(WHITE-THROATED CACHALOTE.)
+Anabates gutturalis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 467 (Mendoza).
+Homorus gutturalis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 65; _Hudson,
P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 545 (Rio Negro); _id. Ibis_, 1885, p. 284;
_Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 36, et 1878, p. 396 (Chupat, Central
Patagonia).
_Description._--Nearly uniform earthy grey, faintly tinged with
olivaceous brown above, and much paler beneath; lores and upper part
of throat pure white, lower part of throat black, or white and black
mixed; under wing-coverts white, faintly tinged with pale cinnamon;
beak and feet bluish grey: whole length 9·4 inches, wing 4·0, tail
3·2. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Patagonia.
I found this bird quite common on the dry open plains in the
neighbourhood of the Rio Negro in Patagonia. In size, form, and crest
it is like the northern Cachalote, but has a white throat, while the
rest of the plumage is of a pale earthy brown instead of rufous. Like
the Brown Cachalote it is also shy in disposition, and, being so dull
in colour and without the bright beak and eye tints, has not the
bold, striking appearance of that species; still I do not think any
ornithologist can meet with it and fail to be strongly impressed with
its personality, if such a word can be applied to a bird.
Dendrocolaptine birds are, as a rule, builders of big nests and very
noisy; _H. gutturalis_ is, I believe, the loudest screamer and greatest
builder of the family. Male and female live together in the same
locality all the year; the young, when able to fly, remain with
their parents till the breeding-season, so that the birds are found
occasionally in pairs, but more frequently in families of five or six
individuals. When feeding they scatter about, each bird attaching itself
to a large bush, scraping and prodding for insects about the roots; and
at intervals one of the old birds, ascending a bush, summons the others
with loud shrill cries, on which they all hurry to the place of meeting,
and from the summits of the bushes burst forth in a piercing chorus,
which sounds at a distance like screams of hysterical laughter. At one
place, where I spent some months, there were some bushes over a mile
and a quarter from the house I lived in, where these birds used to hold
frequent meetings, and in that still atmosphere I could distinctly hear
their extravagant cries at this distance. After each performance they
pursue each other, passing from bush to bush with a wild jerky flight,
and uttering harsh angry notes.
They select a low, strong, wide-spreading bush to build in; the nest,
which is made of stout sticks, is perfectly spherical and four to five
feet deep, the chamber inside being very large. The opening is at the
side near the top, and is approached by a narrow arched gallery, neatly
made of slender sticks resting along a horizontal branch, and about
fourteen inches long. This peculiar entrance, no doubt, prevents the
intrusion of snakes and small mammals. So strongly made is the nest that
I have stood on the dome of one and stamped on it with my foot without
injuring it in the least, and to demolish one I had to force my
gun-barrel into it, then prize it up by portions. I examined about a
dozen of these enormous structures, but they were all met with before
or after the laying season, so that I did not see the eggs.