' PROCEEDINGS OP UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 131 



Sp. ch. — Adult male: Head, ueck, back, and lower parts soft, silky 

 brouzoblack, of a peculiar shade, baviug a brassy greeuisb olive cast, 

 much like the plumage of the body iu Quiscalus mieus ; the feathers 

 violet-black immediately beneath the surface, the basal portion of the 

 feathers slaty-graj'ish; scapulars and rump more violet; wings in gen- 

 eral, tailcoverts, and tail lustrous silky steel-blue, the tail-coverts and 

 upper wing-coverts more violaceous, the primaries and rectrices more 

 greenish in certain lights; tibiae and anal region silky black; lining of 

 the wings silky violet. Bill and feet deep black; iris blood-red. Wing, 

 4.G0-4.80; tail, 3.70-3.80; culmen, .85-.90; tarsus, 1.15-l.-'5; middle 

 toe, .85-.95. Young male : Uniform dull black, with a faint violet lustre 

 on the back and rump, and a slight gloss of bottle-green on the wings 

 and fail. Adult female : Uniform brownish-gray, darker above, where 

 very faintly glossed with dull bluish, and paler beneath, many of the 

 feathers of the wings and tail showing indistinctly paler edges, and 

 feathers of the breast exceedingly indistinct darker shaft- streaks. Wing, 

 4.10; tail, 3.25; culmen, 0.75; tarsus, 1.05; middle toe, 0.85. 



Hab. — Mexico and Central America, from the Eio Grande Valley (iu 

 the United States) to the Isthmus of Panama. 



1 have nothing of importance to add to the following notes, which 

 appeared in the October (1877) number of the Bulletin of the Nuttall 

 Ornithological Club, pp. 85-87 : — 



" The occurrence of this species north of Mexico was noted in the 

 Bulletin of November, 1876 (Vol. I, p. 88). It is now more than a year 

 since it was first observed, and during that time I have had ample op- 

 portunity to study its habits, a short account of which may be of interest. 

 This Cowbird is found in Mexico, Guatemala, and Veragua, as well as 

 in Southern Texas; how far it penetrates into the latter State I am 

 unable to say. My first specimens were taken at Hidalgo, on the Rio 

 Grande, seventy miles northwest of Fort Brown, where, however, they 

 are not so abundant as lower down the river. Here they are common 

 throughout the year, a small proportion going south in winter. Those 

 that remain gather iu large flocks with the Long-tailed Grackles, com- 

 mon Cowbirds, and Brewer's, Eed-wiuged, and Yellow-headed Black- 

 birds ; they become very tame, and the abundance of food about the 

 picket-lines attracts them for miles around. M. wneus is readily distin- 

 guishable iu these mixed gatherings from the other species by its blood - 

 red iris and its peculiar top-heavy appearance, caused by its habit of 

 pulfing out the feathers of the head and neck. This habit is most 

 marked during the breeding season and in the male, but is seen through- 

 out the year. 



"About the middle of April the common Cowbird, Brewer's, and 

 Yellow-headed Blackbirds leave for the North ; the Long tailed Grackles 

 have formed their colonies in favorite clumps of mesquite trees; the 

 Redwings that remain to breed have selected sites for their nests; the 

 dwarf Cowbirds {Molothrus ater var. ohscnrus) arrive from the South, 



