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Show 260 LETTER FROM MR. W. II. HUDSON. [Mar. 21, plumage as the females. Soon they become mottled with black, and before leaving us have only a iew dark grey speck3 to distinguish them from the adults. They are quarrelsome and lively, incessantly hopping and flitting about the little spot of bare earth they attach themselves to. This may be the barren ground surrounding a Vizcacha village, a sheep-fold, or the dry trodden place where a herd of Cows is made to stand at night. They are also fond of muddy low grounds, when the grass is closely cropped. Occasionally one is seen to perch on a reed or thistle-bush ; but they have so great an antipathy to trees that they will scarcely even alight on the ground near one. This characteristic of the true pampas birds is scarcely stronger in the Anthus correndera than in the present species. " The Cinclodes fuscus is also a lively bird, and quick in its motions on the ground, but when perched on trees sits motionless in one posture. They are quarrelsome and sportive, and when pursuing each other utter a trilling excited cry. Occasionally on a warm day they attempt to sing, darting up from the ground as they utter their notes; but their voice is as destitute of melody as their plumage is of brilliant hues. " Neither of the foregoing species is strictly gregarious ; yet several individuals are usually seen near together, and the Osquitas are sometimes met with on the plain or flying in small and scattered flocks. " The Teenioptera variegata appears on the eve of winter, and is subsequently found thinly and widely distributed over the plains. Their migration probably extends several degrees further north ; for they are most numerous when they first appear, and at that time seem, both when running on the ground and when flying, always to be advancing north. " Two Hawks are amongst our winter visitors-the Hypotriorchis femoralis and Tinnunculus sparverius. They come and go about the same time, are not common, but widely distributed, and resemble each other in their manner of flight, the habit of perching on a dry limb or post, and the haunting some favourite hedge or orchard throughout the winter. A person from Patagonia has informed me that the smaller Hawk is very common in summer in the neighbourhood of the settlement of the Rio Negro, and breeds there, buildino-its nest in trees. " There are two Gulls amongst our winter immigrants-a large black-winged Gull, and a dusky grey Gull with a black bill. These birds probably breed on the shores of the Atlantic; in winter they are found pretty widely distributed over the pampas. Wherever the hide is stripped from a dead Horse or Cow they appear, Vulture-like, to feed on the flesh, wandering away again when it is finished. These birds appear to possess no regular migration: the grey species is always very rare; and the black-winged Gull is much more numerous in some seasons than in others. " There are also two Geese, the largest of which is the Butarda (Bernicla magellanica). There is a great difference between the |