BIRDS OF ARGENTTISrA, PARA.GXTAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 255 



vegetation is composed of large-leaved floating forms the birds 

 hop about on the stems and leaves, frequently with feet and tarsi 

 immersed in the cold water, while they seize eagerly any insects 

 or other life that appear on the plants or in the water. At other 

 times they cling to the stalks of vertical reeds and reach out as far 

 as possible to dig with their bills among the small flouting plants, 

 resembling duckweed, that cover the surface. 



Their nests are curious globular structures 6 inches in diameter, 

 suspended among dead rushes from about one-half to a little over 

 a meter above the water. Phleocryptes frequently was seen trans- 

 porting tremendous loads of wet stalks and leaves from dead 

 marsh growth that were molded rapidly into their round nests. 

 As it dried, this material was cemented firmly together by the 

 hardening of the slime engendered by the dampness in which it 

 had previously laid so that the walls of the nest were firm and 

 strong. A small opening led into the interior near the top, and 

 the structure was warmly lined with soft feathers, gathered where 

 they had been dropped by other avian denizens of the marsh, 

 and plant downs from the cat-tails and other marsh vegetation. 

 Though the nest of Phleocryptes was like that of a marsh wren, 

 there the similarity ceased, as the eggs were clear blue like those 

 of a robin. Three eggs appeared to be the usual number, though 

 I noted nests that contained only two young. Breeding begins 

 early as hard set eggs were taken on November 2, and two nests 

 containing young a week old were recorded at the same time. 

 Others were nest building on this same date. The three eggs taken 

 have a distinctly granular surface, and in color are slightly duller 

 than lumiere blue. They measure as follows, in millimeters : 22.1 

 by 15.7, 22.4 by 15.3, and 22.6 by 15.5. 



The young had prominent orange margins on the opened bill 

 that showed plainly in the darkened interior of the nest. Their 

 ordure was inclosed in a capsule as in oscinine Passeriformes. 

 Phleocryptes is one of the few tracheophone species that decoys 

 easily to the loud squeaking attractive to most of the Oscines, and 

 came almost invariably to search for the source of the curious 

 noise. From their general appearance one might consider them as 

 sedentary, but Hudson records that they are migrant near Buenos 

 Aires. 



LEPTASTHENURA FULIGINICEPS PARANENSIS Sdater 



Leptasthenui-a paranensis P. L. Sclatkr, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1861, 

 p. 377. (Argentina.) 



The present bird was encountered only near Potrerillos, Mendoza, 

 where it was found from 1,500 meters altitude to about 1,600 meters 

 in the vicinity of the Estancia El Salto. The four specimens 

 secured, including one male and three females, all immature (in fact, 



