06 Mr. H. Durnford on the Birds of 



subsequent observations have proved that the nest and eggs 

 there mentioned could not have belonged to this bird. What 

 they did belong to I am quite at a loss to understand ; for 

 the bird I saw leave the nest appeared to me a R. nigricans, 

 without doubt; and I cannot guess what it could have 

 been. 



Last spring I found two nests^ one at Belgrano, the other 

 near Lujan bridge, from both of which I flushed the Rallus 

 nigricans. In both cases it was composed of reeds, rather 

 loosely put together, and situated in the centre of a tuft of 

 reeds growing in the water, from which it was raised three 

 or four feet. The nest at Lujan bridge contained eggs. 

 They are of a stone ground-colour, minutely speckled all over 

 with pink spots, and measure 1*6 inch by TISO. 



[Mr. Durnford^s skins belong to R. rythirhynchus, not to 

 R. nigricans. — Edd.] 



39. FuLicA ARMiLLATA, Vicill. j Ibis, 1877, p. 195. 

 Since I wrote my last communication I have received eggs 



from the south of Buenos Ayres ; and I am told that the birds 

 are in many places quite common. The eggs may always be 

 distinguished from' those of either F. leucopygia or F. leu- 

 copter a by their superior size. They are of a light stone 

 ground-colour, thickly speckled with blotches and spots of 

 various shades of red, and measure 2*2 x 1*5 inches. 



40. FuLiCA LEUCOPYGIA, Hartl. ; Nomencl. p. 140. 

 Common in the lagoons to the north o£ Buenos Ayres. 



The only bird that this species can be confounded with is F. 

 leucoptera ; but a sure mark of distinction is the uniform 

 colour of the wings, which in the latter species have a white 

 bar across themj caused by the secondaries being tipped with 

 white. 



The nests of this bird and F. leucoptera are much alike ; but 

 the former is perhaps rather the smaller. It is formed of 

 reeds, and placed in a clump of the same, the bottom just 

 above the water. The eggs vary in number from six to eight, 

 and also vary a good deal in colour. Their ground-colour is 



