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Show 1868.] DR. H. BURMEISTER O N ARGENTINE ORNITHOLOGY. 635 northern districts. We have found its eggs, which are whitish, with grey spots round the middle and at the thicker end. 9. PACHYRHAMPHUS ALBINUCHA, sp. nov. P. supra fusco-cinereus, subtus albus; vertice nigro, nucha alba : long. 4f". Fem. mari similis. Figure and size of P. mitratus (Syst. Uebers. ii. 454. 1), P. cinereus (Sclat. Cat. 241. 1470), but rather smaller, the beak somewhat slender, and the wings relatively shorter. Upper head black ; in the male with a bluish metallic reflex ; front and lores white, like the whole underside and a band on the hind neck, which is not so clear in the female as in the male. From this band to the tail is brownish grey; the wings and tail browner, as also the upper back, which is more of a lead-colour. The outer secondaries have whitish borders ; and of the same colour also are the outer edges of the exterior tail-feathers. Beak and legs black; iris dark brown. Length 4| inches, beak 4 lines, wing 2 inches, tail 1 inch 7 lines, tarsus 6 lines. The first exterior tail-feather rather shorter than the others, and narrow and somewhat pointed. The first primary two lines shorter than the second, which is nearly equal to the third. This small bird lives in the sedge of the shores of the Rio de La Plata, near Buenos Ayres, and has a somewhat melancholy temperament, sitting quite still in the same place a long time. Both sexes are alike in colour; but the colour of the male is much clearer, and the white nuchal band broader and more distinct. 10. TEENIOPTERA VARIEGATA. Teenioptera variegata, Gould, Zool. of the Beagle, iii. 55, pl. 14. This beautiful bird is rare in the vicinity of Buenos Ayres, and occurs only at the harvest time (April), when it arrives from the southern plains of Patagonia, to live on the warmer plains of the north during the winter. It walks much on the ground, and is very rarely seen on trees, feeding on grubs and earthworms. I had for a long time only two specimens of this bird in the museum, killed to the south of Buenos Ayres, near Barracas; but in the present year one of m y hunters found a flock of nearly twenty individuals near the little town of Moron, to the north-west of Buenos Ayres. Having been informed of the rarity of the species, he returned to the spot, and, having found the flock again, killed the whole of them, so that I have now sixteen specimens before me. This was on the 2nd of April. Examining this series of specimens, I find that the red colour of the underside, as figured by Gould, is of rare occurrence, and only present in very old males. The females and most of the males are grey on the breast up to the throat, with only a reddish tinge, the lower portion of the body beneath being clear reddish, with a greyish stripe on each feather. |