278 Mr. E. Gibson on the Birds 



11. ZoNOTRICHIA PILEATA (Bodd.) . 



13. Embernagra platensis (Gm.). 



Abundant and breeding. Unfortunately, the only nest I 

 found, in a grass-covert, contained young, so the eggs of this 

 species are still unknown to me. 



13. Sycalis pelzelni, Scl. 



14. Sycalis luteola (Sparrm.). 

 Abundant. Breeding generally. 



15. MOLOTHRUS bonariensis (Gm.). 



16. MoLOTHRUS BADius (Vieill.). 



17. Xanthosomus flavus (Gm.). 



Abundant, frequenting the open camp and grass-coverts. 

 I discovered a breeding-colony in the former, where a herd 

 of cattle of over 2000 head used to be rounded up every 

 alternate morning, and where a patch of thistles about 150 

 yards long by 30 yards broad had sprung up. Here some 

 ten or twelve pairs had taken up their abode. They did not 

 seem to be much put about by their proximity to the busy 

 scene, unless when some thick-skinned and perverse bull 

 made a dash through the belt of five-feet high thistles. I, 

 of course, in view of such an attraction — the birds, not the 

 bull — was very zealous in detecting incipient stampedes on 

 that side, and continually sneaking round the thistle-bed. 

 The nests were situated sometimes in the centre of the place, 

 sometimes at the edge, fairly well concealed by the leaves, 

 and about two feet from the ground. They were built of dry 

 grass and lined with a fine quality of the same and a few 

 horsehairs. Four was the general number of eggs, five being 

 the maximum and three the minimum, and most of the nests 

 contained eggs by the end of November. The birds were 

 very tame and the females sat close. This species has bred, 

 too, in a district I know well in the neighbourhood of Cape 

 San Antonio, Province of Buenos Ayres, to which its range 

 extends in the months of December and January with con- 

 siderable annual regularity. 



