AVES ICTERID.-E. 849 



MOLOTHRUS BONARIENSIS BONARIENSIS (GmcHn). 



Tanagra bouarieiisis Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 898 (1788) (Buenos Aires). 

 Molothrus niger Qo\x\^, Voy. Beagle, Birds, p. 107, 1841 (La Plata). 

 Molothrus sericeus Burmeister, Reis, La Plata, ii. p. 494 (1861). 



Description. — Adult male, 8721 P. U. O. C, La Plata, Argentina, Oc- 

 tober, 1895. Total length, 8.10 inches; wing, 4.20; culmen, .74; tail, 

 3.00 ; tarsus, 1. 10. Above and below, bright glossy purplish black, becom- 

 ing steel blue on the lower abdomen, under tail coverts, wings and tail ; 

 bill and feet black. 



Female dark ashy above, paler below (pale drab), wings and tail 

 narrowly edged with whitish. 



GeograpJiical Range. — Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Pata- 

 gonia (Rio Negro to Straits of Magellan). 



Not seen by the Princeton Naturalists. 



Mr. Peters says this bird "appears to be migratory in western Rio Negro. 

 It appeared at Huanuluan for the first time on September 28. They were 

 not uncommon at Maquinchas and at Puesto Horno. A young male, 

 nearly fully grown, was shot at Bariloche on February 17; his foster- 

 parent seemed to be a female of Tritpialis m. mi/itaris." (Bull. M. C. Z. 

 Ixv. No. 9, p. 336.) 



White says of it in Argentina: "This bird is common all over the Re- 

 public. It is usual for them to lay in the nests of other birds, such as 

 Troglodytes fiirves ; indeed I have never known these lazy architects to 

 take the trouble to construct their own dwellings. 



"The number of egsfs varies in different nests, as likewise their color- 

 ation. All, however, have a white ground ; but some are dotted with 

 large rufous-brown spots, whilst others are entirely devoid of them ; but 

 the typical shell is sprinkled over thickly with minute reddish-brown spots 

 on a white ground." (P. Z. S. p. 601, 1882.) 



Hudson writes of it in Argentina: "When summer is over these birds 

 congregate in vast flocks, and are then seen for many days flying north ; 

 but it is not probable that they migrate to any great distance. They pass 

 with a rapid, low, undulating flight, one flock behind the other, their 

 wings producing a soft and agreeable sound. The Blackbirds feed on the 

 ground, following the plough in spring to pick up the worms, and are 

 fond of keeping round cattle in the pasture, frequently alighting on their 

 backs. The song of the male is, when wooing, accompanied by strange 



