ZONOTRICHIA CANICAPILLA. 59 



he is aware of it, otherwise it will escape him, owing to its thin ethereal 

 character, the multitudinous notes not mingling but floating away, 

 as it were, detached and scattered, mere gossamer webs of sound that 

 very faintly impress the sense. They also sing frequently at night, and 

 in that dark silent time their little melody sounds strangely sweet and 

 expressive. The song varies greatly in different districts; thus, in 

 Bahia Blanca it is without the long trill at the end, and in other 

 localities I have found it vary in other ways. 



The Chingolos pair about the end of September, and at that time 

 their battles are frequent, as they are very pugnacious. The nest is 

 made under a thistle or tuft of grass, in a depression in the soil, so that 

 the top of the nest is on a level with the surface of the ground. The 

 nest is mostly made and lined with horse-hair, the eggs four or five, 

 pale blue, and thickly spotted with dull brown. Sometimes, though 

 very rarely, a nest is found in a bush or on a stump several feet above 

 the ground. Two broods are reared in the season, the first in October, 

 the second in February or March. I have known these birds to breed in 

 April and May, and these very late nests escape the infliction of para- 

 sitical eggs. When the nest is approached or taken, the Chingolos 

 utter no sound, but sit in dumb anxiety, with tail expanded and droop- 

 ing wings. 



78. ZONOTRICHIA CANICAPILLA, Gould. 

 (PATAGONIAN SONG-SPARROW.) 



Zonotrichia canicapilla, Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 33 (Chupat), et 1878, p. 393 

 (Centr. Patag.) ; Sclater, Ibis, 1877, p. 46, pi. 1. fig. 1 j Doring, Exp. al Rio 

 Negro, Zool. p. 39 (R. Colorado, R. Negro). 



Description. Head grey, with narrow white superciliaries ; in other respects 

 like Zonotrichia pileata : total length 6-3 inches, wing 3'2, tail 2-6. 



Hab. Patagonia. 



Durnford found this species common and abundant on the Chupat 

 River and in the interior of Patagonia. It has a pretty song, and sings 

 in the evening and during the night when the moon is shining. It 

 nests among coarse grass and herbage, making an unpretending struc- 

 ture of the former material, which is lined with fibres. It lays four eggs, 

 pale green, thickly striated with light reddish-brown spots running 

 into each other, and most numerous at the large end. 



