'8S3-] Barrows on Birds of the Lower Uruguay. I •? Cj 



breed. About a dozen pairs nested near each other on low 

 bushes in a very wet marsh. The nests were rather bulky, 

 made of weed stalks, grass, etc., and contained three or four 

 eggs each, white spotted with brown. The eggs were laid about 

 the third week in December, and with them were found many 

 Cowbird's eggs. 



Late in March, 1881, we found this species in large flocks on 

 the Pigu6, and it was a beautiful sight to see a hundred or more 

 fluttering about among the snowy plumes of the pampas grass 

 and displaying their rich black and yellow dress. Unlike most 

 other birds obtained at that time, their plumage seemed nearly 

 as bright and fresh as in summer. 



43. Amblyrhamphus holosericeus ( Scop.) . — Found rather 

 sparingly at Concepcion, but resident through the year and 

 breeds. The birds are found singly, or at most in pairs, frequent 

 swamps and marshy ground, and are remarkable for their clear, 

 penetrating, bell-like call, which may be heard at least half a 

 mile, yet sounds hardly louder when heard at a distance of a 

 dozen yards. The feathers of the head, neck, and tibite are of 

 the most brilliant scarlet, while the rest of the bird is lustrous 

 black. The sexes are alike in size and color, and a young female 

 only a day or two from the nest showed many red touches about 

 the head. Of the nest and eggs I am ignorant ; the young bird 

 just mentioned was taken December 24, 1880. 



44. Pseudoleistes virescens {VieilL). Pecho-ama- 

 RiLLO (Yellow-breast). — No bird of the family is better 

 known to the average Argentine than the Pecho-amarillo. Every 

 rush-bordered pool or stream and every acre of long, coarse grass 

 has its colony of these birds, and in the breeding season they go 

 back and forth in troops, laden with building materials and 

 apparently as unmindful of man and beast as the grass amongst 

 which their nests are built. Some nests were begun as early as 

 the middle of August, and on October 2 an unfinished nest and 

 one containing nearly fledged young were found side by side. 

 The nest is a substantial structure of reeds, grass, and sometimes 

 mxud, lined with fine grass and built into and around the grass 

 stems so as to leave it at least a foot or two above the mud or 

 water. The eggs are four or five in number, white, heavily 

 marked with brown, often making them appear clear chocolate- 

 colored. Two broods are usually reared. 



