ICTERUS PYRRHOPTERUS. 107 



bosoms, less bright than the hues of some tropical species, seem then 

 to glow with a strange splendour on the sombre green of earth, and the 

 sight produces an exhilarating effect on the mind. 



105. ICTERUS PYRRHOPTERUS, Vieill. 

 (CHESTNUT-SHOULDERED HANG-NEST.) 



Icterus pyrrhopterus, Scl, et Salv. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 140; iid. Nomencl. p. 30; 

 Hudson, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 88 (Buenos Ayres) ; Durnford, Ibis, 1878, p. 59; 

 Safvin, Ibis, 1880, p. 356 (Salta) ; Barrows, Bull. Nutt. Orn. CL viii. p. 133 

 (Entrerios) ; Scl Cat. B. xi. p. 368. Xanthornus pyrrhopterus, Burm. 

 La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 493 (Parana, Tucuman). 



Description. Uniform black ; upper lesser wing-coverts chestnut ; bill black ; 

 feet dark brown : whole length 7*7 inches, wing 3'6, tail 3-8. Female 

 similar, but smaller. 



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



This interesting bird, the only Icterus found in the Argentine 

 Republic, ranges south to Buenos Ayres, where it is migratory, and 

 appears in small flocks of six or eight individuals in September; but 

 soon after arriving these little companies break up, and the birds are 

 subsequently found singly or in pairs in the woods along the Plata 

 River. 



The sexes are alike in colour, but the male is considerably larger; 

 the whole plumage is an intense black, excepting a rufous spot on the 

 shoulder, seen only when the bird is on the wing ; the bill is black and 

 curved, the body slender, and the tail long. It is a loquacious bird, 

 most of its tones being low and pleasing; exceedingly restless in 

 disposition, incessantly passing from tree to tree, jerking its long tail 

 and clinging to the branches in various attitudes, while searching for 

 insects in the decayed bark. While thus engaged it utters a great 

 variety of chirping and guttural sounds, interspersed with short agree- 

 able notes. It also has a song of considerable merit, low and varied 

 in tone, with a peculiar ventriloquism in many of the notes which 

 produce a confusing idea on the listener that the bird approaches and 

 recedes alternately whilst uttering them. While singing the bird 

 continues moving, but always concealed in the thick foliage, and it is 

 probably this constant turning about of the singer, and the notes 

 coming through leafy screens of varying density, which makes the 

 ventriloquism and gives so much light and shade to its mysterious 

 melody. 



The first bird of this species I shot was wounded very slightly in 

 one wing and fell into a stream ; to my very great surprise it began 

 singing its usual song while floating about on the surface, making no 



