56 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



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 

 horsehair, 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 Feb- 

 ruary or March. I have known these birds to breed 

 in April and May, and these very late nests escape 

 the infliction of parasitical eggs. When the nest is 

 approached or taken the Chingolos utter no sound, 

 but sit in dumb anxiety, with tail expanded and 

 drooping wings. 



There are three more species of the charming 

 Zonotrichia Song-Sparrows within the Argentine 

 country, one of which, the Patagonian Song-Sparrow, 

 Z. canicapilla, I found very abundant in Bahia 

 Blanca and on the Rio Negro. In appearance and 

 habits it was not distinguishable from the Chingolo 

 Song-Sparrow, but differed slightly in its song, this 

 being without the concluding trill. 



