18/1.] LETTER FROM MR.W. H. HUDSON. 261 



sexes of this species, the plumage of the male being white and pale 

 grey, that of the female of a deep brown and slate-colour. Over 

 two degrees of latitude south of our city is the extreme northern 

 limit of its winter migration. The neighbourhood of the south- 

 western town of Azul is a favourite resort of these birds when they 

 visit us ; there they are found in great numbers, in flocks of from a 

 dozen to a hundred individuals, scattered about the plain and feeding 

 upon the clover and tender grasses. They are shy and loquacious, 

 aud chatter much during the night in frosty weather. Whether 

 they breed in the Patagonian mainland or in the Falkland Islands I 

 cannot say, but have been told that in the last region they are very 

 numerous in summer. 



" The lesser dark brown Goose, called here Pato de la Sierra *, and 

 resembling the female Butarda, advances much further north than 

 that bird, but is seldom seen within fifty miles of Buenos Ayres 

 city. That far south of the city is the resort of the advance flocks 5 

 they annually visit the same place in considerable numbers, and 

 remain m it so faithfully through the season that we might fancy 

 they had agreed to consider it a boundary line, over which it was 

 not safe or lawful for them to pass. 



" Of the family that includes Snipes, Plovers, &c. we have five 

 winter species : — 



" The true Vecasina (for this vernacular name is sometimes given 

 to other species) : a large bird, the upper plumage dark, below 

 white, very thickly mottled with rufous red. I am inclined to think 

 that it remains in this country all the year— in summer breeding on 

 the extreme southern pampas, and straggling north in winter. 



" The Chorlo-amaril lento (Mgialitia falklandica) passes us late 

 in autumn on its way to the north, few remaining through the cold 

 season with us. 



"The Chorlito de Invierno (Eudromias modestus) and the Gachita 

 (Tkinocorus rumicivorus) appear in April, are numerous, and widely 

 distributed. J 



"A pretty little cinereous Plover, with a rufous head and belted 

 breast, is also found in winter verv sparsely distributed over the 

 southern half of this state. 



" Of the foregoing five species I will speak more at length when 

 I come to treat of the families to which they appertain. 



" The last on this short list is the large Curlew-like Vanduria de 

 Inviernof, a bird well known for its size, its hard abrupt cry of ex- 

 traordinary power, and its strongly contrasted colours— bright red 

 legs, wings and back ash -blue, under surface and belly black, head 

 and neck deep yellow. This bird appears in May, is very common 

 on the pampas about the latitude 38°, becoming rarer as we advance 

 north, and is but seldom seen north of Buenos Ayres city. They 

 frequent dry grounds abounding in long loose grass, or sprinkled 

 with low cardoon bushes, and feed in scattered flocks of from half a 

 * [No doubt Chlocphaga poliocephala.—P. L. S.l 

 t [An Ibis, Creronticus melanosis (Forst.).— P. L. S.'J 



