36 Mr. Ambrose A. Lane — Field-Notes 



in the south. They chew such materials thoroughly^ with the 

 teeth in the upper mandible, before swallowing them. They 

 began to nest at Rio Bueno about the beginning of January, 

 previous to which I had observed pairs keeping together for 

 some time. The nest is placed in a thick bush or shrub 

 from 3 to 5 feet above the ground. The complement of 

 eggs is four, which seem all to hatch out invariably. The 

 shell of the egg is rather brittle. 



I have repeatedly noticed droppings of the adult birds of 

 this species on one side of the nest during incubation, which 

 I do not think occurs with any other species the nests of 

 which I have examined. The young birds appear to take 

 an unusual time to grow, and do not thrive in captivity. I 

 took a nest with three young ones well feathered, in- 

 tending to rear them, but after being kept for a month they 

 dwindled away and died. My time was limited, and I was 

 unable to give them much variety in the way of food, or I 

 might perhaps have succeeded. They fed readily, after a 

 day or so, from a spoon or quill, but never made any pro- 

 gress or learned to feed themselves. They made a hoarse 

 chirping when expecting food. The note of the adult male 

 is a rasping or grating noise, more remarkable than harmo- 

 nious, and uttered after the manner of a song by the bird 

 whilst seated on the top of a bush, in spring or summer. 



The female is usually silent ; the birds go in pairs or 

 threes or fours, keeping together, but when moving they 

 seldom use a call-note. 



28. Geositta frobeni (Phil, et Landb.). 



Geositta frobeni, Sclater, B. M. C. xv. p. 6 ; id. P. Z. S. 

 1891, p. 134. 



(Sacaya.) 



Birds of this species are of general occurrence in the Cor- 

 dilleras of Tarapaca, and I observed them up to 12,000 feet. 



They are apparently resident, and breed in the mountain 

 districts, as a rule frequenting dry open ground near the 

 valleys. 



They seem to be strictly insectivorous and terrestrial, not 



