102 ICTERnXE. 



These birds are lively, active, and sociable, going in flocks of from half-a- 

 dozen to thirty individuals ; they remain all the year, and inhabit the 

 marshes, from which they seldom wander very far, but seek their insect 

 food in the soft decaying rushes. They are common on the swampy shores 

 of the Plata, and when seen at a distance, perched in their usual manner 

 on the summits of the tall rushes, their flame-coloured heads shine with 

 a strange glory above the sere sombre vegetation of the marshes. The 

 long whistling note above mentioned is their only song, but it varies 

 considerably, and often sounds as mellow and sweet as the whistle of the 

 European Blackbird. 



The nest is an ingenious structure of dry grasses, fastened to the 

 upright stems of an aquatic plant, three or four feet above the water. 

 The eggs are four, in size and form like those of the English Song- 

 Thrush, spotted somewhat sparsely with black on a light blue ground. 



The young birds are entirely black at first, and afterwards assume on 

 the head and neck a pale terra-cotta red, which gradually deepens to 

 vivid scarlet. 



102. PSEUDOLEISTES VIRESCENS (VieilL). 

 (YELLOW-BREASTED MARSH-BIRD.) 



Pseudoleistes virescens, Hudson, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 549, et 1874, p. 156 (Buenos 

 Ayres) ; Scl. et Salv. NomencL p. 37 : Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 175, et 1878, 

 p. 59 (Buenos Ayres) ; Gibson, Ibis, 1880, p. 31 (Buenos Ayres) ; White, 

 P. Z. S. 1882, p. 602 (Buenos Ayres) ; Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl. viii. p. 135 



X(Entrerios) ; Scl. Cat. B. xi. p. 352. Leistes anticus, Burm. La-Plata 

 Heine, ii. p. 491 (Parana). 



Description. Above and below dark olive-brown ; lesser upper wing-coverts, 

 tinder wing -co verts, and middle of the abdomen yellow; bill black; feet dark 

 brown : total length 9'5 inches, wing 4- 6, tail 3*8. Female similar. 



Hab. S. Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina. 



In both sexes in this species the plumage is deep olivaceous brown, 

 the breast pure yellow. It is active, strong on the wing, sociable and 

 noisy ; and being moreover a pretty and elegant bird, very common in 

 settled districts, and with a preference for man's neighbourhood, it is 

 familiar to every one, and has won amongst many competitors the 

 vernacular name of Pecho-amarillo (Yellow-breast), for with us yellow- 

 breasted species are somewhat numerous. It remains all the year, 

 invariably going about in flocks of from twenty to thirty birds, and feeds 

 on the ground in the fields or on the open plain. While they are feeding, 

 one bird takes up a position on a stalk or thistle-top to keep guard ; 

 when he flies down another bird takes his place ; if a person approaches, 

 the sentinel gives the alarm, and all the birds fly off in a verv close 



