ICTERID.E. 71 



the ground, but frequently raised above it. It contains five long, 

 pointed eggs, with a white or bluish-white ground-colour, and thickly 

 spotted with brown. I have frequently found the eggs of the Molothrus 

 in its nest, but have never been able to see this Sparrow feeding, or 

 followed by, a young Molothrus. Possibly, if it ever hatches the para- 

 sitical egg at all, the voracious young Cow-bird is starved by the 

 delicate food supplied by its foster-parents. 



92. OROSPINA PRATENSIS, Cab. 



(MEADOW SEED-FINCH.) 

 Orospina pratensis, Cab. Journ. f. Orn. 1883, p. 108, tab. i. fig. 1. 



Description. Cap dark greenish yellow ; rump yellowish green ; remainder 

 of upper parts dark brown, feathers of interscapulium and of wings and tail 

 edged with yellowish green ; inner webs of the outer pair of tail-feathers almost 

 wholly white, the next pair with a large white spot ; under surface yellow, 

 lightest on the throat, middle of belly, and crissum ; flanks greenish : total 

 length 4-5 inches, wing 2-5, tail 1'8. 



Hab. Tucuman. 



Herr Schulz discovered this little Finch, which Dr. Cabanis has 

 referred to a new genus allied to Sycalis, upon the high Sierras of 

 Tucuman, where it was observed sitting on the stones. 



Earn. XI. ICTERJD.E, OR TROUPIALS. 



The Icteridae or Troupials constitute a large group of Passerine birds 

 allied to our Starlings (Sturnida) , of which they take the place in the 

 New World. They are at once structurally distinguishable from the 

 Starlings by having only 9 primaries in the wing, just as the Mnio- 

 tiltidse of the New World are in a similar manner distinguishable from 

 the Sylviidae. 



In America the Icteridse play an important part, numbering some 130 

 species, and extending throughout the two continents from north to 

 south. Of these, 15 species occur in Argentina, and amongst them are 

 three species of Cow-bird (Molothi*us) , remarkable for their parasitic 

 habits, of which Hudson's observations have enabled him to give a full 

 and, for the first time, a tolerably complete account. 



