MNIOTILTID.E. 19 



The second brood is reared in December, the hottest month, and in 

 that season a large proportion of their nests contain parasitical eggs. 



The nest is placed in a slight hollow in the ground, under a tussock 

 of grass, and is sometimes elaborately made and lined with horsehair 

 and fine grass, and sometimes with a few materials loosely put together. 

 During the solstitial heats I have frequently found nests with frail 

 shades, built of sticks and grass, over them, the short withered grass 

 affording an insufficient protection from the meridian sun. The eggs 

 are four, elongated, with a dirty white and sometimes a dull bluish 

 ground, thickly spotted with dusky brown and drab. In some eggs the 

 spots are confluent, the whole shell being of a dull brownish-drab colour. 



The manners of this species, where I have observed it, are always the 

 same ; it lives on the ground on open plains, where the herbage and 

 grass is short, and never perches on trees. The song varies considerably 

 in different districts. 



16. ANTHUS FURCATUS, d'Orb. et Lafr. 

 (FORKED-TAIL PIPIT.) 



Anthus furcatus, d'Orb. Voy. p. 227 (Patagonia) ; Danvin, Zool. Toy. 

 'Beagle,' iii. p. 85 (La Plata); Sclater, Ibis, 1878, p. 364; Doring, Exp. al 

 Rio Negro, Zool. p. 37 (Azul, Carhue"-pampas) j Sharpe, Cat. B. x. p. 605. 



Description. Similar to A. correndera, but with a smaller bill, shorter and 

 more curved hind claw, less spotted under surface, and different marking of the 

 second outer rectrix, which has a clear and distinct white line along the inner 

 side of the shaft: total length 6-0 inches, wing 3'2, tail 2'4. 



Hub. Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. 



One of the Pipits procured at Conchitas belongs to this species, if 

 distinct from the former. I think I recollect it as a resident on the 

 pampas, closely resembling the Cachila in flight and language, but 

 much shyer, and usually found concealed under Tulu grass on dry 

 grounds. 



Fam. VI. MNIOTILTID.E, OR WOOD-SINGERS. 



The Mniotiltidse, or Wood-singers, are a well-known and very charac- 

 teristic family of the New World, where they occupy the position of our 

 Sylviidae. They number some 130 or 140 species, distributed all over 

 America down to La Plata, but most abundant in the southern portions 

 of North America, where the favourite and beautiful genus Dendrceca, 

 with about 100 species, plays an important part. Iii Argentina only 

 four speci es have as yet been met with. 



