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Show SS LETTER FROM MR.W. H. HUDSON. [Feb. 10, Thus the nearer we approach to this wood the more numerous do these species become, while in the wood itself, narrow as it is, there are many species never met with elsewhere. Possibly as many as two-thirds of all the species inhabiting Buenos Ayres are to be found within its limits. " I obtained here many specimens of the Cuckoo to which you have called m y attention (Coccyzus cinereus). This bird was originally discovered in Paraguay, and is considered by Dr. Burmeister to be a rare species. Perhaps it has but recently found its way to this country. Last summer (1868) I met with it for the first time; and the same year the first and only specimen ever in the museum of this city was obtained. Even within my recollection many birds and insects once seldom met with have become common. Some of our large Wasps, Weevils, and Butterflies have not been with us long; and whole orchards are at present being destroyed by the Capricorn Beetle-an insect totally unknown a few years ago. " To return to the Coccyzus cinereus; the large blood-red eye of this bird, contrasting well with the soft bluish colour of the plumage, gives it a most interesting appearance. I have not yet succeeded in finding its nest. Like the common Cuckoo, it is retiring in its habits, concealing itself in the densest foliage; but it cannot be attracted like the other species by mimicking its call. It has a song (which it will sometimes repeat at short intervals for half a day) like the mourning of our little Dove, being a succession of long and plaintive notes. It has, besides, a different note-loud, harsh, and sudden, so much resembling the cry of another bird (the Anabates lophotes) that I have been frequently deceived by it. " The last-mentioned bird is, I think, very uncommon in this region. The only specimen in the museum here was brought from the province of San Luis. It has the wildest disposition and greatest love of concealment, of any bird I have ever met. " Last summer, while trying to obtain specimens, I sometimes heard the cry of an individual repeated at long intervals, or of a pair answering each other, and I frequently spent half a day vainly in watching for and pursuing them. Once only I succeeded in getting a glimpse of one at the moment it started screaming from a tree. I was, fortunately, able to secure it, and have it still in m y collection. This specimen was a male; the whole plumage a yellowish brown, rather deeper than that of the Oven-bird (Furnarius). It is also somewhat larger than that bird. The body was stout, the head crested, the eyes were white and small, bill and legs blue. The tail-feathers were stiff, like those of the Woodpecker, and frayed at the ends, as if they had been used in the same manner ; the bill was also, like the Woodpecker's, hard, sharp, and straight. "Another bird of very interesting habits, and never seen away from the river-wood, is Icterus pyrrhopterus. They appear in small flocks in September, but soon scatter, and are seen during summer in pairs or singly. The male is considerably larger than the female, its colour an intenser black, the brown spot on the shoulder larger. It is exceedingly restless, incessantly flying from tree to tree, cling- |
