BIRDS. 113 



2. CONURUS PATACHONICUS. 



Psittacus Patagonus, Vieill. Ency. Meth. p. 



Psittacara Patagonica, Less. Voy. de la Coquille Zool. pi. 35 bis. 



Psittacara Pataclionica, Lear's 111. Psitt. 



Le Patagon, Azara, No. 277. 



Pattagonian maccaw, Lath. Hist. 1 1, 105. 



I obtained specimens of this bird at Bahia Blanca in Northern Patagonia, 

 where there is not a single tree, and the country is dry and very sterile. I did 

 not meet with this species in the southern parts of Patagonia, but it is common 

 near Concepcion in Chile, in nearly the same latitude. They build their nests in 

 holes in cliffs of earth or gravel, together with the Hirundo cyanoleuca. In 

 September, at Bahia Blanca, they were laying : their eggs are quite white, and 

 small in proportion to the bird. Several usually rush forth from their holes at 

 the same instant, and utter a noisy scream. 



Pious kingii. G. R. Gray. 



Picus melanocephalus, iTjn^, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1830, p. 14. 



I procured specimens at Valparaiso, and at the Peninsula of Tres Montes 

 (Lat. 46° S.) At the latter place, I killed in January a pair, male and female. 

 Captain King's specimens were obtained from Chiloe. The male has its whole 

 head scarlet with only the nape black, so that Captain King's specific name 

 is unfortunately not applicable for the species ; therefore Mr. G. R. Gray thinks 

 it should be named after the first describer. The head of the female is black, 

 with some short reddish-brown feathers over nostrils. There appears to be no 

 other difference in the plumage of the sexes. 



Chrysoptilus campestris. Swai7is. 



Picus campestris, Lickt. Cat. p. Spix, Av. Br. pi. 116. 

 Le charpentier des champs, Azara, No. 253. 



My specimens were obtained from Banda Oriental and Buenos Ayres; I saw 

 it no further southward. Spix says (Birds of Brazil, vol. i. p. 51.) it inhabits 

 Minas Geraes. They frequent open plains and especially rocky ground. They 

 are rather wild, and generally live three or four together. The tail of these ground 

 woodpeckers seems but little used ; their beaks, however, were generally muddy 

 to the base : in the stomach of one I found only ants. Their flight is undulatory 

 like that of the English woodpecker, and their loud cry is likewise similar, but 



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