CACHILA PIPIT 23 



and abandon ; and yet it is impossible not to think 

 of the Skylark when describing the Cachila, which 

 in its manners, appearance, and in its habit of soaring 

 to a great height when singing, seems so like a small 

 copy of that bird. 



The Cachila rears two broods in the year; the 

 first is hatched about the middle of August, that is, 

 one to three months before the laying-season of other 

 Passerine species. By anticipating the breeding- 

 season their early nests escape the evil of parasitical 

 eggs ; but on the other hand, frosty nights and 

 heavy rains are probably as fatal to as many early 

 broods as the instinct of the Molothrus bonariensis, 

 or Cow-bird, is to others at a later period. 



There is another species of Pipit found in Argen- 

 tina, the Fork-tailed Pipit, Anthus furcatus ; it 

 inhabits the grassy pampas and the moist valleys in 

 Patagonia, but so closely resembles the Cachila in 

 its plumage, language, and habits as to be generally 

 taken for that species. The only difference I have 

 noted is that it is shyer, and has a somewhat shriller 

 song. 



