230 To the River Plate and Back 



of which have come from Mediterranean lands. It is 

 odd to think how thoroughly the region is becoming 

 affiliated with the region from which its early European 

 settlers came, and that not only its human inhabitants, 

 but its shrubs and grasses, its flowers and its fruits, 

 should be Iberian or Italian in their origin. To the 

 north under the hot sun of the tropics this is not the 

 case. There the men and the plants of the Temperate 

 Zone have a struggle for existence, in which the odds 

 appear to be against them. 



On my tramps I naturally was much interested in 

 studying the habits of the birds. In a grove of willows 

 which I found about a mile and a half north of La Plata 

 I discovered hundreds of the Seed-finch (Sycalis luteola) , 

 congregating among the branches and filling the air 

 with incessant twitterings and low warblings, which 

 reminded me of that passage in Holy Writ, which 

 likens the sound of the voices of the multitude before the 

 Throne to "the voice of many w r aters. ' It was an un- 

 interrupted stream of tiny bird-voices, which gathered 

 and swelled into a great volume of sound, resembling 

 that of a brook or small river tinkling over the stones 

 and pebbles. The little creatures seemed to be so intent 

 upon their chorus that they allowed me to creep in 

 among the trees without at first being disturbed or 

 ceasing their music. They are about as large as a 

 canary bird, olive-green above, yellowish below, and 

 admirably adapted by their coloration to concealment 

 among the foliage of the willows, which were in their 

 vernal dress. I was able to study them closely with the 

 help of my opera-glasses, but after a while they seemed 

 suddenly to take fright, and with a great rush of wings 

 flew away in a cloud to an adjoining field, where there 

 were otner willows, and whither I did not try to follow 



