150 IDLE DAYS IN PATAGONIA 



ica embraces a great variety of climates ; that all 

 the vast region, which comprises Chili, the south- 

 ern half of Argentina, and Patagonia, is in the 

 temperate zone. Also, that a large proportion of 

 the South American songsters belong to families 

 that are universal, in which all the finest voices of 

 Europe are included thrushes, warblers, wrens, 

 larks, finches. The true thrushes are well repre- 

 sented, and some differ but slightly from Euro- 

 pean forms the whistle of the Argentine black- 

 bird is sometimes mistaken by Englishmen for 

 that of the smaller home bird. The mocking-birds 

 form a group of the same family (Turdidae), but 

 with more highly-developed vocal powers. It is 

 true that the tanagers, numbering about four hun- 

 dred species, mostly brilliantly-colored, some 

 rivaling the humming-birds in the vivid tints and 

 metallic luster of their plumage, form an exclu- 

 sively Neotropical family; but they are closely 

 related to the finches, and in the genera in which 

 these two great and melodious families touch and 

 mingle, it is impossible to say of many species 

 which are finches and which tanagers. Another 

 purely American family, with a hundred and 

 thirty known species, a large majority adorned 

 with rich or brilliant or gay and strongly-con- 

 trasted colors, are the troupials Icteridse; and 

 these are closely related to the starlings of the 

 Old World. 



Finally, it may be added that the true melodists 

 of the Neotropical region the passerine birds of 



