South- American Song-S'parrows. 47 



one or two specimens of either of tliera^ whereas the former 

 is one of the very commonest species in collections. 



The two southern Song-Sparrows Zonotrichia canicapilla 

 and Z. strigiceps were both discovered by Mr. Darwin 

 during his celebrated " Naturalist^s Voyage/^ and described 

 by Mr. Gould in the third volume of the ' Zoology of the 

 Voyage of the ' Beagle \' I will say a few words about what 

 we know of each of these birds. 



Z. canicapilla is generally of the size and form o£ Z.pileata, 

 though the legs and feet_, judging from the examples now 

 before me, are more slender. The under surface closely re- 

 sembles that of Z. pileata ; and there is the same bright rufous 

 patch on each side of the neck. The upper surfaces of these 

 two birds are also much alike, except as regards the head. 

 This in Z. canicapnlla is of a uniform grey, with narrow white 

 superciliaries, and, as will be seen from the figure (PI. I. fig. 1), 

 shows no signs whatever of the two broad black lines on the 

 sides of the crown which distinguish Z. pjileata. Mr. Darwin 

 obtained his specimens of Z. canicapilla at Port Desire, in 

 Southern Patagonia, and on Tierra del Fuego, and found it 

 nesting at the former locality. Mr. Durnford, as recorded 

 above (p. 33), found it to be the " common Sparrow '^ of Chu- 

 put, which is a rather more northern locality than Port Desire. 

 Dr. Cunningham obtained it at Ancud, in the Island of Chiloe, 

 and at Sandy Point, in Southern Patagonia ; but in our list of 

 his collection (Ibis, 1870, p. 499) we did not recognize his 

 skins as distinct from Z. pileata. I remark that in Gray^s 

 ' Hand-list ' (ii. p. 94) Z. canicapilla is referred to Fringilla 

 australis, Lath. ; but in my opinion Latham^s description is too 

 vague to enable any certain conclusion to be drawn from it. 



Z. strigiceps, as will be seen by the figure (PI. I. fig. 2), is 

 much more distinct from Z. pileata in plumage, and has 

 shorter wings and more feeble feet, though not essentially 

 different in form. It may at once be known from both the 

 allied South- American species by the absence of the chestnut 

 patches on the sides of the neck and of the lateral black marks 

 on the throat. The feathers on the crown of the head are 

 dark red, passing into cinereous on the nape, each feather 



