Cape San Antonio, Buenos Ayres. 5 
Breeding- Notes —The nests are generally suspended from 
the extremities of branches, to which they are firmly built 
or woven in. ‘The new nests consist only of two chambers, 
the porch and nest proper, and are built and inhabited by a 
single pair of birds. These become gradually added to, till 
plenty of them come to weigh perhaps a quarter of a ton each 
and are of a bulk enough to fill a large cart. Thorny tala 
twigs (no branches), firmly interlaced, form the only materiai ; 
and there is no lining to the chambers, even in the breeding- 
season. Some old forest trees have seven or eight of these 
huge masses suspended to their branches, while the ground 
underneath is strewn with twigs and the remains of fallen 
nests. The entrance to the chambers is almost invariably 
underneath, or, if on the side, is protected by the overhanging 
eave, doubtless in both cases as a safeguard against the attacks 
of the opossum (Didelphys aurita). These entrances lead. 
into a porch or outer chamber ; and the latter communicates 
with the breeding-chamber. There is no interior communi- 
cation between these sets of apartments ; and each set is inha- 
bited, in the breeding-season at least, by only one pair of 
*“Loros.”” The number of pairs perhaps never exceeds a 
dozen, even with the largest nests. Repairs are carried on 
all the year round; but additions and new nests are only 
formed towards the spring. 
Opossums are frequently found in one or other of the upper 
chambers, the entrance having been made too high, and so af- 
fording access. But though they take up their abode there, 
they cannot force their way into the remainder of the nest; and 
the Perroquets refuse to be driven away. In fact, the latter 
are most aggravatingly obstinate on the question of their 
manorial rights. Notwithstanding all our efforts, two or 
three nests are now established in the garden itself, in some 
fine old pine trees ; and there the birds sit all day and hack off 
the twigs, or descend onto the fruit-trees and eat peaches. 
I have picked off these squatters through the day, and banged 
whole handfuls of shot ito the nests at night, besides fre- 
quently pulling down the latter ; but the “ Loros” could give 
Bruce’s famous spider heavy odds in the perseverance line of 
