66 FRINGILLID^E. 



Hab. Bolivia and N.W. Argentina. 



Dr. Burmeister obtained two examples of this species in the Sierra of 

 Uspellata near Mendoza. 



89. SYCALIS PELZELNI, Scl. 

 (YELLOW HOUSE-SPARROW.) 



Sycalis pelzelni, Scl Ibis, 1872, p. 42 ; Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 34 ; Durnford, 

 Ibis, 1877, p. 172 (Buenos Ayres). 



Description. Above yellowish olive-green, the back sparsely striped with 

 blackish ; wing- and tail-feathers black, edged with yellow ; forehead bright 

 orange, the rest of the head like the back ; below bright yellow ; under surfaces 

 of wings and tail also yellow : total length 5'4 inches, wing 2-7, tail 2-2. 

 Female dull brownish grey mottled with blackish above : under surface whitish 

 grey, striped with dusky brown on the breast ; wing- and tail-feathers edged 

 with yeUow. 



Hab. S. Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. 



The Yellow " House- Sparrow," as this species is called, is the town- 

 bird of Buenos Ayres, but does not multiply greatly, nor is he familiar 

 with man, like his rough, sooty-plumaged, far-away London relation. 



The forehead of the male is bright orange, the prevailing colour of 

 the entire plumage yellow, clouded with other hues. The female is 

 grey, marked with pale fuscous, and is less in size than her mate. 

 They remain with us all the year and live in pairs, the sexes in this 

 species being faithful. Sometimes they are seen associating in small 

 flocks, but I am inclined to believe that only the young unmated birds 

 are gregarious. In 1867-8, during the cholera epidemic in Buenos 

 Ayres, the Sparrows all disappeared from the town, and I was told by 

 the manager of a large steam flour-mill in the town that the birds had 

 not gone away, but had died. They were found dead all about the mill 

 where they had been very abundant. My informant was a careful 

 observer, and I have no doubt that he was correct in what he told me. 



In spring and summer the male sings frequently with great energy, 

 but without much melody. After a hurried prelude of sharp chirps and 

 trills, he pours out a continuous stream of sound, composed of innumer- 

 able brief notes, high and shrill as those of a bat, wounding the ear 

 with their excessive sharpness, and emitted so rapidly that the whole 

 song is more like that of a cicada than of a bird. This piercing torrent 

 of sound is broken at intervals by a long grave note, or half a dozen 

 short rapid notes in a lower key, which come as an agreeable relief. 



