THE RED OVEN BIRD (Furnarius rufus).
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.
The OVEN BIRDS (Furnarius) possess a moderately strong beak, either quite straight or slightly curved, compressed at its sides, and almost equalling the head in length; the blunt wing is of medium size, its third quill is the longest, while its first is considerably, and its second slightly shortened; the short tail is composed of soft feathers; the tarsus is high, and the toes strong; the claws are somewhat hooked, but only the first is of any considerable size. These birds frequent both open woodlands and inhabited districts; they live for the most part on the ground, as their powers of flight and climbing are very limited. Their voice is loud, harsh, and peculiar. The strange nests built by the members of this group, and from which their name is derived, have been described by Azara, the Prince von Wied, Burmeister, Darwin, and other writers. "After passing over the lofty chain of mountains that separate the well-wooded coasts of Brazil from the Campos, travellers are astonished at beholding large, melon-shaped masses of clay standing erect upon the branches of the high trees surrounding the settlers' houses. Were it not for the regularity of their size and shape, a stranger would at once pronounce these masses of clay to be nests built by the termite ants. On closer inspection of one of these the eye detects an oval-shaped hole at the side, and a little patience is rewarded by a sight of the actual inhabitant of this most remarkable nest as he slips in and out of the entrance to his strange abode. This bird, known to us as the Furnarius rufus, is called the João de Barro, or Clay Jack, by the Brazilians." We learn from Darwin that these nests are also placed in such exposed situations as the top of a post, a bare rock, or on a cactus, and are composed of mud and bits of straw. The strong, thick walls in shape precisely resemble an oven, or a depressed bee-hive. The opening is large, 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.
THE RED OVEN BIRD.
The RED OVEN BIRD (Furnarius rufus) is about seven inches long and ten and a half broad; the wing measures three inches and three-quarters, and the tail three inches. The plumage is principally of a reddish yellow; the top of the head brownish red, and the quills brown; the under side is of a lighter tint, and the throat pale white; a bright reddish yellow stripe passes from the eyes to the back of the head; the quills are grey, the primaries edged with pale yellow towards their base, and the tail-feathers yellowish red; the eyes are yellowish brown, the beak brown, except at the whitish base of the lower mandible; the foot is also brown.
These strange birds live in pairs, and but rarely associate, even in small parties. Their food consists of insects and various kinds of seeds, the former, according to Burmeister, being always obtained from the surface of the ground, over which they run and hop with great facility. Nor are their movements less adroit amongst the branches, from whence their most peculiar cry is constantly to be heard as they disport themselves from bough to bough. These birds are regarded with great respect by the Brazilians, on account of a very strange but prevalent idea that they never proceed with their building operations on the Sabbath, a superstitious fancy that we need hardly say has been frequently disproved, but has no doubt arisen from the unusually short time required by this species to complete its remarkable and elaborate home.
"The nest of the Red Oven Bird," says Burmeister, "is usually constructed upon the branch of a tree, and occasionally upon house-tops, steeples, or similar situations. Both male and female unite in the labour of building, and form their nests of round pellets of mud, working each pellet firmly into place, intermixed with small portions of plants, until the foundation is some eight or nine inches high. On each end of this groundwork the birds proceed to erect a side wall of such a form and height as to give the entire mass the appearance of a half-crescent. When this foundation is quite dry a second wall of similar shape is erected within the first. This again is left to dry, and so the work proceeds until the mass has assumed the proper dome-like form, and is six or seven inches in height, eight or nine inches long, and some four or five inches deep. The interior of this remarkable structure (which sometimes weighs as much as nine pounds) is entered by an oval-shaped hole at the side, and is neatly and warmly lined with hay, cotton, wool, feathers, or similar materials. The eggs, from two to four in number, have a white shell, and are incubated by both parents. The first brood is produced early in September, and a second later in the season."