1918.] Cape San Antonio, Buenos At/res. 387 



about a quarter of a century ago. Rumour lias it that a 

 well-known German brewer of Buenos Ayres longed for its 

 familiar presence in the yards of his establishment, where 

 grain was abundant. Anyhow, I was startled to recognize 

 it high up in the decorative architecture of Calle Florida 

 (the Bond Street of Buenos Ayres) in 1890. Since then 

 it has spread all over the country, encouraged by the 

 development of the grain production, and facilitated by 

 the network of railways with their corresponding leakao-e 

 from traffic. 



Merely from method I add the description of the 

 eggs :— Ground-colour dirty white, thickly spotted with 

 dark ash-grey, increasing towards the blunt end. Measure- 

 ments 21 X 16 mm. 



83. Embernagra platensis (Gm.). Red-billed Ground- 

 Finch. 



Rarely or never seen about the woods, nor in the open 

 plains. Always to be found in our " rincones " amidst the 

 great Fampa grass and Esparto beds, and in the equally 

 vast " JunquiUo negro" coverts of the neighbouring Tuyu 

 estancia, occasionally in dry swamps in time of drought, 

 and sometimes in a little jungle of the " Carda '^ (Ac/ave sp.)' 

 which grows on the sandier soils. 



The crops examined contained seeds and small beetles. 



In qualification of Mr. Hudson's disclaimer, I have once 

 seen it followed by a young Molothrus bonariensis, which 

 It was feeding, and also have the record of a nest which 

 contained an egg of the same parent. 



It would seem to build rather late in the spring, in spite 

 of pairing for life, the record of half-a-dozen nests' ranging 

 from 27 October to 20 November, mostly in the latter 

 month. These are difficult to find, well-hidden and placed 

 low in a dense clump of the particularly obnoxious "Jun- 

 quillo negro," fairly well-built of dry grass and lined with 

 finer material of the same nature. 



The full clutch of eggs (undescribed by either Hudson or 

 Grant) is three. There is considerable variation in these. 



