Barrows on Birds of the Lower Uruguay. 
207 
18S3.] 
about one complete turn. It contained two tiny white eggs, 
which were perfectly fresh. Probably more would have been de- 
posited, as most of the other species lay at least three or four. 
83. Synallaxis albescens ( Temm .). — An abundant species 
in thorny hedges of among the masses of dwarfed and spiny 
bushes which cling to each other so tenaciously amid the general 
desolation of the sandy barrens. Its note is almost precisely like 
the common call note of the Pewee ( Say io mis fuscus ). 
The nest varies in shape and detail of construction according 
to the surroundings. It is commonly placed among the thickest 
meshes of a thorny thicket, and its body is of the shape of an egg 
placed with its longer axis vertical and the larger end downward. 
This is a shell made by weaving and locking together twigs and 
thorns of various kinds, and is usually completed by the massing 
of a quantity of decaying twigs of larger size on top — presum- 
ably to keep the whole dry. This body of the nest is from eight 
to twelve inches in height, and the eggs are laid either on the bare 
twigs at the bottom of the cavity, or more rarely on a loose floor- 
ing of wool. Entrance is gained by the bird through a long tube 
which is built on to the nest at a point about half way up the side. 
This tube is formed by the interlocking of thorny twigs, and is 
supported by the branches and twigs about it. It may be straight 
or curved ; -its diameter externally varies from two to four inches, 
and its length from one to two feet. The passageway itself is but 
just large enough to admit the birds one at a time — and it has 
always been a mystery to me how a bird the size of a Chipping 
Sparrow could find its way through one of these slender tubes, 
bristling with thorns, and along which I found it difficult to pass 
a smooth slender twig for more than five or six inches. Yet they 
not only pass in and out easily, but so easily that I was never yet 
able to surprise one in the nest or to see the slightest disturbance 
of it by the bird’s hurried exit. 
The eggs are three or four, light blue, and may be found from 
October until late in December. 
84. Synallaxis phryganophila Vi mil — Larger than the 
preceding and less abundant, but found in similar places. The 
long middle tail feathers, and the black and yellow chin and throat 
markings distinguish it easily among all its relatives. A nest 
containing four white eggs, faintly tinted with blue, was found 
January 26, 1880, in a thorny tree, and some eight feet from the 
