ZONOTRICHIA CANICAPILLA 51 



ZONOTRICHIA CANICAPILLA (Gould) 



Rusty-collared Finch., Latham, Synopsis Birds, 8uppl.,u, p. 170, 1787. 

 Zonotricllla Canicapilla, Gould and Darwin, Yoij. " Beagle," Birds, 



p. 91, 1841; Durnford, Ibis, p. 33, 1877, p. 393, 1878; Sclater, Ibis, 



pp. 46-48, pi. i, 1877 ; Sharpe, Gat. Birds Brit. Mus., xii, p. 609, 1888 ; 



Sclater and Hudson, Argentine Orn., i, p. 59, 1888 ; Oustalet, Miss. Set. 



Cap Earn, Ois., p. 95, 1891. 



Habitat — Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. 



^Eggs, Rio McClelland Settlement, 9th Dec; 1 egg, 17th. Dec, 1904 j 

 ? , Panta Arenas, 17th Feb., 1905. 

 Iris — brown ; bill — grey ; legs — drab. 



The Song Sparrow is a common bird, especially in scrub- 

 covered country. It breeds in the island, but I am not sure 

 whether it is entirely resident. The first specimen I saw was 

 one shot near Useless Bay Settlement, about the middle of 

 September. On moving to San Sebastian Settlement a little later, 

 I found it fairly plentiful on the scrub- covered slopes of the 

 Sierra Carmen Sylva, and remarked an increase in numbers from 

 day to day as spring set in. 



Common as it is, I did not set myself to obtain a skin 

 until my return to Punta Arenas. 



It has a pretty plaintive song. Its favourite haunt is brush- 

 wood, and the outskirts of forest. It perches and sings on the 

 tops of bushes ; at other times it lurks in their darkest depths. 



Darwin says: — "It is not uncommon in Tierra del Fuego, 

 wherever there is any open space. Of the few birds inhabiting 

 the desert plains of Patagonia, this is the most abundant. At 

 Port Desire I found its nest : egg about '83 in length ; form 

 somewhat more elongated than in that of the last species ; 

 colour, pale green, almost obscured by minute freckles and 

 clouds of pale dull red." 



Durnford says of it in Patagonia : — " Abundant, and often to 

 be seen hopping familiarly about the colonists' cottages. It nests 



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