72 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 
rostrum and addressing Gerrowing appeals to a 
crowd of attentive listeners. When the carcase has 
been finally abandoned by foxes, armadillos, Gulls, 
and Caranchos, the Chimango still clings sorrow- 
fully to it, eking out a miserable existence by tear- 
ing at a fringe of gristle and whetting his hungry 
beak on the bones. 
Though an inordinate lover of carrion, a wise 
instinct has taught it that this aliment is unsuited to 
the tender stomachs of its fledglings ; these it feeds 
almost exclusively on the young of small birds. In 
November the Chimangos are seen incessantly beat- 
ing over the cardoon bushes, after the manner of 
Hen-Harriers ; for at this season in the cardoons 
breeds the Synallaxis hudsoni. This bird, sometimes 
called Téru-réru del campo by the natives, is exces- 
sively shy and mouse-like in habits, seldom showing 
itself, and by means of strong legs and a long, slender, 
wedge-like body is able to glide swiftly as a snake 
through and under the grass. In summer one hears 
its long, melancholy, trilling call-note from a cardoon 
bush, but if approached it drops to the ground and 
vanishes. Under the densest part of the cardoon 
bush it scoops out a little circular hollow in the soil, 
and constructs over it a dome of woven grass and 
thorns, leaving only a very small aperture; it lines 
the floor with dry horse-dung, and lays five buff- 
coloured eggs. So admirably is the nest concealed 
that I have searched every day for it through a whole 
breeding-season without being rewarded with a 
single find. Yet they are easily found by the Chi- 
