YELLOW-HEADED MARSH-BIRD 117 



other parts ; the colour scheme being much as in 

 the Golden Oriole. 



The dull-plumaged birds are always very much 

 more numerous than the bright-coloured males, 

 though Azara strangely asserts that the sexes are 

 alike. In Buenos Ayres, where it is called Naranjo 

 (orange-coloured) by the country people in allusion 

 to its orange tints, it is very well known on account 

 of its yellow plumage, which looks so wonderfully 

 brilliant in the sunshine, and its partiality for culti- 

 vated districts, where it follows the plough to pick 

 up worms, and frequents the orchard to sing, asso- 

 ciating with the Common Cow-bird and Yellow- 

 breast. It remains all the year, and is very sociable, 

 going in flocks of from twenty to thirty individuals, 

 which when they settle on the trees all sing in con- 

 cert, pouring out their few peculiar notes with great 

 power and emphasis. 



Even in the breeding season these companies do 

 not always break up, and frequently several pairs 

 have nests near together. The nest is usually built 

 in a cardoon thistle, two or three feet above the 

 ground, and is made of dry grass. The eggs are four, 

 pointed, white or with bluish tinge, and speckled 

 irregularly with deep brown, the spots being closer 

 and sometimes confluent at the broad end. 



Concerning the plumage of this species Mr. 

 Barrows, an American ornithologist, writes : " Late 

 in March 1881, we found this species in large flocks 

 on the Pigue, and it was a beautiful sight to see a 

 hundred or more fluttering about among the snowy 



