36 Mr. H. Durnford on some Birds observed 
than nine inches y but with these exceptions it was exactly 
like the nests found on the 1st inst. The eggs, two in num¬ 
ber, are of the same length as the last mentioned, but slightly 
broader. There were several nests of the same character, 
viz. with a passage, in the neighbourhood. 
On the 26th I shot a Synallwis sordida , which proved 
to be a male, at the same time seeing another leave one of 
the nests without a passage. 
The result of these observations may be shortly summarized 
as follows:— 
We have two distinct classes of nests of Synallaxis, which 
we will call A and B (A being those having no passage to 
the nest, B those with this addition), both common, both 
built in precisely similar places, but those of one class never 
found in the vicinity of those of the other. In three or four 
instances S. patagonica is seen to leave nests classed A, and 
in one case a nest classed B. A S. sordida in one in¬ 
stance is seen to leave a nest classed A. The eggs from 
two A nests differ T of an inch in length and breadth from 
each other; and seen lying side by side it is difficult to imagine 
they can both belong to the same species; at the same time 
two eggs from a B nest, and from which a S. sordida was 
flushed, are of the same size as the larger sitting of eggs from 
one of the A nests. These apparent discrepancies are diffi¬ 
cult to reconcile. Can it be that the two species construct 
nests of such very different characters, and that each is pa¬ 
rasitic on the other ? 
Both have very similar habits, when frightened creeping 
into the thickest part of the bush, and when driven from that 
shelter only flying as far as the next one. 
Synallaxis hudsoni, Scl. 
Not uncommon. Found in dry places in the valley, but 
not seen on the hills, and appears to live on the ground. On 
the 5th November I shot a male. 
Homorus gutturalis. 
On the 27th November I saw a pair of these birds on the 
hills about four miles to the south-west of the village, and 
