Notes from the Neighbourhood of Buenos Ay res. 157 



two are distinct ? or are the white and slate birds ouly di- 

 morphic varieties ? Has any one seen the Asiatic race slate- 

 coloured when in the nest, or observed the slate-coloured 

 and white birds breeding together in India ? 



XVI. — Ornithological Notes from the Neighbourhood of Buenos 

 Ayres. By Henry Durnford. 



The following notes were made during the first five months 

 of my residence near this town, and, under many difficul- 

 ties, at such times as I could spare from other employ- 

 ment. The determination of the names of the skins I have 

 made I owe to Dr. Burmeister's kindness, who has ever been 

 ready to render me all the assistance in his power ^. Most 

 of my notes have been made at Belgrano, where I live, a 

 place situated about six miles to the north-west of Buenos 

 Ayres, on the shores of the La Plata. I have also visited 

 other localities, the names of which appear in the body of my 

 notes. 



SyLVIIDjE. 



I saw two individuals of Polioptila dumicola on 10th Oc- 

 tober of the present year (1875), in some marshy ground near 

 San Isidro. They were hunting amongst the reeds, some- 

 what like Tits (Parus). 



TKOGLODYTlDiE. 



Troglodytes furvus (called " Ratoncito " by the natives) is 

 very abundant ; it has a pretty little song, which it pours 

 forth from the top of some bush, or perched on an aloe-leaf. 

 On the 10th October I found eggs ; the complement in a nest is 

 usually five. The eggs are small and much speckled with red. 

 I have seen many ; and they differ considerably in diflFerent 

 nests. These are made of bits of rush and grass, warmly 

 lined with wool and feathers, and are generally placed in the 

 stump of an old ombra-tree — the only indigenous tree, I be- 



* [These names we have altered to correspond with those used in the 

 ' Nomenclator Avium Neotropicalium.' — Ed.] 



