+Scolopax frenata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 503. +Gallinago paraguaiæ+, _Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 144 (Buenos Ayres); _iid. Nomencl._ p. 144; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 198 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 314 (Entrerios); _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas de Zamora). +Scolopax frenata magellanica+, _Seebohm, Plovers_, p. 496. _Description._--Above brown, striped and barred with black and pale fulvous; wings dark cinereous edged with white; tail of 16 rectrices, of which the outer pair are pin-shaped: beneath white, breast marbled with blackish and brown: whole length 10·5 inches, wing 5·1, tail 2·4, bill 2·8. _Hab._ Patagonia, La Plata, and Paraguay. This familiar bird, called _Agachona_ in the vernacular, from its habit of crouching close to the ground to escape observation when approached, is abundant in the Plata district and resident, although its sudden and total disappearance from all the open wet places where it is common in the winter gives one the impression that it is migratory. The bird, however, only retires to breed in the extensive lonely marshes. The nest is a slight depression on the moist ground close to the water, and lined with a little withered grass. The eggs are four, pear-shaped, and spotted with black on an olive-coloured ground. After the summer heats are over Snipes suddenly appear again all over the country, and at this season they are frequently met with on the high and dry grounds among the withered grass and thistles. In favourable wet seasons they sometimes collect in large flocks, numbering not less than five or six hundred birds, and a flock of this kind will occasionally remain in one spot for several months without breaking up. They usually frequent an open spot of level ground where the water just covers the roots of the short grass; here the birds keep close together while feeding and are visible from a long distance; but they become extremely wary, all raising their heads in a very un-Snipe-like manner at the slightest alarm, and taking flight with the readiness of Wild Ducks. These flocks are, however, not often met with. Usually the Snipe is a solitary bird, crouches close when approached, and springs up suddenly when almost trodden on, loudly uttering its sharp scraping alarm-cry; after rising to a considerable height, flying in a wild erratic manner, it returns suddenly to the earth, often dropping into the grass within twenty yards of the spot it rose from. It is, indeed, curious to see how these habits, characteristic of the Snipes all over the world, are so completely laid aside when the birds associate in large flocks.