ANTHUS CORRENDEEA 45 



exclusively, close to the ground, in the coarse grass which 

 springs from the peaty soil. I do not think I ever saw a bird 

 which, when it chose to remain concealed, was so difficult to 

 disturb. I have frequently marked one down to within a yard 

 on the open grassy plain, and afterwards have endeavoured, 

 quite in vain, by walking backwards and forwards over the same 

 spot, to obtain another sight of it." 



Capt. Abbott says of it, also in the Falkland Islands : — 

 "'How singular it is that this little bird should exist in such 

 a place, where, if disturbed on a windy day, its power of flight 

 is so weak that it is carried away by the wind ! Whenever 

 1 wanted a specimen of this bird, I always followed it and 

 knocked it down with my cap as it was creeping through 

 the grass like a mouse. I have never been able to find its 

 nest." 



Durnford found several near Lujan Bridge amongst the thick 

 tufts of " Paja " grass, which there grows in about a foot of 

 water. "These it is very unwilling to leave," he says, "and, 

 when flushed, only flies a few yards, being very anxious to seek 

 the shelter of another tuft. On alighting, it clings to a stout 

 blade of grass, thence creeping, mouselike, into the thickest part. 

 Its food consists of small insects, chiefly coleoptera." 



It is known to the Onas as " Tamamithiriy 



Family MOTACILLID^ 



ANTHUS CORRENDERA (Vieillot) 



Alondra COrrendera, Azara, Pdxaros, Paraguay y La Plata, ii, p, 2, 



1805. 

 AnthUS COrrendera, Vieillot, JSfoicv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., xxvi, p. 491, 

 1818; D'Orhigmj, Voy. Amer. Merid., Ois., p. 225, 1835; Gould and 

 Darwin, Voy. ^'Beagle," Birds, p. 85, 1841; Abbott, Ibis, p. 153, 1861 3 

 Durnford, Ibis, p. 392, 1878; Sharpe, Gat. Birds Brit. Mus., x, p. 610, 

 1885; Sclaier and Hudson, Argentine Orn., i, p. 17, 1888; Oustalet, Miss, 

 Sci. Cap Horn, Ois., p. 77, 1891. 



7 * 



