1918.] Cape San Antonio, Buenos Ayres. 409 



observer— whilst ensconced comfortably in a canoe, engaged 

 pontooning out sheep in flood-time, or '' egging '' on liorse- 

 back or laboriously thigh-deep on foot— there comes at 

 frequent intervals the long cricket note call, followed by 

 the crackling taps and creaks, which herald and accompany 

 the advent of the bright-eyed little proprietor of each par- 

 ticular small domain. Creeping from stem to stem of the 

 fluted dark green "junco," generally close to the surface of 

 the water (and as often as not head downwards)— itself 

 a harmonious study in blacks, browns, and greys, — it 

 approaches within a few feet of the intruder, rapping out 

 little quaint oaths and protests, and is only to be ap- 

 peased by the withdrawal of the disturber of its solitudes. 

 To it, on these occasions, sometimes comes the Many- 

 coloured Tyrant [Cyanotis azarae), as similarly described by 

 Mr. Hudson ; but the latter little beauty always struck me 

 as l)eing more coquettishly disposed than resentful, and 

 frivolously disinclined to take the Spine-tail's serious view 

 of the situation. 



Mr. Hudson has anticipated me in the fuller description 

 of its habits. In tliis bcality the migration is not absolute. 

 Some years I have observed it until the end of June (more 

 by token, one flew in at the sitting-room window at night, 

 on 4 June, 1893) in no inconsiderable numbers ; though I 

 admit July has always been a blank. By 15 August it is 

 recorded again, and even a completed nest on the 24th of 

 the same month ; whilst by 20 September many nests are 

 nearly finished. All of which points to a but partial, or at 

 the best general, migration. On the other hand, when the 

 great flood began in the winter of 1913, I observed abso- 

 lutely none during all my travels, until one or two appeared 

 early in October. It was singularly scarce all the spring 

 and summer (except during the one month of January), and 

 when I revisited our district at the end of August 1915 

 under similar inundated conditions, I do not think I saw a 

 single individual between Buenos Ayres and the Yngleses, 

 or on the latter itself. 



It is only necessary to supplement Mr. Hudson's nesting- 



2g2 



