1918.] Cape San Antonio, Buenos Ay res. 395 



101. Amblyramphus holosericeus (Scop.). Scarlet-licaded 

 Marsh-bird. 



My former paper gave a full account of this handsome 

 specieSj and tlie interval has not furnished me with much 

 new material. I tliink it has increased in numbers, which 

 may be attributed to the further cultivation of small plots 

 and fields of maize in the district. It is now much more 

 frequently observed in the woods — perching, not feeding. 

 At the end of June 1899 I saw a flock, which must have 

 numbered from eighty to a hundred, on the sandy ground 

 near the head-station ; even in a maize-field, at the end of 

 autumn, I have never seen a similar gathering. These 

 remarks do not apply to the nesting-piiirs in the swamps, 

 which continue to be few, and are very local and faithful to 

 their habitat, frequenting the deepest and loneliest o£ the 

 larger swamps. Probably we are now favoured, or cursed 

 (for it is very destructive to the maize) with the incursions 

 of various migratory and predatory flocks. 



The nests are no longer a rarity to me, now that 1 

 know where a pair of birds are likely to be found, after 

 which it is only a matter of quartering the flag-bed, guided 

 by the agitation of the parent- birds. I have found them 

 from the middle of November to early in January (late 

 breeders, as is to be seen). In situation and material the 

 formula is curiously alike. It is built into five or six 

 '' Durasnillo "" stems {Solanum glaucum. Dunal), about five 

 feel from the water, iu a flag-bed of the deeper swamps ; 

 rather deeply cup-shaped and fairly compact ; built of 

 stems of the '' Junco '' rush (Scirpus riparius Presl) and 

 water-grasses, and entirely lined with wiry or narrow strips 

 of flags. Birds generally hover about, or alight close to the 

 intruder, repeatedly uttering their sweet plaintive note. 



The full clutch of eggs is three, though I have taken one 

 of four. The ground-colour is pale blue, some with hardly 

 a mark at all. More generally there are a few black specks, 

 some lilac sub-surface spots, and a few strong black mark- 

 ings and streaks, mostly towards the blunt end. The egg 



