The Ilrccdhig, of tiic C'Iiiii(^olo Soiii:; Sf^arrcw. 
At the time of writinsi: (Aiis,nist4th) the old birds are again 
incubating, but I have not yet discovered the nest. 
Hudson, in Argentine Ornithology, writes of tliis bird as 
follows : 
" The common, familiar, favourite Sparrow over a large portion of 
the South American continent is the " Ching;olo." Darwin says that ' it 
prefers inhabited places, but has not attained the air of domestication of the 
English Sparrow, which bird, in habits and appearance, it resembles.' .^s 
it breeds in the fields on the ground, it can never be eciually familiar with 
man, but in appearance it is like a refined copy of the burly English Sparrow, 
more delicately tinted, the throat being chestnut instead of black, the head 
smaller and better proportioned and with the added distinction of a crest, 
which it lowers and elevates at all angles, to express the various feelings 
affecting its busy little mind." 
" On the treeless desert pampas the Chingolo is rarely seen, but 
wherever man builds a house and plants a tree, there it comes to keep him 
company, while in cultivated and thickly planted districts it is excessively 
abundant, and about Buenos Ayres it literally swarms in the fields and plan- 
tations. They are not, strictly speaking, gregarious, but where food 
attracts them, or the shelter of a hedge on a cold, windy day, thousands 
are frequently seen congregated in one place ; when disturbed, however, 
these accidental flocks immediately break up, the birds scattering abroad 
in various directions." 
" The Chingolo is a very constant singer, his song beginning with 
the dawn of day in spring, and continuing until evening; it is very short, 
being composed of a chirping prelude and four long notes, three uttered 
in a clear, thin voice, the last a trill. This song is repeated at brief 
intervals as the bird sits motionless perched on the disc of a thistle flower, 
the summit of a stalk, or other elevation ; and where the Chingolos are 
very abundant the whole air, on a bright spring morning, is alive with their 
delicate melody, only one must pause and listen before he is aware of it. 
otherwise it will escape him, owing to its thin ethereal character. They 
also sing frequently at night, and in that dark, silent time their little melody 
sounds sweetly strange and expressive." 
" The Chingolos pair about the end of September, and at that time 
their battles are frequent, as they are very pugnacious. The nest is made 
under a thistle or tuft of grass in a depression of the soil, so that the top 
of the nest is on a level with the surface of the ground. The nest is 
mostly made and lined with horse-hair; the eggs, four or five, are pale 
blue thickly spotted with dull brown. Sometimes, though very rarely. 
nest is found in a bush or on a stump several feet above the ground. Two 
broods are reared in a season, the first in October, the second in February 
or March. I have known these birds to breed in April and May, and these 
late nests escape the infliction of parasitical eggs. When the nest is 
approached or taken the Chingolos utter no sound but sit in dumb anxiety 
with tail expanded and drooping wings," 
