Correspondence, Notes, etc.



171



BIRD NOTES FROM ARGENTINA.



Sir, — I duly received the Oct. number of the Avicullural Magazine

a few days ago. I should be very sorry to be without this monthly visitor ;

I always look forward to its coming.


I have 110 aviary, though soon I intend to go in for one, but for many

years have been an earnest observer, and I may say student, of the bird life

around me. I have collected, taken the dimensions, descriptions and

habits, as far as in me lay, of now about 130 different birds; and I have

still, I calculate, 40 or 50 more to get. I have painted copies of all these as

exactly as I possibly could.


Here we have the following Finches. My nomenclature is from

Sclater and Hudson’s Argentine Ornithology, 1888, the only authority I

have.



I.



Phencticits aureiventris ..



(d’Orb. et Lafr.)



2.



Guiraca cyanea



(Linn.)



3 -



Spennophila ccernlescens



(Vieill.)



4 -



Paroaria cucullata



(Lath.)



5 -



Poospiza nigrorufa



(d’Orb.)



6.



,, melanolenca



(Vieill.)



7 -



,, erythrophrys ..



.. (Scl.)



8.



Coryphospingus cristatus



.. .. (Gmel.)



9 -



Phrygilus unicolor



.. .. (d’Orb. et Lafr.)



10.



Diuca minor



.. .. (Bonap.)



11.



Catamenia analis



(d’Orb et Lafr.)



12.



Zonotrichia pileata



.. .. (Bodd.)



I 3 -



,, hypochondria



(d’Orb. et Lafr.)



14.



Embernagra platensis ..



(Gmel.)



15 -



Sycalis pelzelni



.. (Scl.)



16.



Saltatricula multicolor ..



.. .. (Buon.)



17.



Embernagra olivascens



.. .. (d’Orb. et Lafr.)



18.



Chrysomitris icterica ..



(Licht.)



19 -



,, atrata



(d’Orb et Lafr.)



20.



Phrygilus fruticeti



(Kittl.) Darn.



No. 1. I saw in an aviary a few



weeks ago. The pair seemed very



tame and healthy ; they are very scarce birds here, but I have them on my

own property in one single place, and I have never seen them elsewhere.

They feed here on the ripe seed of the elder tree, and come for this and go

away when this is about finished. They have a most lovely song, and

whistle very like our English Blackbird.


No. 2. Is common here ; they are always found in pairs, and are

lovely little birds : the pair being so dissimilar. The cock has a beautiful

song. They should be very easy to rear in captivity.


No. 3. Very common : come in flocks.


No. 4. Rare here. No. 5. Rare.



No. 6. Idem.



