YELLOW-BREASTED MARSH-BIRD 123 

 YELLOW-BREASTED MARSH-BIRD 



Pseudoleistes virescens 



Olive-brown and glossy ; shoulders and breast bright yellow ; length 

 9.5 inches. Female similar. 



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 verna- 

 cular 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 very close flock, making the air 

 resound with their loud ringing notes. After feeding 

 they repair to the trees, where they join their robust 

 voices in a spirited concert, without any set form 

 of melody such as other song-birds possess, but all 

 together, flinging out their notes at random, as if 

 mad with joy. In this delightful hubbub there are 

 some soft silvery sounds. Where they are never 

 persecuted they have little fear of man, but they 



