62 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



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 dis- 

 appeared 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 

 innumerable brief notes, high and shrill as those of 

 a bat, wounding the ear with their excessive sharp- 

 ness, 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. 



In towns they build in walls, like the English 

 Sparrow ; in country places they always select the 

 domed nest of some Dendrocolaptine species to 

 breed in. Possibly in some districts where I have 

 not been, this Sparrow selects other breeding-sites ; 

 my experience is that outside of a town it never lays 



