yo BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



of the Troupials, like the European Starling, have a 

 glossed metallic plumage, and in a majority of 

 species there is some brilliant colour scarlet, purple, 

 orange, and yellow. The whole family numbers 

 about 130, and of these fifteen or twenty are found 

 in Argentina. Among these are the three species of 

 the genus Molothrus which I describe. These three, 

 in their shape and hard conical bills, outwardly 

 resemble Tanagers and Finches rather than Starlings. 

 I was familiar with all of them from childhood, and 

 as I spent a good deal of time in watching them and 

 succeeded in discovering some interesting facts about 

 their singular breeding habits, I have devoted more 

 space to this group than to any other one in this 

 volume. 



The species here described, the commonest in 

 southern Argentina, is the Tordo comun of Azara, 

 and is usually called Tordo or Pdjaro negro (black- 

 bird) by the natives, and Blackbird by the English- 

 speaking Argentines. A more suitable name is 

 Argentine Cow-bird, given to it by some ornitho- 

 logical writers, Cow-bird being the vernacular name 

 of the closely allied North American species, Molo- 

 thrus pecoris. 



This Cow-bird is widely distributed in South 

 America, and is common throughout the Argentine 

 country, including Patagonia, as far south as Chupat. 

 In Buenos Ayres it is very numerous, especially in 

 cultivated districts where there are plantations of 

 trees. The male is clothed in a glossy plumage of 



