It Is Composed Of Mud And Bits Of Straw, And Has
Strong Thick Walls:
In shape it precisely resembles an oven,
or depressed beehive.
The opening is large and arched,
and directly in front, within the nest, there is a partition,
which reaches nearly to the roof, thus forming a passage
or antechamber to the true nest.
Another and smaller species of Furnarius (F. cunicularius),
resembles the oven-bird in the general reddish tint
of its plumage, in a peculiar shrill reiterated cry, and in an
odd manner of running by starts. From its affinity, the
Spaniards call it Casarita (or little housebuilder), although
its nidification is quite different. The Casarita builds its
nest at the bottom of a narrow cylindrical hole, which is
said to extend horizontally to nearly six feet under ground.
Several of the country people told me, that when boys, they
had attempted to dig out the nest, but had scarcely ever
succeeded in getting to the end of the passage. The bird
chooses any low bank of firm sandy soil by the side of a
road or stream. Here (at Bahia Blanca) the walls round
the houses are built of hardened mud, and I noticed that
one, which enclosed a courtyard where I lodged, was bored
through by round holes in a score of places. On asking the
owner the cause of this he bitterly complained of the little
casarita, several of which I afterwards observed at work.
It is rather curious to find how incapable these birds must
be of acquiring any notion of thickness, for although they
were constantly flitting over the low wall, they continued
vainly to bore through it, thinking it an excellent bank for
their nests.
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