96 ICTERTD^E. 



drab colour, with a black spot between the eye and beak ; tail dark, the 

 quills cinnamon-colour; beak and legs black. Azara describing it 

 under the name of Tordo pardo roxiso, says it is a rare bird, so that it 

 has probably greatly increased since his time, as it is now quite common 

 in the Plata district. 



The Bay- wings usually go in small flocks, numbering from ten to 

 thirty individuals, and are not migratory, but in winter they travel 

 about a great deal from place to place without extending their journeys 

 more than a few miles in any direction. They are fond of coming 

 about houses, and are frequently seen pecking at the fresh meat 

 hanging out of doors; and, like other birds of the same tribe, feed 

 chiefly on the ground. They spend a great portion of their time on trees, 

 are familiar with man and inactive, and in their motions singularly 

 slow and deliberate. Their language is varied. Curiosity or alarm is 

 expressed by trilling notes, and before quitting a tree all the birds of a 

 flock ceremoniously invite each other to fly with long clear notes, 

 powerful enough to be heard a quarter of a mile away. 



They also sing a great deal in all seasons, the song being composed 

 of soft, clear, rather sweet notes, variously modulated, uttered in a 

 leisurely mariner, and seeming to express a composed frame of mind, all 

 the birds in a flock singing in concert. During the cold season the 

 flock always finds some sheltered sunny spot on the north side of a wood- 

 pile or hedge, where they spend several hours every day, sitting still 

 and singing in their usual quiet, soft style. 



Their extreme sociability affects their breeding-habits, for sometimes 

 the flock does not break up in spring, and several females lay in one 

 nest together; but whether the birds are paired or practice a pro- 

 miscuous intercourse, I have not been able to discover. They have a 

 great partiality for the large domed nests made by the Anumbius acuti- 

 caudatus, called Lenatero in the vernacular. One summer a flock of 

 about ten Bay-wings took possession of a Lenatero's nest on one of 

 my trees, and after a few days I took fourteen eggs from it. Though 

 the birds hopped, chirping round me, manifesting great solicitude, 

 the eggs were quite cold, and had I left them many more would 

 have been laid, no doubt ; but as they were piled up three or four deep 

 in the nest they could never have been hatched. 



As a rule, however, the flock breaks up into pairs ; and then a neat, 

 well-made nest is built in the fork of a branch, lined with horsehair; 

 or, oftener still, a Lenatero's nest is seized, the Bay- wings fighting 

 with great spirit to get possession, and in it, or on it, their own nest is 

 made. Like their relations, the Common Cow-bird, they seem strongly 

 attracted by domed nests, and yet shrink from laying in the dark 



