BIEDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 415 



as the sandy soil in which it was placed w^as soft and yielding-, so 

 that little padding was required to protect the eggs from injury. 

 In fact, the nest material was formed into a mere rim that main- 

 tained the form of the depression and prevented sand from sifting 

 down on the eggs. This nest contained three eggs with slight in- 

 cubation. The color of these is white tinged faintly with bluish 

 green, with diffuse markings of vinaceous russet heavier toward the 

 larger end, where there is an occasional dot of black, but distributed 

 in fine irregular dots over the entire surface. The three measure 

 21.5 by 16.1, 21.8 by 16, and 21.6 by 15.5 mm. Another nest dis- 

 covered November 1, on the ground in a growth of weeds in a 

 garden, was a strong, firmly built structure of grasses with a few 

 horsehairs in the lining. It contained three eggs with incubation 

 begun, similar in color to the set described above, but with less 

 diffusion of the brown markings so that the spotting appears bolder 

 and heavier. These eggs measure 22 by 15.8, 20.4 by 15.6, and 19.7 

 by 15.4 mm. The larger volume of the eggs in these two sets of B. c, 

 argentina, when compared with the single sets of B. c. choraules 

 and B. c. canicapilJa secured, is noticeable, though the series ex- 

 amined is too small to permit much generalization. 



During the first week in November, 1920, when I pitched tem- 

 porary camp in an unoccupied hut far from other habitation in 

 the sand dunes below Cape San Antonio, eastern Buenos Aires, 

 a pair of chingolos came to the threshold as soon as my outfit had 

 been placed under cover. And during a three days' gale of violent 

 wind and rain that followed these sparrows, with the toldero {Em- 

 hemagra platensis)^ came invariably at meal time to secure bits of 

 hard bread that I tossed out to them, the only birds undismayed 

 by the force of the elements. 



On the whole, B. c. argentina would seem to be more or less 

 sedentary as its range does not include areas of rigorous climate. 

 In its typical form it is essentially a subspecies of the pampas 

 region, where it occurs universally from the drier interior, to the 

 salt marshes of the coast. 



BRACHYSPIZA CAPENSIS HYPOLEUCA Todd 



Brachyspiza capensis hypoleuca Todd, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 

 28, Apr. 13, 1915, p. 79. (Rio Bermejo, between Oran and Embarca- 

 cion, Province of Salta, Argentina, altitude 400 meters.") 



The present subspecies, recorded previously in literature only 

 from the type locality, was secured at Tapia, Tucuman, a consider- 



1" In the original description the type was said to have come from the " Rio Bermejo, 

 Argentina." Mr. Todd informs me that tlie bird was secured by Steinbach, probably 

 between Oran and Embarcacion ; the type specimen i.« marked " Rio Bermejo, I'rov. 

 Salta, Argentina, 400 m." 



