Birda of Uruguay. 153 



them in every way in liis power, tended so mucli to render 

 my residence there so pleasant and to facilitate my collecting 

 work. Mr. Burgess is well acquainted with many of the 

 birds of Uruguay, and I obtained a good deal of useful 

 and interesting information from him. 



I left Montevideo for the "^ camp " by train for San 

 Jose on the evening of the ISth, and next morning started 

 before daylight by the diligencia, which carries the post 

 and passengers, for Sta. Elena — about 22 leagues distant, 

 where I arrived late in the afternoon, the road-track being in 

 good condition (neither deep in dust nor in mud) and passing 

 close to the estancia house. 



The land or '' camp " belonging to Sta. Elena amounts 

 roughly to 27,000 acres. The camp is in a triangle formed 

 by two rivers, the Arroyo Grande and its tributary the 

 Monzon. It may be taken as typical of the whole of that 

 part of the country, consisting of rolling prairie or undu- 

 lating ground covered with short pasture grass, with in places 

 some growth of giant thistle and eardoon *. Scattered over 

 the camp are groups of granite boulders, sometimes hardly 

 showing above ground, at others piled up or towering singly 

 to a height of 12 or 15, and even up to 20 feet, and varying 

 in extent from a few yards in diameter to an acre or more 

 in extent. Among these rocks grow scrubby examples of 

 the (usually) thorny small trees or shrubs, tala [CeJtis tala), 

 moye {Moye sjnnosa), "curupi,^^ ^^ sombre del toro " (a kind 

 of holly), and other similar plants. The tala and moye have 

 much the growth and attain to about the same size as the 

 hawthorn, but I never saw one with a trunk approaching 

 in size those of the old thorns we sometimes see in parks and 

 old pastures. Apart from these, the " monte " along the 

 rivers, and the plantations round the houses, there are no 

 trees or shrubs to be seen. 



Some of the higher hills in sight of which I passed in my 



* Partly on account of the great drought which prevailed during the 

 time that I was in the country, and which had then lasted about two years, 

 there was very little growth of eardoon and still less of giant thistle in 

 1892-3. 



