( 160 ) 



."). Over 40(1 skins cdUected liy that rx(^elli'ut collector Mr. L. Oinelli in the 

 provincps of Tucnniaii find Salta. Purchased from Mr. Rosenberg in 

 London and Mr. I'aer in Paris. (('!'. P)iM'h'j)soli, (h/i/'.i, xiv. [PfOi: 

 CnM/resa, Londcnt], ]i. -54 T.) 

 '5. Over I MO skins, mostly colh'oted in the jprovincc of Salta, by Jose 

 fSteinbaoh, the well-known collector of natural history specimens in the 

 Argentine TJepnblio, Bolivia, ami South Algeria. 

 7. Eighty-one skins collected in Patagonia by Julius Koslowsky. Bought. 

 from Mr. Uosenberg in London. 

 The collection we purchased from Mr. Ventnri consists of 1115 beautifully 

 prepared and well-labelled skins and several thousand eggs ; it is a very important 

 one, inasmuch as it has been brought together during a number of years and in 

 various parts of the Rejiublic. Most of the specimens are, however, from Barracas 

 al Sud (province of Bnenos Aires), from Mocovi in the Chaco, Ocampo near the 

 Rio Parana, on the edge of the Ohaco, and near Tncuman. 



I have not attempted to make a list of all the birds known to occur in the 

 Argentine Hepubjic, bnt have only enumerated those of which s])ecimens exist 

 at Tring— as far as I came across them — and those mentioned in Mr. Venturi's 

 manuscript. Nevertheless, there cannot, be very many Argentine birds left unnoticed 

 in this article, as I mention fluQ forms ; while Messrs. Sclater and Hudson's 

 celebrated work, Aiu/entinc Ornithology (1888-0), contains only 434- species! 



The share of the two authors is much the same as in Messrs. Sclater and 

 Hudson's work. I have critically examined the skins, and am finally responsible 

 for their nomenclature, and all the nomenclatorial and systematic notes are by me ; 

 while 1 have also sometimes added fuller descriptions and measurements of eggs 

 wiiere it seemed important, and when these were rather short and cursorv in 

 Mr. Venturi's notes. All the notes on niditication, habits, etc., and most of the 

 descriptions of the eggs and theii' measurements, are by Mr. Ventnri. His notes are 

 enclosed in inverted commas and signed " (S. V.)." Mr. Ventnri has, of conrse, also 

 snp))lied the local names {noins vtilgaires), and added references to Mr. Xelirkorn's 

 Kdtalofi der Eiersammlxn;/ (LS99) and to Dr. von Ihering's valuable article on 

 the nests and eggs of the birds of Brazil, " Catalogo critico-comparativo dos 

 ninlios e ovos das avcs do Brasil," in Rerista do Muscu Paiilista, iv. i)p. l!)l-:iii(i. 



There are hardly any countries on the surface of the earth that can excei>d tjio 

 Argentine Uepublic in the variation of natural conditions and landscape. The 

 territories of the Rejiublic extend from the cold and bleak shores of Tierra del Fuego 

 and Isla de los Estados (Staten Island) under o.5 southern latitude, where birds 

 lielonging to the Antarctic regions are met with, to the hot Chaco, reaching as far 

 as TZ — i.e. just into the tropics — and in the east to the province of Misiones, 

 between the rivers Parana and Uruguay, as far as 'Zah . 



We have thus the fauna of the sea-shores, of the vast prairies, of the extensive 

 forests, swamps, and mountains, rising to above oOno and even (JiiuO m. (Mount 

 Aconquija, near Tucnman, in Atacama, Salta, Jujuy). The ornis of the mountains 

 of Jujny and Salta is naturally more that of Bolivia than that of Argentina proper, 

 and many sjiecies therefore occur in those regions which are not elsewhere found 

 in the Argentine Republic. 



It is clear that such diti'erent countries are inhabited by different species and 

 representative forms. An interesting fact is, that the ornis of the territory of 

 Misione» is i[uit(t ilili'eient IVoai that of the central provinces (Buenos Aires, Eutre 



