98 On the Ornithology of Cape San Antonio. [Ibis, 



287. Asio bracliyotus Forsi. Sliort-eared Owl. 



At last I have had the good fortune to be shown and take 

 a clutch of eggs in sitic of this Owl. The date, 8 March, 

 1919, is very late, the end of summer in fact ; but the 

 three eggs were much incubated. 



Tiie locality was a lonely part of the Camp, far from traffic, 

 in a hollow or depression in the plain, filled by a dense 

 growth of green weeds, knee-deep. Nest proper there was 

 none, only a hollow in the bare earth. My companion and 

 1 had approached it very quietly, and the l)ird sat so close 

 that we actually lo(dccd down upon it from our horses 

 for a aioment before it silently took to flight, A similar 

 nest, a few hundred yards away, contained some broken 

 egg-shells ; and Docherty, my collector, told me the mischief 

 had been done by Caranchos. 



The said collector had also secured for me another clutch 

 of four incubated eggs, taken on 15 November of last year 

 (1918). I should judge these to belong to tlie same pair of 

 birds, in all probability from the earlier nest. In this case 

 the nest was in a tuft of grass. 



The first-mentioned clutch averages 42x43 mm.; the 

 second 42x34 mm., ranging from 41 to 44 mm. in length 

 and 33 to 35 mm. in breadth. White, of course, in colour ; 

 and, as seen from the measurements, nearly spherical in 

 shape. 



300. Geranoaetus melanoleucus Vieill. Chilian Eagle. 



Mr. M. A. Runnacles confirms my impression that this 

 fine bird had abandoned its old haunts in the Rincones some 

 twenty years ago (i. e. 1900). He himself had never seen a 

 single bird since he went into residence at Linconia at that 

 date ; and indeed was totally unacquainted with the species. 



The odd thing is, that only a fortnight after I had jotted 

 down the preceding note in my journal — or, on 15 February, 

 1919 — one of my sheplierds told me that he had just 

 seen an Eagle near the Yngleses head-station Avoods being 

 followed and mobbed by half-a-dozen Caranchos in the usual 

 fashion. A stray individual presumably. 



