Cassell's book of birds; vol. 3Brehm, Alfred Edmund
Science
Cassell's book of birds; vol. 3
Brehm, Alfred Edmund
Birds
The Prince von Wied tells us he only met with these elegant little birds
upon the arid interior highland tracts of Geroes and Bahia, where they
inhabited the open country, and passed their time in hopping or flying
from one bush or tree to another. As regards its nidification, the Prince
von Wied remarks, "I found the nests of the _Phacellodomus rufifrons_
about February; they were usually suspended on the low, slender branches
of high trees. Those I saw are best described as large oval bundles,
often more than three feet long, and formed of thin twigs heaped together
and interwoven with each other, or fastened together by a variety of
materials. The interior was filled with small bundles of moss, hair,
wool, or fibres interlaced, so as to form a warm and compact lining. The
small round hole that serves as an entrance is situated at the bottom of
this suspended mass, so that the birds ascend from below into their huge
domicile. Year by year these nests are added to and enlarged until at
last it is not uncommon to find that they have so increased in size as
to render it a difficult task for a man to stir one of them. On opening
a nest of this description a row of chambers is seen, under the one last
made." These ancient apartments are, we believe, frequently employed as
retiring-rooms for the male parent. Swainson tells us that these strange
and shapeless masses are very conspicuous features in the landscape.
The brood usually consists of four eggs, which are round in shape, and
generally of a pure white.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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