Long. tot. 5½ unc.; alæ, 2⅞; caudæ, 2½; tarsi, ⅞; rostri, ½.
Crown of the head grey; lores and ear-coverts dark brown; back and sides of the neck rufous; upper part of the back and rump brown; centre of the back blackish brown, each feather margined with light brown; wing-coverts blackish brown, margined with reddish brown, and tipped with white, forming two oblique bands across the wing; primaries, secondaries, and tail, dark brown, margined with greyish brown; throat and all the under surface brownish grey; and feet brown.
Habitat, Port Desire in Patagonia, and Tierra del Fuego.
This species is not uncommon in Tierra del Fuego, wherever there is any open space. Of the few birds inhabiting the desert plains of Patagonia, this is the most abundant. At Port Desire I found its nest: egg, about .83 in length; form somewhat more elongated than in that of the last species; colour, pale green, almost obscured by minute freckles and clouds of pale dull red.
3. Zonotrichia Strigiceps. Gould.
Z. capite castaneo, lineâ mediâ obscure diviso, plumis singulis striâ mediâ nigro-fuscâ, humeri flexurâ rufâ; corpore supra fuscescente, plumis singulis striâ latâ mediâ obscure fuscâ; remigibus, primariis caudâque nigro-fuscis pallidè fusco marginatis; strigâ superciliari, faciei collique lateribus, gulâ pectore abdomineque medio cinereis; hypochondriis tegminibusque caudæ inferioribus flavescentibus.
Long. tot. 5¾ unc.; rostri, ½; alæ, 2½; caudæ, 2⅞; tarsi, ⅝.
Head chestnut, divided down the middle by a line of deep grey, each feather with a stripe of blackish brown down the centre; point of the shoulder rufous; the remainder of the upper surface light brown, with a broad stripe of dark brown down the centre of each feather; primaries and tail brown; secondaries blackish brown, margined all round with pale brown; stripe over each eye, sides of the face and neck, throat, breast, and centre of the abdomen, grey; flanks and under tail-coverts buff; upper mandible black; under mandible light horn colour; feet brown.
Habitat, Santa Fe. Lat. 31° S. (October.)
This species appears to replace in this latitude the Z. matutina, which is so abundant on the banks of the Plata and in Chile, as that species does the Z. canicapilla of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.