BUTTER-BIRD. 229 



excessive perturbation, and cry Tom Paine s pick-a- 

 ninny, with vociferous shrillness. 



In March I have dissected females, which dis- 

 played a brilliance of plumage, in no wise inferior 

 to that of the male. 



I presume this to be the Watchy -picket of Sloane. 



Mr. Hill has mentioned to me two other species 

 of Icterus, both black, the one larger, the other 

 smaller, which have been found in the mountains 

 near Kingston. I think I once saw the former in 

 Mount Edgecumbe. 



BUTTER-BIRD.* 



Ortolan. — October Pink, — Ricehird. 



Dolichonyx oryzivorus. 



Emheriza oryzivora, Linn. — Aud. pi. 54. 



Icterus agripennis, Bonap. 



Dolichonyx oryzivorus, Sw. 



In ordinary seasons this well-known bird arrives 

 in vast numbers from the United States, in the 

 month of October, and scattering over the lowland 

 plains, and slopes of the sea-side hills, assembles in 

 the guinea-grass fields, in flocks amounting to five 

 hundred or more. The seed is then ripe, and the 

 black throngs settle down upon it, so densely, that 



* Length 7^ ; expanse llg, flexure 3^, tail 2§, rictus ~, tarsus i^, 

 middle toe 1. 



