424 On the Ornithology of Cape San Antonio, Buenos Ayres. 



plication against the sanity of the passers-by, that one cannot 

 but feel small at the action. If a horseman intrudes on their 

 little domain, they hover over his head vrith angry cries, and 

 so escort him to some distance ; but a dog is more aggressively 

 threatened, and sometimes they dash within a few inches of 

 its head. •'• 



They seem to live in perfect harmony with the biscachos 

 {Lagostomus trichodactylus) , but confine themselves to the 

 one hole in the warren, and so perhaps do not come into 

 actual contact with their peculiar neighbours. 



At night the long-drawn soft cry hu-hu-hu bears a striking 

 resemblance to the faintly heard hail of some shepherd ; and 

 one is often deluded into drawing bridle to look for the cause. 

 This note is only uttered at night, and is quite different from 

 the loud angry cry used during the day. 



The principal item in its bill of fare is a beautiful green 

 beetle, found abundantly on all the sandy soils ; I have also 

 found remains of small birds about the burrows. 



Breeding -Notes. — Those nests I have examined have all been 

 in sandy soils, and were evidently only enlarged holes of the 

 tuco-tuco {Ctenomys brasiliensis) . They ran straight in for a 

 few feet (from five to ten), and then turned to the left, ending 

 in an oval-shaped cavity sufficiently large to contain the sitting 

 bird, and only a foot and a half or two feet from the surface 

 of the ground. The eggs, four or five in number, are laid on 

 a bed of dry bois de vache, sometimes with the addition of a 

 few feathers. October, November, and December are breeding- 

 months. The female sits close, and may sometimes be exca- 

 vated with the nest. Three full-fledged young birds, dug out 

 in the month of December, did not attempt to defend them- 

 selves, but fuffed occasionally, after the manner of their kind. 



Eight eggs (from three nests) average \\l x 1 ^ij, varying 

 from Ijf X l4T7 to l-^fx 1^. In colour white, and with the 

 usual gloss. 



[To be continued.] 



