170 Mr. O. V. Aplin on the 



halfway down a well) , in the tin cylinders set round young 

 trees to protect them from ants^ in shrubs, &c. Two which I 

 saw on the ground in a young plantation on the 15tli Novem- 

 ber were among dead laid grass — one quite exposed^ the other 

 shaded by a handful of dead grass over it. The nests were 

 of grassj lined with finer grass and a little short cow-hair, and 

 contained three fresh eggs. Other nests differ a little. One 

 nest (8th January) was built among the folds of a coil of 

 twisted cow-hide rope hanging in a galpon ; it contained one 

 egg of the rightful owner^ and even here a Toldo had inserted 

 one of her unwelcome additions. 



23. CoTURNicuLus PERUANUs. Yellow-sliouldercd Song- 

 Sparrow. 



I saw several on wire fences of the chacras near Porongos, 

 where there were some ripe barley and wheat, on the 7th 

 December. At Sta. Elena I met with it only on a few 

 occasions, and then always in a new plantation consider- 

 ably overgrown with paja, thistles, &c., and adjoining a piece 

 of ground where barley was grown. 



24. Embernagra platensis. Red-billed Ground-Finch. 

 This fine Finch is common along caiiadas and other places 



where there is a good growth of tall paja grass. 



25. Chrysomitris icterica. Black-headed Siskin. 

 Common, especially about the quintas of estancia houses, 



and resident to a certain extent, but possibly not entirely so ; 

 they certainly become much less common in the autumn. 

 They are fond of feeding onthe seeds of difterent tall plants, 

 and I have seen them clinging to a yellow-flowered composite, 

 and especially to a blue-and-red-flowered Boraginaceous 

 plant called ^or morada, just as we see Goldfinches clinging 

 to thistles in England. The song is very like that of the 

 English Siskin (speaking only from a knowledge of the song 

 of the latter as a caged bird), but rather more powerful and 

 reminding one sometimes of the Goldfinch's. This is quite 

 one of the best song-birds of the country, and the song always 

 seemed to carry one back to the Old World. Building was 

 in full swing in November. On the 15th I knew of three 



