582 PASSERIFORMES CHAP, 
scratch amongst the soil, but the Icterinae and Cassicinae rarely 
feed upon the ground. 
The Agelaeinae build cup-shaped nests of grass, sedge, or 
rushes, sometimes lined with hair, in bushes or reeds, generally in 
damp or marshy spots; and lay five or six white, drab, greenish, 
bluish, or reddish eges, with purple, black, red, or brown blotches, 
dots, and lines: the Quiscalinae deposit similar eggs in rougher 
structures of twigs, grass, and the lke, placed in tree-forks or 
bushes. Both these groups often form societies. Stuwrnella hides 
its deep fabric in grass or rushes, the eges being speckled rather 
than spotted; the Icterinae, or “ Hang-nests,’ usually weave 
pensile nests of plant-stems, tendrils, grasses, or even rags, lined 
with wool, down, and so forth, which are rarely domed, and 
generally contain five or six eggs of a more delicate colouring 
than those of their kindred, varied by marblings, zigzags, 
streaks, and spots of brown, purple, black, or red. The Cassi- 
cinae commonly join in colonies and hang their elaborate, purse- 
like nurseries of grass or palm-fibres, Zillandsia, Bromelia, or 
lichens, lined with feathers, from branches above water; the 
two to five eges are plain white, or greenish- bluish- or reddish- 
white, blotched, dotted, dashed, or scrawled with purplish- or 
reddish-brown and black." 
The gregarious Cow-birds (Molobrus), included in the 
Agelaeinae, lay eggs varying from white to pinkish, greenish, 
bluish, or brownish, often spotted or streaked with red, brown, 
and grey; one or more of these are by most species foisted in 
Cuckoo fashion upon other birds, the young of which disappear 
at an early date. It is a curious fact that I rufo-axillaris is 
ordinarily parasitic on its congener JZ. badius, which itself seizes 
and uses other birds’ nests. Many eggs are destroyed by the 
males, or are dropped promiscuously by the females, several of the 
latter often laying together. _Cow-birds perch on cattle or follow 
the plough for insects, and utter ringing screams in concert.’ 
Fam. XXXVI. Fringillidae—The Finches are small birds 
very closely allied to the Zanagridae and the Ploceidae ; while the 
Buntings are here included in the Family, though often separated 
as Emberizidae. The most evident points of distinction in the 
1 Cassidiz oryzivora is parasitic on other forms ; Goeldi, Zbis, 1897, p. 364. 
? For the Pigeon-like conduct of the courting male, see Hudson, Argentine 
Ornithology, i. 1888, pp. 73, 87. 
