(BLACK-AND-CHESTNUT WARBLING FINCH.)
+Poospiza nigrorufa+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 484 (Paraná);
_Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 30; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 171
(Buenos Ayres); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 38 (Rio
Sauce); _Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 129
(Concepcion).
_Description._--Entire upper parts black, faintly washed with olive;
superciliary stripe pale straw-colour; two outer tail-feathers
on each side tipped with white; throat and under surface bright
chestnut; centre of abdomen white; under tail-coverts pale buff:
total length 5·8 inches, wing 2·5, tail 2·2. _Female_: upper parts
not so dark as in male; underparts light buff, mottled and striped
with blackish.
_Hab._ South Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.
This sweet-voiced little songster appears in Buenos Ayres at the end
of September; it is a common bird in grounds abounding in bushes and
scattered trees, and, in its bright ruddy breast and dark upper
plumage, has some resemblance to the English Robin; only it has a very
conspicuous straw-coloured line above the eye. Its voice also, in purity
and sweetness of tone, is not unlike that of the Robin; but the
song, composed of six unvarying notes, is uttered in a deliberate,
business-like manner at regular intervals, and is monotonous. Never more
than two birds are seen together; they feed on the ground in humid
situations, the male frequently seeking a perch to sing. The nest is
made on the round, or in a close bush near the surface; the eggs have a
pale bluish ground-colour, irregularly marked with black and very dark
brown spots, and in some instances clouded with faint grey.