: Argentine Ornithology, Volume I (of 2), P. L Sclater, W. H Hudson [best authors to read txt] 📗

178. FURNARIUS RUFUS (Gm.). (RED OVEN-BIRD.)

 

+Furnarius rufus+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 462 (La Plata);

      _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 61; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 179

      (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 16 (Buenos Ayres).

 

    _Description._--Above earthy brown, with a slight rufescent tinge,

    wing-feathers blackish, margined with pale brown; whole of the outer

    secondaries pale brown, like the back; tail and upper tail-coverts

    bright ferruginous brown; below white, breast and flanks and under

    wing-coverts pale sandy-brown; under surface of the wing with a

    broad sandy bar across the basal portion; bill and feet horn-colour:

    whole length 7·8 inches, wing 4·0, tail 2·8. _Female_ similar.

 

_Hab._ Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.

 

The Red Oven-bird is an extremely well-known species in Argentina, and,

where found, a great favourite on account of its familiarity with man,

its loud, ringing, cheerful voice, and its wonderful mud nest, which

it prefers to build near a human habitation, often on a cornice, a

projecting beam, or on the roof of the house itself.

 

It is a stout little bird, about 8-1/2 to 9 inches long, with a slender,

slightly-curved beak nearly an inch in length, and strong legs suited

to its terrestrial habits. The upper plumage is uniform rufous-brown in

colour, brightest on the tail; the under surface very light brown. It

ranges throughout the Argentine Republic to Bahia Blanca in the south,

and is usually named _Hornero_ or _Casera_ (Oven-bird or House-builder),

but in Paraguay and Corrientes it is called _Alonzo Garsia_ or

_Alonzito_. Azara could give no reason for such a name; but it seems

to me that one need not look for one beyond the fact that this species

inspires an affectionate admiration in the country people: I mean in

those of _Spanish_ origin, for the bird-killing French and Italians have

no tenderness for it. I have frequently been assured by natives that the

Hornero is a _pious_ bird, and always suspends its labours on sacred

days. With this pretty belief about it in their minds, it is not strange

that in some districts they have called it by a human name.

 

It is resident, pairs for life, and finds its food, which consists

of larvæ and worms, exclusively on the ground. It delights in open

places, where it can move freely about on the ground; and is partial to

courtyards, clean garden-walks, &c., where, with head thrown back and

bosom prominent, it struts along with an air of great gravity, lifting

its foot high at each step, and holding it suspended for a moment in

the air before setting it firmly down. I once saw one fly down on to a

narrow plank about ten feet long lying out on the wet grass; it walked

gravely to the end of the plank, then turned, and deliberately walked

back to the other end, and so on for about twenty times, appearing to

take the greatest pleasure in the mere act of promenading on a smooth

level surface. When disturbed, the Oven-bird has a loud, monotonous note

of alarm or curiosity, which never fails to bring all its fellows within

hearing-distance to the spot. The movements of a fox, weasel, or cat

in a plantation can always be known from the noisy turmoil among the

Oven-birds. At frequent intervals during the day the male and female

meet and express their joy in clear, resonant notes sung in concert--a

habit common to a very large number of Dendrocolaptine birds, including,

I think, all those species which pair for life. In a majority of species

this vocal performance merely consists of a succession of confused notes

or cries, uttered with great spirit and emphasis; in the Oven-bird it

has developed into a kind of harmonious singing. Thus, the first bird,

on the appearance of its mate flying to the place of meeting, emits loud

measured notes, sometimes a continuous trilling note with a somewhat

hollow metallic sound; but immediately on the other bird joining, this

introductory passage is changed to rapid triplets, strongly accented on

the first and last notes, while the second bird utters a series of loud

measured notes perfectly according with the triplets of the first. While

thus singing they stand facing each other, their necks outstretched,

wings hanging, and tails spread, the first bird trembling with its rapid

utterances, the second beating on the branch with its wings. The finale

consists of three or four notes uttered by the second bird alone, and

becoming successively louder and more piercing until the end. There is

an infinite variety in the tone in which different couples sing, also in

the order in which the different notes are uttered, and even the same

couple do not repeat their duet in precisely the same way; but it is

always a rhythmical and, to some extent, an harmonious performance, and

as the voices have a ringing, joyous character, it always produces a

pleasing effect on the mind.

 

In favourable seasons the Oven-birds begin building in the autumn, and

the work is resumed during the winter whenever there is a spell of mild

wet weather. Some of their structures are finished early in winter,

others not until spring, everything depending on the weather and the

condition of the birds. In cold dry weather, and when food is scarce,

they do not work at all. The site chosen is a stout horizontal branch,

or the top of a post, and they also frequently build on a cornice or

the roof of a house; and sometimes, but rarely, on the ground. The

material used is mud, with the addition of horsehair or slender fibrous

rootlets, which make the structure harder and prevent it from cracking.

