I 



398 HussEY, Spring Birds of La Plata. [oct. 



has a pretty song during the spring months; he flies upward from his perch 

 to a considerable height, beginning his song as he rises; then he descends 

 in a long spiral, the music becoming clearer and sweeter as he nears the 

 ground, and often continuing in a faint whisper after he alights. Occa- 

 sionally the Misto reascends to repeat his song without alighting. 



68. Brachyspiza capensis capensis (Mull.). " Chingolo." — 

 Throughout a great part of the country the Chingolo is the favorite bird 

 It is one of the first birds to meet the eye of the stranger, and its pretty 

 habits and its pretty song keep it constantly in view. In La Plata the 

 song usually consists of two distinct parts: the first a clear whistle very 

 like that opening the song of the Meadowlark (Sturnella) of eastern North 

 America, and the second a trill like that of the Chipping Sparrow. The 

 song varies with different birds; some omit the clear whistle, others the 

 short trill. The Chingolo often sings at night from his perch, and then 

 the trill at the end is given more slowly and is usually long drawn out. 



The nest is built on or near the ground; I have found them in both 

 localities in the observatory grounds. The eggs in each case were four, 

 thickly spotted with brown on a pale blue groimd, and averaged 2.05 X 

 1.57 cm. The period of incubation is 13 days; four days later the young 

 birds have their eyes open, and eleven days after breaking the egg the young 

 birds leave the nest. 



69. Poospiza personata (Swains.). "Chil6e."— I first found this 

 bird on September 12; soon it became common, and was one of the most 

 numerous birds in regions whei'e bushes and scattered trees were found. 

 It feeds on the ground after the usual manner of the ground finches; and 

 also several times I saw it perched conspicuously to make sallies for passing 

 insects as do many of the Tyrannidse. 



The song is heard at all hours of the day, and soon becomes so familiar 

 as not to be noticed. It can be worded " wetch-wetchy, wetch-wetchy, 

 wetch-wetchy," slowly and deliberately repeated many times. It may 

 be that the common name " chiloe " is a transcription of this song. 



A nest which I found November 7 contained one egg, pale blue marked 

 irregularly with dark brown, and measured 1.87 X 1.50 cm. The nest 

 was on the ground under a large thistle, so well concealed that although I 

 marked carefully the exact spot from which the bird flew, I was more than 

 fifteen minutes in finding the nest. Later this nest was abandoned. 



70. Passer domesticus (Linn.). " Gorri6n."— The House Sparrow 

 has been introduced into the Ai-gentine with much the same result that 

 followed its introduction into this countr}\ 



71. Embernagra platensis (Gm.). — This large Finch was found only 

 among the tall reeds in the open marsh, where they are not very shy. 

 Their flight is peculiar — they spring suddenly from the ground and fly 

 laboriously with tail erect and legs dangling. I heard none of their notes 

 except a sudden alarm cry. 



72. Paroaria cucullata (Lath.). " Cardinal." — Not at all common. 

 I found them but twice in the woods at Los Talas. They are very con- 



