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Show 1870.] MR. HUDSON ON THE BIRDS OF BUENOS AYRES. 671 pl. vn.). The locality there given by Dr. Gray is erroneously stated to be Caraccas. More recently several examples of this species have been brought to Europe, and shows that this Squirrel, like several of its congeners, is very variable in its colouring, some of them being nearly wholly rufous, whilst others are white except on the dorsal streak, as shown in Dr. Gray's figure (cf Gray, Synopsis of American Squirrels, Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 3, vol. xx. p. 422). 3. A pair of Daubenton's Curassows (Crax daubentoni, G. R. Gray), presented on the 29th of September by James Wright, Esq., having been received by that gentleman from Tucacas, a port in Northern Venezuela. This addition is of importance, as the species has not been previously received alive by the Society, and its exact locality was a little uncertain. A seventh letter* on the Ornithology of Buenos Ayres, by Mr. W . H. Hudson, C.M.Z.S., was read :- " Buenos Ayres, April 23, 1870. " In my last letter I described the common Blackbird of this country (Molothrus bonariensis), but omitted some interesting particulars, which I now furnish. I have found it most common in the vicinity of Buenos Ayres city, becoming rarer the further we go from it. It is fond of cultivated districts, but is oftener met with in open plains than in woods. Its eggs are not often found in the nests of birds that breed in wild forests-never in the nests of the Cuckoos and Thrushes. " I have never seen it attack any bird to get into its nest, and believe its eggs are invariably laid in the absence of the true proprietor. The Tijereta (Milvulus violentus), that constantly attacks and beats off birds of prey, would not be easily driven off by a female Blackbird ; and yet the Tijereta is the most imposed upon of any ; while, on the other hand, the Blackbird's eggs are never found in the nests of some species that are not at all pugnacious, such as that, for example, of Serpophaga nigricans. " A very remarkable circumstance is that the eggs of the Blackbird differ as much in form, size, and colour as its habits are irregular. Some are perfectly round, others oval, pointed, or elliptical. The commonest colours are pure white with very small pink spots thinly distributed, and reddish white thickly covered with brownish-red spots, the form of the spots on those darkly mottled being on different eggs round, oblong, and irregular. "Can it be possible that an imperfection of the sexual organs, producing this diversity in the eggs, causes also that looseness in its breeding-habits which makes this species so different from others ? According to Wilson, the Molothrus pecoris of the United States of North America lays but one egg in a nest, and lays its eggs all alike. The idea is perhaps fanciful, but has occurred to me, that all the birds I am acquainted with that build elaborate ingenious nests lay eggs * See Mr. Hudson's previous letters:-No. I., P. Z. S. 1870, p. 87; II., ibid p. 112; III., ibid. p. 158; IV., ibid. p. 332; V. and VI., ibid. p. 545. |
