BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 409 



Near General Roca the lesser diuca finch was widely spread 

 through the arid, gi'avel hills and the less somber brush-covered 

 flats of the river-flood plain. During early morning they ran or 

 hopped about on the ground in search for food, but later in the day 

 were observed resting quietly in some low bush, perched in the sun. 

 Their flight was strongly undulating. At this season males were 

 singing a pleasant warbling song, in character like that of some gros- 

 beak, but nesting had not begun so far as I could ascertain. At Vic- 

 torica, Pampa, at the end of December, all were nesting, some having 

 fresh eggs while others were feeding young a few days old. The 

 small young have the down on the head dull gray, becoming lighter 

 behind until it is white over the posterior part of the body. For 

 nesting sites the finches chose the old stick nests of various tracheo- 

 jDhones, Anutnbius, and others, strongly made domiciles that with- 

 stand weathering for some time and with their thorny twigs offer 

 armed protection against most enemies. The nests chosen ranged 

 from 300 to 400 mm. in diameter. Eggs or young, as the case might 

 be, were contained in a covered, concealed nest cavity lined warmly 

 with plant downs and feathers, comfortable furnishings that had 

 perhaps been inherited with the rest of the home from the original 

 occupants. Finches hopped about on many of these nests, and from 

 time to time I found one that they were occupying. One set of four 

 fresh eggs was taken from a stick nest 7 feet from the ground in a 

 low tree. The nest was in good repair with an entrance through an 

 old tunnel at one side. The ground color of the eggs is very pale 

 greenish white, while they are heavily marked with indefinite large 

 and small spots of bone brown and pale dusky brown. They meas- 

 ure 19.6 by 16, 20.1 by 16.6, 20.4 by 16.2, and 21 by 16.2 mm. 

 (Ph 10.) 



A second heavily incubated set contained one egg of the finch and 

 one of Molothrus h. honanensis. The finch's egg, similar in color to 

 those described above, measures 20.3 by 16.7 mm. 



An adult female of this species, taken November 27, 1920, when 

 fresh, had the maxilla and tip of mandible blackish slate, rest of 

 mandible dawn gray ; iris, natal brown ; tarsus, deep neutral gray. 



BUARREMON CITRINELLUS Cabanis 



Buarremon (Atlapetes) citrinellus Cabanis, Journ. fiir Ornith., 1883, p. 

 109. (Chaquevil and St. Xavier, Tucuman.) 



An adult female was taken at an altitude of 1,800 meters on the 

 Sierra San Xavier, above Tafi Viejo, Tucuman, April 17, 1921. The 

 bird was found in a very dense growth of waist-high weeds at the 

 border of a grove. It was quiet and slow in movement and silent 

 except for a faint call, tsip. 



