摘要：The Spotted Barbtail (Premnoplex brunnescens) builds large, mossy, ball-shaped nests with downward facing entrance
tubes. Nests are built along streams in a variety of situations including inside cavities, in hanging clumps of epiphytes, on
rock faces, and under fallen logs. Nests are built by both adults over the course of more than 4 months, with some nests
taking longer than 15 months to finish. After preparing an area by stuffing living moss into cracks and irregularities
around the nest site, adults construct their enclosed nest. Nests are often formed in part by the surrounding substrate such
as clay, wood, rocks, or epiphytes, and thus the entire ball is not always constructed by the adults. The moss-stuffing
behavior of adults during early construction allows them utilize naturally formed partial cavities or to create their own
cavities (or cavity-like situations), and may provide an example of how this, and other species of furnariids, have shifted
from cavity to external nest building. Nests examined from Ecuador include an internal lining, which has not been
reported from nests at higher latitudes, thus suggesting that there may be geographic variation in nest architecture.
