'8S3.] Barrows ou Birds of the Lozver Uruguay. 200 



sufficient circumstantial evidence to implicate the present species 

 in their construction. 



89. Synallaxis hudsoni Sd.—K strictly terrestrial species 

 which does not occur at all at Concepcion. We first saw it at 

 Azul late in January, 1881. The first individuals seen were 

 flushed from the long, dry grass which grew along the bank of 

 the stream at that place. They rose very much like Pipits, for 

 which I at first mistook them, although their note is quite differ- 

 ent. We soon found that they were not confined to the long 

 grass near the stream but were equally plenty in the short grass 

 of the pampas. They were afterward met with in all suitable 

 localities on the pampas, and even on the meseta of the Sierra de 

 la Ventana at a hight of some 2000 feet above the surrounding 

 plain. I know nothing of the nest, but as the birds are only 

 found on the treeless plains we should expect the nest to resemble 

 somewhat that of the species just described. 



90. Placellodomus sibilatrix Daring. — An abundant spe- 

 cies among the open woods along the Uruguay and hardly dis- 

 tinguishable at ten paces distance from half a dozen others. Its 

 nest, however, is unmistakable. The birds begin by fixing a few 

 crooked and thorny twigs among the terminal sprays of some 

 slender branch which juts out horizontally from a tree, or rises 

 obliquely from near its l^ase, and around these twigs as a nucleus 

 more are gathered, until by the time the nest has reached the pi'o- 

 per size its weight has bsnt the branch so that its tip points direct- 

 ly to the earth. Nests which are thus begun at a distance of fif- 

 teen or twenty feet from the ground are often only two or three 

 feet from it when finished,- and a thorough soaking by a heavy 

 rain will sometimes weigh them clown until they actually touch. 

 They are more or less oval or cylindrical in shape and commonly 

 about two feet long by twelve or fifteen inches in diameter, and 

 contain from a peck to a bushel of twigs and thorns. The nest 

 cavity within is small in proportion to the size of the nest, and 

 occupies its upper part. It is reached by a more or less direct 

 passageway from below, the external opening being very nearly 

 at the lowest part of the nest, though sometimes a little shelf, or 

 even a pocket, is built on to the side, forming a resting place in 

 front of the door. 



The nests vary interminably in size and shape, but are pretty 

 constant in the material used — this being almost always irregular 



