 
builds a large oblong nest of sticks, about two. feet 
deep, and placed obliquely among the thorny twigs 
of a bush or low tree. Mr. Barrows writes: “ There 
are commonly two cavities in the nest, one being half 
open to the weather, and forming the entrance, the 
other further back and connected with the former 
by only a short passage-way, which in many cases is 
reduced to a simple hole through a broad partition, 
which alone separates them.” The eggs are four and 
of a pure white. 
The bird described is one of a group of four 
species found in Argentina. Of these the smallest 
and most interesting in its nesting habits is the 
Whistling Thorn-bird, Phacellodomus sibilatrix. 
It inhabits the thorny woods of the northern 
districts of the Argentine country, but I have no 
reason to regret that I have not personally observed 
this species, since Mr. Barrows’ careful account of 
its nesting-habits leaves nothing to be desired. He 
writes: “An abundant species among the open 
woods along the Uruguay, and hardly distinguish- 
able at ten paces from half a dozen others. Its 
nest, however, is unmistakable. The birds begin by 
fixing a few crooked and thorny twigs among the 
terminal sprays of some slender branch which juts 
out horizontally from a tree, or rises obliquely from 
near its base, and around these twigs as a nucleus 
more are gathered, until by the time the nest has 
reached the proper size, its weight has bent the 
branch so that its tip points directly to the earth. 
Nests which are thus begun at a distance of fifteen 
