BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 403 



Museum, I agree with Hellmayr^ that typical arvensis ranges from 

 Matto Grosso and Rio Grande do Sul south to northern Patagonia 

 (General Eoca and Bariloche, Eio Negro) and Chile. Males from 

 Chile are very slightly larger (wing, 75.6-78 mm.) than those from 

 Brazil and central to 'northern Argentina (wing, 71-76 mm.), but 

 the difference is too slight to merit distinction, S. a. luteola Sparr- 

 man,^ of more northern range, is smaller and brighter colored. 

 Sicalis chapTnani Ridgway, from Santarem on the lower Amazons, 

 is apparently a distinct species and not a subspecies of arvensis, as it 

 has a much larger, heavier bill with a more strongly curved culmen. 

 During the breeding season the misto is found about clumps of 

 bunch grass or saw grass near streams -or marshes or. in irrigated 

 sections, about alfalfa fields where it often gathers in little colonies. 

 Males sing from perches in the grass or rise a few feet and scale 

 doArn witli long wings fully spread, while they utter their low, trem- 

 ulous notes. Often before resting they rise to repeat the perform- 

 ance a second time, or sail about in erratic circles. The wings during 

 this performance are fully spread and extended forward. Breed- 

 ing colonies were observed at Lavalle, Buenos Aires, in November; 

 at General Roca, Rio Negro, at the end of the same month: and at 

 Carliue, Buenos Aires, the middle of December. A bird in juvenal 

 plumage was taken at San Vicente, Urugua3^ January 27. Two 

 nests found near Carhue, December 18, contained four fresh eggs, 

 and another on the same date held five young a week old. The nests, 

 placed from 300 to 400 mm. from the ground, in clumps of stiff- 

 stemmed grass, were cup-shaped structures made of fine grasses* 

 lined with coarse hair from the manes and tails of horses. The eggs 

 are white, tinged faintly with grayish green, with spots of Mars and 

 chestnut brown, distributed over the egg, but concentrated heavily 

 about the large end. The two sets taken differ considerabh', as one 

 is large and heavily blotched, while the other is smaller, rounder, 

 and has much finer markings. The larger set measures 17.4 by 13.4, 

 17.5 by 13.2, 17.6 by 13.3, and 18.1 by 13.4 mm. The second set 

 measures 16.1 by 13.7, 16.2 by 13.4, 16.3 by 13.6, and 16.5 by 13.6 mm. 

 The eggs are fragile and thin shelled. (PI. 20.) 



SICALIS LUTEA (d'Orbigrny and Lafresnaye) 



Emberisa lutea, (I'Oebigny and Lafkesnaye, Mag. Zool., 1837, cl. 2, p. 74^ 

 (Summis Andibus, Bolivia.) 



The statement of Todd^ that the yellow finches of Middle and 

 South America must be grouped in one genus, Sicalis, is substan- 



'Nov. Zool., vol. 1.5, June, 1908, p. 34. 



'According to Hartert, Vog. Pal. Fauna, Naclitr. 1, September, 1923, Emheriza lutcolw 

 Sparrman, 1789, refers to the form known currently as Sicalis a. minor Cabanis. 

 ♦Ann. Carnegie Mus., vol. 14, October, 1922, p. 519. 



