1882.] FROM THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 609 



93. Phytotoma rutila, Vieill. 



<S . Fuerte de Andalgala, Catatnarca, Arg. Rep., Sept. 21, 1880. 



?. „ „ „ „ Sept. 3, 1880. 



d", iris amber ; 2 > iris purple. 



The females are rather scarce and very difficult to see, as they are 

 found singly and are careful to hide in the thickest parts of the 

 hedges : their note was long mistaken by me for that of a cricket, 

 so harsh and creaking is it. The males, however, at this season go 

 in flocks, feeding upon the young shoots of the algarroba. Colora- 

 tion of the sexes quite distinct. 



94. Geositta tenuirostris (Lafr. et d'Orb.). 



d". Salto, Buenos Aires, Arg. Rep., Oct. 17, 1881. 

 5. „ „ „ „ Oct. 18, 1881. 



These birds are very common in the open campos, running along 

 the ground and then taking a low flight. 



95. FURNARIUS FIGULUS (Licht.). 



(?. San Pedro, Santiago del Estero, Arg. Rep., July 15, 1880. 



?. Salta, Arg. Rep., Oct. 23, 1880. 



Iris brown. 



This bird, met with in several parts of the Republic, makes a 

 large nest of sticks, usually at a great height. 



[I have never seen F. figulus from the Argentine Republic, and 

 should doubt its occurrence there. The only Furnarius known to 

 me from La Plata besides F. rufus is F. tricolor, Doering, of which 

 I have a specimen from Cordova. — P. L. S.] 



96. Furnarius rufus (Gm.). 



S 2 . Monte Grande, Buenos Aires, Arg. Rep., Jan. 5, 1881. 



A very familiar bird over the greater part of the Argentine territory. 

 Its breeding-habits are very irregular, as in Misiones I remarked 

 it constructing its mud nest in midwinter, although when I was 

 in Salto, Buenos Aires, in October, the breeding-season appeared 

 well advanced. An instance is known to me in which one nest was 

 built on the top of another by a difl'erent pair of birds, thus formiug 

 a two-story house ; but this is a very rare occurrence. 



With Mr. Gibson's statement (Ibis, 1880, p. 17) that the nests 

 of this bird are larger in the Banda Oriental than here, I do not 

 agree. With regard to the position of the entrance, of fifteen nests 

 observed personally at Salto, B. Aires, the entrance was on the left 

 in eight cases, and on the right in seven. What, then, influences the 

 feathery architect in selecting its position will probably remain a 

 mystery. 



Thelocality chosen forthenest is usually the fork of a tree, or a post, 

 or the projecting cornice of a house. It is very solid and strong, 

 being made of cemented mud from 1*5 to 2*5 inches thick : one that 

 I took at haphazard weighed 14 lb. 



In Salto I watched the operation of building. The pair began the 



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