Altogether the Silver-bill has been a puzzle in the past, and it would now appear, from some recent observations made by Mr. Barrows, that we have not yet got to the end of all the curious points in its habits. Without doubt it is migratory. Its range extends from Paraguay to Patagonia, where it is not common. In Paraguay and the hotter parts of the Argentine country it is probably stationary; in Buenos Ayres, where it is most abundant, many individuals remain all the year in sheltered places, and the migration appears to become more definite the further south we get. Mr. Barrows travelled south across the pampas in the autumn, and says:--"The species was met with at all points visited, but south of the Azul not a single male in the black plumage was seen, though the brown birds (presumably females or young) were met with almost every day for nine weeks, and frequently in large numbers. Of course I began to suspect that the males must moult into a brown suit after nesting, as do our Bobolinks and many other birds, but I shot specimens at various times, and all proved to be either females or young males, and as I was confident that at Concepcion black males were to be found through the year, I was at a loss for an explanation, and am so still." The male Silver-bill is entirely black, there is nothing in nature blacker than its plumage; and, to enhance the effect, the beak is of a very delicate primrose-yellow, which at a little distance appears white, hence the vernacular name. The eye, and broad free skin surrounding it, which is ruffed like an Elizabethan collar, are of the same faint primrose hue. The secondary wing-quills are pure white, but the white is only displayed when the bird flies. The female has the naked skin encircling the eye, but its colour, as also that of the beak, is much darker than in the male. Entire upper plumage dark brown; secondaries chestnut; lower parts fawn-colour, marked with brown. The young males are at first like the females in colour, and do not acquire the black plumage until the end of the summer. The bird ranges over the whole of the Argentine Republic, and, according to Gay, is also common throughout Chili, where it is known as the _Colegial_ (Collegian or learned person), on account of its stiff grave manner, black dress, and spectacled appearance.