Volume I Part 10 (1/2)

_Hab._ Paraguay, Uruguay, and Northern Argentina.

In Corrientes d'Orbigny found this Saltator breeding in the month of November. It frequents the shrubs and bushes in the neighbourhood of the houses, and makes an open nest of roots, not of very neat construction.

The eggs are two or three, greenish blue, slightly spotted at the larger end with blackish and reddish zigzag markings. The egg is figured in d'Orbigny's 'Voyage' (pl. xxviii. fig. 3).

White tells us that this species is not uncommon in Catamarca, and Barrows met with it at Concepcion in Entrerios.

Fam. X. FRINGILLIDae, or FINCHES.

The extensive family of Finches, which has numerous representatives in every part of the world, is well represented in the Argentine Republic.

Within the limits a.s.signed to the present work forty-six species of his group are already known to occur, and it is probable that this number will be somewhat increased when the Argentine avifauna is thoroughly worked out.

Most of the genera to which the Argentine Finches belong are forms peculiar to the Neotropical Region, or at all events to the New World.

The genus _Chrysomitris_, which contains our Siskin and other Old-World species, is the only one which has a wider distribution.

One of the most characteristic forms of Argentine Fringillidae is _Poospiza_, of which seven species are met with within the limits of the Republic, while _Lophospingus_, _Donacospiza_, _Gubernatrix_, and _Saltatricula_ are Fringilline types peculiar to Argentina.

47. PHEUCTICUS AUREIVENTRIS (d'Orb. et Lafr.).

(BLACK-AND-YELLOW THICK-BILL.)

+Pheucticus aureiventris+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 27; _White, P.

Z. S._ 1882, p. 598 (Salta); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ xii. p. 55.

_Description._--Above, also head, throat, and chest, black; lesser wing-coverts yellow; two spots on the greater coverts and the base of the primaries white; tail black, the three outer feathers on each side tipped with white; belly and under wing-coverts bright yellow; sides spa.r.s.ely spotted with black; bill and feet black: total length 87 inches, wing 45, tail 35. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Bolivia and Northern Argentina.

Examples of this fine species, originally discovered by d'Orbigny in Bolivia, were obtained by White in the forests of Salta.

48. GUIRACA CYANEA (Linn.).

(INDIGO FINCH.)

+Guiraca cyanea+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 27; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 598 (Catamarca). +Guiraca cyanea argentina+, _Sharpe, Cat. B._ xii. p. 73.

_Description._--Indigo-blue; lesser wing-coverts azure-blue; wing- and tail-feathers black; forehead azure-blue, and head washed with the same colour; bill and feet black: total length 68 inches, wing 36, tail 29. _Female_ brown; beneath brighter and rufescent.

_Hab._ Brazil, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.

White found this bird ”not uncommon around Andalgala in Catamarca, in hedges and thickets.” Mr. Sharpe separates the Argentine bird as a subspecies, from its larger size.

49. GUIRACA GLAUCOCaeRULEA (d'Orb. et Lafr.).