Birds of Uruguay. 165 



7. Parula pitiayumi. Pitiayumi Woodsinger. 



Fairly common in the monte of the Rio Negro, but I did 

 not meet with it elsewhere. It creeps and flits about the 

 trees and shrubs like a Goldcrest, singing occasionally a 

 weak sibilant strain. 



8. Geothlypis velata. Veiled Woodsinger. 



I only met with this bird once — namely, on the 1st 

 December, when I observed a pair among rushes and water- 

 plants on the banks of the Saiice at Sta. Ana, away from any 

 trees, and secured them both. 



9. Cycorhis ochrocephala. Ochre-headed Greenlet. 

 Not very uncommon in the monte of the Arroyo Grande, 



where I shot two specimens and often heard its lively sweet 

 song. I also observed the bird in the monte of the Rio 

 Negro, but it is always shy and keeps to the thicker parts. 

 I do not know whether it is a resident, but I heard its un- 

 mistakable song as late as the 23rd May. From a wing-tipped 

 bird I received a far more severe bite than I ever had from 

 any other small bird : the sharp notched mandibles met in 

 the flesh, letting blood freely. 



10. pROGNE ruRCATA. Domcstic Martin. 



A summer visitor and common ; breeds under the eaves 

 of houses and other buildings, and is remarkably tame. 

 It is a town bird also, and in December I saw many breed- 

 ing in the scaftblding-holes (never filled up) in the rough 

 unplastered brick church of San Luis at Porongos (Trinidad). 

 Sitting in the verandah or patio of an estancia house, I 

 have often listened to them as they sat within a few feet 

 of my head and sung their low, guttural, but sweet notes — 

 '' chrit wnr chiri'it-wurr." On the 29tli January I noticed 

 a pair still nesting, but on the 31st there was a great 

 gathering of this and other species over the estancia at sun- 

 down. I think they left some time in February. This bird 

 appears to go far north to winter, for, although I saw a good 

 many at Rio de Janeiro at the end of September, I did not 

 notice any there when homeward bound in June, nor at any 



SER. VI. VOL. VI. N 



