37G The Naturalst mn La Plata. 
that when I saw this small bird the question rose 
to my mind, What kind of nest does it build? 
One morning in the month of October, the great 
breeding-time for birds in the Southern Hemisphere, 
while cautiously picking my way through a bed of 
cardoon bushes, the mysterious little creature flitted 
up and perched among the clustering leaves quite 
near tome. It uttered a feeble grasshopper-like 
chirp; and then a second individual, smaller, paler- 
coloured, and if possible shyer than the first, showed 
itself for two or three seconds, after which both 
birds dived once more into concealment. How glad 
I was to see them! for here they were, male and 
female, in a suitable spot in my own fields, where 
they evidently meant to breed. Every day after 
that I paid them one cautious visit, and by waiting 
from five to fifteen minutes, standing motionless 
emong the thistles, I always succeeded in getting 
them to show themselves for a few moments. I 
could easily have secured them then, but my wish © 
was to discover their nesting habits; and after 
watching for some days, I was rewarded by finding 
their nest ; then for three days more I watched it 
slowly progressing towards completion, and each 
time I approached it one of the small birds would 
flit out to vanish into the herbage. The structure 
was about six inches long, and not more than two 
inches in diameter, and was placed horizontally on | 
a broad stiff cardoon leaf, sheltered by other leaves 
above. It was made of the finest dry grass loosely 
woven, and formed a simple perfectly straight tube, 
open at both ends. The aperture was so small that 
I cdtild only insert my little finger, and the bird 
