38 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



up in the sky from so many throats, the concert has 

 a very charming effect, and is in harmony with the 

 shadowy morning twilight* 



BANK-MARTIN 



Atticora cyanoleuca 



Above dark glossy blue ; quills and tail-feathers black ; cheeks and 

 under surface pure white ; sides of the neck blue, descending in a 

 half-crescent on the sides of the chest ; length 4.7 inches. 



THIS diminutive dark-plumaged species is the small- 

 est of our Hirundines, In Buenos Ayres they appear 

 early in September, arriving before the Martins, but 

 preceded by the Common Swallow, They are bank- 

 birds, breeding in forsaken holes and burrows, for 

 they never bore into the earth themselves, and are 

 consequently not much seen about the habitations of 

 man. They sometimes find their breeding-holes in 

 the banks of streams, or, in cultivated districts, in the 

 sides of ditches, and even down in wells. But if in 

 such sites alone fit receptacles for their eggs were met 

 with, the species, instead of one of the commonest, 

 would be rare indeed with us; for on the level 

 pampas most of the water-courses have marshy 

 borders, or at most but low and gently sloping 

 banks. But the burrowing habits of two other 

 animals the Vizcacha (Lagostomus trichodactylus), 

 the common large rodent of the pampas, and the 

 curious little bird called Minera (Geositta cunicu- 



