56 FRINGILLID^]. 



This well-known Chilian species is said by Burmeister to be not 

 unfrequent near Mendoza and along the range of the Cordilleras. 



74. DIUCA MINOR, Bp. 

 (LESSEE DIUCA FINCH.) 



Diuca minor, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 483 (San Louis, Cordova) ; Scl. et 

 Salv. Nomencl. p. 31 ; Hudson, P. Z. 8. 1872, p. 537 (Rio Negro) ; Durnford, 

 Ibis, 1878, p. 393 (Tombo Point, Pat.) ; Doring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool. 

 p. 39 (R. Colorado, R. Nigro) ; Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl. viii. p. 131 

 (Concepcion, Entrerios). 



Description. Grey ; head, neck, and back faintly washed with brown ; wings 

 blackish, the feathers edged with brownish grey ; tail-feathers black, tipped with 

 white on the inner webs ; beneath, from the bill to the chest, white ; upper 

 part of breast and sides grey ; rest of the under surface white ; a bright chestnut 

 spot on the flanks : whole length 6'5 inches, wing 3*2, tail 2*6. Female similar, 

 but less bright than male. 



Hab. Argentina and Patagonia. 



This pretty little grey-and-white Finch is common on the Chilian 

 side of the Andes and throughout Patagonia, and also occurs in the 

 Mendoza district. It is a tuneful bird, lively, social, and frolicsome 

 in disposition ; in autumn and winter uniting in flocks of from fifty to 

 three or four hundred individuals ; swift of flight, and when on the 

 wing fond of pursuing its fellows and engaging in mock battles. The 

 song of the male is very pleasing, the voice having more depth and 

 mellowness than is usual with the smaller fringilline singers, which, as 

 a rule, have thin, reedy, and tremulous notes. In summer it begins 

 singing very early, even before the faintest indication of coming day- 

 light is visible, and at that dark silent hour the notes may be heard at 

 a great distance and sound wonderfully sweet and impressive. During 

 the cold season, when they live in companies, the singing-time is in the 

 evening, when the birds are gathered in some thick-foliaged tree or 

 bush which they have chosen for a winter roosting-place. This winter- 

 evening song is a hurried twittering, and utterly unlike the serene note 

 of the male bird heard on summer mornings. A little while after sunset 

 the flock bursts into a concert, which lasts several minutes, sinking and 

 growing louder by turns, and during which it is scarcely possible to 

 distinguish the notes of individuals. Then follows an interval of silence, 

 after which the singing is again renewed very suddenly and as suddenly 

 ended. For an hour after sunset, and when all other late singers, like the 

 Mimus, have long been silent, this fitful impetuous singing is continued. 

 Close by a house on the Rio Negro, in which I spent several months, 



