2o6 Barrows oji Birds of the Lower Uruguay. [October 



ing each other out of shape on the same bush or tree. Most of 

 the smaller species are so similar in color and motion that they 

 cannot possibly be distinguished from each other at a distance 

 of twentv feet. And it can easily be imagined how difficult it is 

 to collect eggs and be stire of their identification. The eggs of 

 most species are as much alike as the parents themselves, — often 

 more so, for the eggs are always either white or pale blue, and 

 unmarked ; while there is really considerable difference in color 

 and pattern among the birds. The few notes ^vhich I have 

 brought together here may seem very scanty as the outcome of 

 ■work among such wealth of material, but such as they are I offer 

 them with some confidence in their accuracy, for the i"eason that 

 they are few, and that they were not hastily taken. 



8i. Phloeocryptes melanops ( VieilL). — We first met with 

 this species near Bahia Blanca in February, 1881. Itwasheix re- 

 stricted to the rushes bordering the stream, and in suitable local- 

 ities was quite abundant, but its habit of skulking close along the 

 bank under the cover of the thickest grass and rushes made it a 

 diflficult bird to secure. We afterward found it to be abundant 

 along every stream on the pampas which we visited. Bulky, 

 spherical nests, eight or ten inches in diameter and composed of 

 rushes, grass, and mud, were several times found swung amongst 

 the reeds overhanging the water, and doubtless the}^ belonged to 

 these birds, but as it was then late autumn tne}' were all empty 

 and more or less dilapidated. 



83. Leptasthenura aegithaloides {Kittl.). Espinero 

 CHiQUiTO (Tiny Thorn-bird). — The smallest species of the fam- 

 ily, and readily distinguished also by its elongated central tail- 

 feathers and its crest. It has most of the habits of the Titmice, 

 frequently hanging head downward or clinging against the bark 

 of a tree while hammering its bill into the crevices. I do not re- 

 ^member ever to have seen one on the ground. It was quite com- 

 mon about Concepcion, both in summer and winter. A nest found 

 November 6 vs^as built among the thorny twigs of a low mimosa 

 at a height of about five feet fi'om the ground. It was composed of 

 thorny and other twigs with a few tufts of wool, but v>athout any 

 proper lining. In shape it was a short cylinder, about ten inches 

 high by six in diameter ; the entrance a small hole at the top, the 

 nest a spherical cavity at the bottom, the two connected by a spi- 

 ral passageway less than an inch in diameter, which made only 



