28 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 
In habits it differs Boece from most of its con- 
geners, and it may be regarded, I think, as one of 
those species which are dying out—possibly owing 
to the altered conditions resulting from the settle- 
ment of the country by Europeans. It was formerly 
abundant on the southern pampas of La Plata, and 
being partially migratory its flocks ranged in winter 
to Buenos Ayres, and even as far north as the Parana 
river. When, as a child, I lived near the capital city 
(Buenos Ayres), I remember that I always looked 
forward with the greatest delight to the appearance 
of these noisy dark-green winter visitors. Now they 
are rarely seen within a hundred miles of Buenos 
Ayres; and I have been informed by old gauchos 
that half a century before my time they invariably 
appeared in immense flocks in winter, and have since 
gradually diminished in numbers, until now in that 
district the Bank-Parrot is almost a thing of the past. 
Two or three hundreds of miles south of Buenos 
Ayres city they are still to be met with in rather 
large flocks, and have a few ancient breeding-places, 
to which they cling very tenaciously. Where there 
are trees or bushes on their feeding-ground they 
perch on them; they also gather the berries of the 
Empetrum rubrum and other fruits from the bushes ; 
but they feed principally on the ground, and while 
the flock feeds one bird is invariably perched on a 
stalk or other elevation to act as sentinel. They are 
partial to the seeds of the giant thistle (Carduus 
mariana) and the wild pumpkin, and to get at the 
latter they bite the hard dry shell into pieces with 
