86 Barrows o?i Birds of the Lozver Uruguay. [April 



a minute and a half or two minutes at a time, and even then the 

 notes were disjointed. 



The nest is very bulky, placed within five or six feet of the 

 ground, and composed of sticks, roots, and grass. The eggs, 

 three or four in number, are greenish white, with dots and 

 splashes of brown, both colors varying widely in precise tint in 

 different specimens. Eggs were taken from October 28 until 

 January 15, but doubtless many are laid by the first or middle of 

 October. 



This is one of the few large birds regularly imposed upon by 

 the Cowbird. In one case four of the hitter's eggs were found in 

 a nest with but two of the owner's. 



This species was not met with south of Buenos Aires, unless a 

 single bird was seen near the Sierra de Currumalan. Although 

 this specimen was not taken, there is little doubt that it was 

 Mimus patagonicus., which replaces M. calandria in Patagonia. 



4. Folioptila dumicola {Vieill.). — An abundant bird at 

 Concepcion among trees and bushes everywhere, many remaining 

 through the entire year, though perhaps not as many were seen 

 during the colder weather. The beautiful lichen-covered nests 

 were frequently found during November ; always in plain sight 

 but very difficult to see, and most often betrayed by the birds 

 themselves. They were rarely placed more than five or six feet 

 from the ground, — oftener only three or four, — and almost 

 invariably contained three eggs, which in color and markings 

 were precisely like those of P. ccerulea. 



5. Troglodytes platensis ^/. Tacuara or Tacuarita ; 

 ^ — probably so called from its fretting notes {tuques). 



Abundant everywhere — in the towns as well as in the gloomi- 

 est swamps and sandiest cactus patches, and equally abundant 

 summer and vs^inter. It nests, like its cousin T. a'edon., in any 

 cavity which takes its fancy. Probably two broods are reared 

 each season, as man}? were nesting eaidy in October, and fresh 

 eggs were taken as late as January 3, at which tinie I took a set 

 of seven from the hollow of a decayed stub which overhung the 

 river. In nest, eggs, and song, this bird so nearly resembles T. 

 aedon that anything more on these points is superfluous. From 

 its sociable disposition (towards man at least) one is often sur- 

 prised to find it in the most out-of-the-way places, as, for example, 

 in the lonely gorges of the Sierra de la Ventana, where its rich 

 song more than once gave me a pleasant surprise. 



