538 MR. W. H. HUDSON ON PATAGONIAN BIRDS. [Apr. 16, 



choristers." In summer, when these Finches live in pairs thinly . 

 scattered over the country, the song of the male is the first indi- 

 cation of the approach of day. When the profound stillness of 

 midnight yet reigns and the thick darkness that precedes the dawn 

 envelopes earth, suddenly the noise of this little bird is heard 

 wonderfully sweet and clear. In this quiet hour the song may be 

 heard at a great distance, and is composed of half a dozen notes, 

 repeated at short intervals till the day has fully dawned. But in 

 winter, when they live in companies, their great singing-time is in 

 the evening, when the flock has gathered in some large thick- 

 foiiaged bush, which they have chosen for a winter roosting-place. 

 This winter-evening song is very different from that heard in 

 summer, the notes appearing sharper, and uttered in a wild and 

 rapid manner. A little after sunset they burst into a concert, which 

 lasts several minutes, sinking and growing louder by turns, and in 

 which it is quite impossible to distinguish the song of any indivi- 

 dual. After a few minutes of silence, the singing is suddenly 

 renewed, and again almost as suddenly ended. For an hour after 

 sunset this fitful and impetuous singing is continued. Close by a 

 house I lived in several months were three large chanar bushes, 

 where a multitude of these Finches roosted every night ; and tliey 

 never missed singing a night, however cloudy, or cold, or rainy the 

 weather was. So fond did they seem of this charming babit, that 

 when I would approach the bushes, or stand beneath them, the 

 alarm caused by my presence would interrupt the performance but 

 a few moments ; for suddenly they would burst almost simultaneously 

 into singing, the birds all the time pursuing each other through the 

 bushes often within a foot of my head. 



The last three species I have described are the only hard-billed 

 birds I found in Patagonia with which I was not before acquainted. 



5. [Mimus patachonicus, Lafr. et D'Orb. — P. L. S.] 



The Patagonian Calandria closely resembles the Buenos-Ayrean 

 Mimus calandria, but is smaller, the plumage deeper grey, the eye 

 is also a darker green. It is a very common bird, lives in pairs, 

 and feeds on insects and berries. In its nidification it is like the 

 31. calandria, the nest being composed of thorns and sticks, and 

 lined with soft dry grass and cow-hair, and placed in the centre of 

 a thorny bush ; the eggs oval, four in number, and very thickly 

 covered with flesh-coloured spots. When a person approaches the 

 nest, the parent birds manifest their anxiety by perching and 

 hopping on the twigs within a yard or two of his head, but without 

 uttering any sound ; the M. calandria, when alarmed, utters 

 incessantly a loud harsh angry cry. Neither of these species will 

 live in confinement. 



The vocal performance of the Patagonian bird is characterized by 

 the same apparently infinite variety as is that of the Buenos- 

 Ayrean bird. It would scarcely be possible for me to give an 

 adequate idea of its powers in a description ; but I have among my 

 notes some account of the song of M. calandria, which I will send at 



