194 BIRDS aa PLATA 
associates in small flocks; it is resident, and a very 
weak flier, and feeds on tender buds and leaves, 
berries and small seed. The male is frequently seen 
perched on the summit of a bush, and, amidst the 
dull-plumaged species that people the grey thickets 
of Patagonia, the bright red bosom gives it almost a 
gay appearance. When singing, or uttering its alarm 
notes when the nest is approached, its voice re- 
sembles the feeble bleatings of a small kid or lamb. 
When approached it conceals itself in the bush, and 
when flying progresses by a series of short jerky 
undulations, the wings producing a loud humming 
sound. 
The nest is made in the interior of a thorny bush, 
and built somewhat slightly of fine twigs and lined 
with fibres. The eggs are four, bluish-green in 
colour, with brownish flecks. 
This species is found throughout the Argentine 
country, in dry open situations abounding with a 
scanty tree and bush vegetation. 
The solitary Plant-cutter described comes, in this 
book, between two numerous Passerine families, both 
also peculiar to America, and both differing widely 
from it in structure, appearance, habits, and lan- 
guage—more widely in fact than a Greenfinch from 
a Flycatcher on one side and a Treecreeper on the 
other. The astonishing thing to the uninformed 
person is how such a collocation is possible in any 
system. With such questions we are not concerned 
in this book. One can only say in passing, that in 
