"The genus Furnarius contains several species, all small birds, living on the ground, and inhabiting open dry countries. In structure they cannot be compared to any European form. Ornithologists have generally included them among the creepers, although opposed to that family in every habit. The best known species is the common oven-bird of La Plata, the Casara or housemaker of the Spaniards. The nest, whence it takes its name, is place in the most exposed situations, as on top of a post, a bare rock, or on a cactus. It is composed of mud and bits of straw, and has strong thick walls: in shape it precisely resembles an oven, or depressed beehive." Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle
This is the closest Darwin comes to antbirds in his writing that I've come across. What a pity he didn't come across them with an army ant swarm. The ovenbirds were in the Amazon but I don't recall seeing a single nest at the time. Much has been published on ovenbirds and their nests. These aren't the ovenbirds in North America that are actually warblers but the Neotropical ovenbirds are among the ancestral lineages of passerines. Thus, understanding their biology in the context of other passerines and non-passerines my give some insight into why passerines became so successful in the sense that they are the most species rich avian order.
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| http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/rufous-hornero-furnarius-rufus/bird-inside-nest |
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