238 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



powerful, and heard only in the love-season* The call 

 is a trill of a single note rapidly reiterated, and loud 

 enough to be heard half a mile away ; the cry being 

 accompanied by vibratory motions of the wings/' 



LITTLE COCK 



Rhinocrypta lanceolata 



Above, head and upper neck reddish brown with a fine white shaft- 

 stripe on each feather, the stripes being most conspicuous on the crest- 

 feathers ; lower neck, back, rump, and wings greyish olive ; tail blackish ; 

 beneath, throat and upper part of breast grey, becoming pure white 

 on the middle of the belly ; sides of belly and flanks bright chestnut ; 

 lower part of belly and flanks and under tail-coverts like the back ; 

 bill horn-colour, feet black ; length 9 inches. 



THE last Passerine species to be described is the 

 only one known to me belonging to the singular 

 South American Family, Pteroptochidaz. They are 

 mostly natives of Chili and the south-western 

 extremity of the South American continent, but 

 have representatives in the Andes of Ecuador 

 and Columbia and the high plateau of Central 

 Brazil. 



The vernacular name Gallito t or " Little Cock/' 

 by which this species is familiarly known in Pata- 

 gonia, cannot fail to strike every one who sees the 

 bird as appropriate, for it struts Jand runs on the 

 ground with tail erect, looking wonderfully like a 

 minute domestic fowl* In the neighbourhood of 



