Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS

THE FREE-TOED PERCHING BIRDS

THE PLANT CUTTERS

(Family Phytotomida)
Having the tarsal covering pycnaspidean as in the typical Cotingas, but differing markedly in possessing a short, conical, finely serrated bill, are the so-called Plant Cutters, which number but four species, referred to a single genus (Phytotoma). They are stockily built birds, about seven inches in length, bearing such a strong external resemblance to the Finches that they were formerly placed with them, but the anatomical characters preclude this relationship and show them to be nearest the last-considered family. They have rather short, pointed wings in which there are ten primaries and nine secondaries, and relatively long, even tails of ten feathers.
In habits the Plant Cutters are said to resemble certain Tanagers, going about singly, in pairs, or sometimes in small flocks, frequenting open situations and often causing much damage in gardens and plantations by their propensity for cutting off plants, leaves, buds, and fruits with their sharp, serrated bills. They are quite tame and unsuspicious and are often easily destroyed, and their nests are likewise torn down whenever found in the vicinity of cultivated areas. Their notes are described as being very loud, harsh, and unmusical, in some cases resembling the bleating of a young kid or lamb, and their flight is weak and not protracted for any great distance. In distribution they are characteristic of the temperate western and southern portions of South America, from western Peru through Chile and Bolivia to Argentina and Patagonia. All feed on fruits, buds, tender shoots, and leaves.
The Red-breasted Plant Cutter (P. rutila) of the two last-mentioned countries is lead-colored above, the feathers with darker shaft spots, while the wings and tail are black, and the crown, as well as the lower parts, deep brick-red; the wings have also a broad white band. This species, Mr. Hudson says, is usually seen singly, but sometimes in small flocks, and is a resident where found.”The male is frequently seen perched on the summit of a bush, and, amidst the dull-plumaged species that people the gray thickets of Patagonia, the bright red bosom gives it almost a gay appearance.”The nest of this species is made in the interior of a thorny bush and is a slight structure of fine twigs lined with fibers. The eggs are four in number, bluish green with fine brownish spots.
The Chilean Plant Cutter (P. rata) is a plainer-colored bird, being brown, streaked with black above and dull rufous beneath, and the wings and tail black, the former with white edgings on the secondaries, and the latter with a dark rufous band on the inner webs of the lateral feathers. It is this species that is particularly destructive; it nests in the tops of high trees.

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