I have frequently seen a bird, engaged in building, first pick up a

thread or hair, then repair to a puddle, where it was worked into a

pellet of mud about the size of a filbert, then carried to the nest.

When finished the structure is shaped outwardly like a baker's oven,

only with a deeper and narrower entrance. It is always placed very

conspicuously, and with the entrance facing a building, if one be near,

or if at a roadside it looks toward the road; the reason for this being,

no doubt, that the bird keeps a cautious eye on the movements of people

near it while building, and so leaves the nest opened and unfinished on

that side until the last, and there the entrance is necessarily formed.

When the structure has assumed the globular form with only a narrow

opening, the wall on one side is curved inwards, reaching from the floor

to the dome, and at the inner extremity an aperture is left to admit the

bird to the interior or second chamber, in which the eggs are laid. A

man's hand fits easily into the first or entrance chamber, but cannot

be twisted about so as to reach the eggs in the interior cavity, the

entrance being so small and high up. The interior is lined with dry soft

grass, and five white pear-shaped eggs are laid. The _oven_ is a foot or

more in diameter, and is sometimes very massive, weighing eight or

nine pounds, and so strong that, unless loosened by the swaying of the

branch, it often remains unharmed for two or three years. The birds

incubate by turns, and when one returns from the feeding-ground it sings

its loud notes, on which the sitting bird rushes forth to join in the

joyous chorus, and then flies away, the other taking its place on the

eggs. The young are exceedingly garrulous, and when only half-fledged

may be heard practising trills and duets in their secure oven, in shrill

tremulous voices, which change to the usual hunger-cry of young birds

when the parent enters with food. After leaving the nest, the old and

young birds live for two or three months together, only one brood being

raised in each year. A new oven is built every year, and I have more

than once seen a second oven built on the top of the first, when this

has been placed very advantageously, as on a projection and against a

wall.

 

A very curious thing occurred at the estancia house of a neighbour of

mine in Buenos Ayres one spring. A pair of Oven-birds built their oven

on a beam-end projecting from the wall of a rancho. One morning one of

the birds was found caught in a steel trap placed the evening before

for rats, and both of its legs were crushed above the knee. On being

liberated it flew up to and entered the oven, where it bled to death,

no doubt, for it did not come out again. Its mate remained two days,

calling incessantly, but there were no other birds of its kind in the

place, and it eventually disappeared. Three days later it returned with

a new mate, and immediately the two birds began carrying pellets of mud

to the oven, with which they plastered up the entrance. Afterwards

they built a second oven, using the sepulchre of the dead bird for its

foundation, and here they reared their young. My neighbour, an old

native, had watched the birds from the time the first oven was begun,

feeling greatly interested in their diligent ways, and thinking their

presence at his house a good omen; and it was not strange that, after

witnessing the entombment of one that died, he was more convinced than

ever that the little House-builders are "pious birds."

179. FURNARIUS TRICOLOR, Cab. (CRESTED OVEN-BIRD.)

 

+Furnarius tricolor+, _Cab. Journ. f. Orn._ 1878, p. 196 (Cordova).

      +Furnarius figulus+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 609 (?).

 

    _Description._--Above nearly uniform earthy brown, head slightly

    crested; tail bright ferruginous; beneath paler, throat pure white;

    middle of belly and crissum white; under surface of wings blackish,

    with a transverse bar of pale cinnamon; bill hazel, paler at the

    base; feet blackish: whole length 5·7 inches, wing 2·8, tail 2·2.

 

_Hab._ Cordova.

 

This pretty little species is a recent discovery of Döring in the

Sierras of Cordova; it may be at once recognized by its small size and

crested head.

180. UPUCERTHIA DUMETORIA (Geoffr. et d'Orb.). (PATAGONIAN EARTH-CREEPER.)

 

+Ochetorhynchus dumetorius+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 463

      (Mendoza). +Upucerthia dumetoria+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p.

      62; _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 544 (Rio Negro); _Durnford,

      Ibis_, 1877, p. 35, et 1878, p. 395 (Chupat); _White, P. Z. S._

      1883, p. 433 (Cordova).

 

    _Description._--Above earthy brown; long superciliary stripe pale

    ochraceous; wings blackish, with a broad transverse cinnamomeous

    bar; tail blackish, lateral rectrices tipped with pale cinnamon;

    beneath dirty white, clear white on the throat and middle of the

    belly; breast-feathers margined with blackish; under wing-coverts

    pale cinnamomeous; bill dark horn-colour, pale at the base; feet

    horn-colour: whole length 9·0 inches, wing 4·0, tail 3·5. _Female_

    similar.

 

_Hab._ Patagonia and