SS2 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 eggs, with purple, black, red, or brown blotches, 

 dots, and lines : the Quiscalinae deposit similar eggs in rougher 

 structures of twigs, grass, and the like, placed in tree-forks or 

 bushes. Both these groups often form societies. Sturnella hides 

 its deep fabric in grass or rushes, the eggs 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, Tillandsia, Bromelia, or 

 lichens, lined with feathers, from branches above water; the 

 two to five eggs 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 (Ilolohrus), 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 M. rvfo-axillaris is 

 ordinarily parasitic on its congener M. hadkis, 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 Tanagridae and the Floceidae ; while the 

 Buntings are here included in the Family, though often separated 

 as Umberizidae. The most evident points of distinction in the 



^ Cassidix oryzivora is parasitic on other forms ; Goeldi, Ibis, 1897, jj. 364. 

 2 For the Pigeon -like conduct of the courting male, see Hudson, Argentine 

 Ornithology, i. 1888, pp. 73, 87. 



