18S4.I Barrows oii Birds of the La-ver Ui-u<rtuiy. 21 



Buenos Aires, and somewhat further soutli. Its proper home 

 is much furtlier northward but in the last few decades, according 

 to Hudson, it lias gradually descended along the great river val- 

 leys and spread over the adjacent plains wherever tliere are trees. 

 At Concepcion these long-tailed and long-legged Cuckoos are 

 usually seen in flocks, which rise with harsh screams when dis- 

 turbed, and flap slowly ofl'with frequent intervals of sailing. 



On the ground they run with much ease and it is a very pretty 

 sight to see a flock of them glide down a few at a time from a 

 hedge to the ground, each one closing his wings as he nears it 

 and, without checking himself at all in the air, gliding forward on 

 his feet so smoothly and swiftly that it is almost impossible to tell 

 when he ceased flying and began running. At such a time 

 many of them carry the long tail almost verticallv over the back. 

 They are said to nest in communities, but they certainly some- 

 times nest singly, though the natives assured me that even then 

 two or more females dropped their eggs in the same nest. 



The eggs themselves are v6ry peculiar. The ground color is a 

 clear bluish-green, over which is a net-work of dots, lines and 

 blotches in pure white, the material of which is chalky and not 

 diflicult to wash oft' when the eggs are fresh. Sometimes the 

 ground-color is almost obscured by these white markings, but 

 when — as is often the case — the blue and white are in about equal 

 proportions the eggs are among the prettiest I have ever seen. 



December 6, 1S79, I took a perfect egg from a female which I 

 shot, but I saw no other eggs until the following year when, during 

 December, about a dozen specimens were brought to me — all taken 

 from '■ large nests made of sticks up in trees." 



116. Diplopterus galeritus Burm. Crispin (imitation of 

 note?). — Not noticed at all the first season, but not rare late in 

 December, 18S0. Several were taken in open, bushy places and 

 many others were heard. It is a plain but attractive Cuckoo, with 

 a few-feathered crest and long, soft, flowing upper tail-coverts. 



The note is very clear and penetrating, sounding much like the 

 word cris-piii^ slowlv uttered and with the accent on the last syl- 

 lable. The birds are very shy and I followed one for nearly an 

 hour before I saw it at all, and nearlv twice as long before any 

 chance for a shot was offered. There is some peculiarity in the 

 note which frequently makes it impossible to tell whether the bird 

 is in front of or behind you — even when the note itself is dis- 

 tmctlv heard. I know nothing of nest or eggs. 



