BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 13 



an old estancia, known as El Salto at an elevation of 1,800 meters, 

 where a number of species of higher zone affinities not found below 

 were taken. (Pis. 17 and 18.) 



At Potrerillos we met W. B. Alexander, engaged at the time in 

 studying parasites of cactus for introduction into Australia, who 

 returned with us to Mendoza, March 21, and continued in our com- 

 pany on the following day, when we went by train to Tunuyan, 

 Mendoza, 81 kilometers south. At this point a broad cultivated 

 valley of fertile black loam bordered a small stream, known as the 

 Kio Tunuyan. AYaste land along the river and extensive marshy 

 cienagas furnished suitable places for water birds (pis. 18 and 19), 

 and broad fields where hemp was harvested attracted seed eaters. On 

 March 24 we drove west by motor for 50 kilometers to the arid slopes 

 below the mountain foothills, where we found the usual desert 

 shrubs. On the eastern shore of the Rio Tunuyan was a range of 

 rolling sand hills from 20 to 60 meters in elevation, with many dry 

 washes and arroyos covered with thorny shrubs. Weather in gen- 

 eral had become colder. 



March 29 we returned to Mendoza and left by train the following 

 day, Mr. Peters for Buenos Aires, and I for Tucuman by way of 

 Villa Mercedes, Rio Quarto, and Cordoba. Mr. Alexander, who had 

 journeyed ahead, joined me at San Luis. We arrived April 1 in 

 Tucuman, where Mr. Peters joined me again on April 5. We met 

 Dr. Miguel Lillo and examined his excellent collections, and also 

 made the acquaintance of Sehores L. Dinelli and E. Budin. Peters 

 and I had planned to penetrate here into the higher mountains on 

 the west, but found that the rainy season, which normally terminated 

 in March, was still in progress, making mountain trails uncertain 

 and in places impassable. As the next alternative we went on April 

 6 to Tapia, Tucuman, a Avell-known collecting spot, which though 

 only 30 kilometers north of Tucuman, is in the edge of a more arid 

 belt of lessened rainfall. Tapia was merely a station on the railroad 

 with a few small houses and no regular accommodation for travelers. 

 Through courtesy of the station agent, Seiior Maximo Kreutzer, we 

 were allowed to use a corner of the depot baggage room for work 

 and sleeping quarters, and remained here until April 14. The region 

 was one of small knolls and long hills that rose in places into small 

 cumbres, the whole covered with a low scrub forest in which occa- 

 sional clearings had been made. (PI. 19.) 



Large barrancas and scattered cattle trails made convenient pas- 

 sageways through the thickets, though ordinarily the growth was 

 not sufficiently dense to impede passage. The altitude was approxi- 

 mately 700 meters. Bird life was abundant and of gi'eat variety. 



