n6 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



or stalk while singing, and makes a long pause after 

 every note or two, as if to make the most of its 

 limited repertory* There is in the song one rich full 

 note which, to my mind, is unequalled for plaintive 

 sweetness, and I am therefore surprised that Azara 

 says only of this species that it sings passably well 

 " canta razonablemente." 



The nest is neatly made of dry grasses, and attached 

 to the rushes growing in the water. The eggs are 

 four, pointed, and spotted at the larger end with dull 

 brown and black on a white ground, 



I wish my dull brains had been able to find some 

 shorter, more descriptive English name for this 

 species, which of all this group of Troupials, the 

 Marsh-birds or Bobolinks of South America, endeared 

 itself most to me on account of its grace and lovely 

 black and yellow livery, its pretty social habits, and, 

 above all, its unforgettable song, or rather that one 

 full, beautiful, passionate note on which it ends. 



YELLOW-HEADED MARSH-BIRD 



Agelxus flavus 



Black ; head, rump, bend of wing and under surface brilliant 

 yellow ; bill and feet black ; length 6.7 inches. Female brown, slightly 

 striated ; eyebrows, rump, and under parts yellowish. 



AZARA called this bird Cabeza amarilla, or Yellow- 

 head, and I retain the name, though it is an unsatis- 

 factory one as the bird has so much yellow on its 



