BIRD-NESTING IN ARGENTINA 375 



respective countries; it is unfortunate that many Latin 

 Americans base their estimate of a people upon the appear- 

 ance and doings of these few misguided and objectionable 

 characters. 



At Tilcara we lived with another Italian family, but of 

 an entirely different type. The village, the elevation of 

 which is eight thousand feet, stands about half a mile from 

 the railway-station. We were engaging peons to carry our 

 luggage there when the man stepped up and offered us the 

 use of part of his humble home, which stood within a hun- 

 dred feet of the spot. We accepted the invitation, and 

 during our entire stay were treated with great courtesy. 



There is a narrow valley between high, nigged, barren 

 peaks, some of which are snow-capped. Parts of the de- 

 pression are dry and semiarid; others, marshy and covered 

 with high, rank grass. Small Indian huts built of stones 

 or adobe are strewn about, and there are numerous fields 

 from which the rocks have been gathered through years 

 of effort so that the land may be cultivated. 



There were many birds. They represented a fauna inter- 

 mediate between that of the high, cold plateau and that 

 found lower down at Rosario de Lerma. Large red-breasted 

 meadow-larks (Troupialis) were common and always found 

 in pairs. Of hummers there were numerous kinds, attracted 

 by clumps of flowering shrubs that grew alongside the 

 fences; the giant humming-bird and the gorgeous coppery- 

 tailed comet were particularly plentiful. The former are 

 veiy stupid. They came fluttering along like awkward 

 swallows and often settled comfortably on a branch near 

 to us, from which they would inspect us at their leisure, 

 while they chirped and darted out the tongue like a snake. 

 One of the comets that we collected had eaten quantities 

 of gnats and small ants. 



The walls of a deserted Quechua hut had been appro- 

 priated by a flock of bay-winged cowbirds (Molothrus badius) 

 for their nesting-sites. Dozens of small, round holes pene- 

 trated the thick, earthen walls, and some of them extended 



