23 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



by the bird from the trees and not picked up from 

 the ground. They are laid across each other to make 

 a platform nest, but so small and flat is it that the 

 eggs frequently fall out from it. That a bird should 

 make no better preparation than this for the great 

 business of propagation seems very wonderful. The 

 eggs are three or four in number, elliptical in form, 

 and of a dull sea-green colour. 



There are three more species in Argentina of the 

 characteristic American genus Coccyzus} one of 

 these which I discovered to be an Argentine species 

 being the common Yellow-billed Cuckoo of North 

 America, Coccyzus americanas, I met with it in 

 plantations on the pampas, but always in the late 

 summer or autumn months — February to April — 

 and am therefore unable to say whether or not it 

 breeds in that district. It may be that this Cuckoo, 

 like some of the Sandpipers and other shore birds of 

 North America, extends its annual migration south 

 to the pampas and Patagonia. But it is hardly believ- 

 able that any Cuckoo could make that journey. If 

 not, one must suppose that this Cuckoo, Uke the 

 Ptuple Martin, has two races, which may have their 

 meeting-ground in the tropics; at all events both 

 winter in the tropics, and to breed one flies north in 

 May, the other south in September. 



Another interesting species is the Cinereous 

 Cuckoo, Coccyzus cinereus, of a nearly uniform 

 ashy grey colour with black bill. This Cuckoo is 

 smaller than the preceding species, and also differs 

 in having a square tail and a more curved beak. The 



