72 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



rostrum and addressing harrowing appeals to a 

 crowd of attentive listeners. When the carcase has 

 been finally abandoned by foxes, armadillos, Gulls, 

 and Caranchos, the Chimango still clings sorrow- 

 fully to it, eking out a miserable existence by tear- 

 ing at a fringe of gristle and whetting his hungry 

 beak on the bones. 



Though an inordinate lover of carrion, a wise 

 instinct has taught it that this aliment is unsuited to 

 the tender stomachs of its fledglings ; these it feeds 

 almost exclusively on the young of small birds. In 

 November the Chimangos are seen incessantly beat- 

 ing over the cardoon bushes, after the manner of 

 Hen-Harriers ; for at this season in the cardoons 

 breeds the Synallaxis hudsonL This bird, sometimes 

 called Tertt-reru del campo by the natives, is exces- 

 sively shy and mouse-like in habits, seldom showing 

 itself, and by means of strong legs and a long, slender, 

 wedge-like body is able to glide swiftly as a snake 

 through and under the grass. In summer one hears 

 its long, melancholy, trilling call-note from a cardoon 

 bush, but if approached it drops to the ground and 

 vanishes. Under the densest part of the cardoon 

 bush it scoops out a little circular hollow in the soil, 

 and constructs over it a dome of woven grass and 

 thorns, leaving only a very small aperture ; it lines 

 the floor with dry horse-dung, and lays five buff- 

 coloured eggs. So admirably is the nest concealed 

 that I have searched every day for it through a whole 

 breeding-season without being rewarded with a 

 single find. Yet they are easily found by the Chi- 



