194 MIGRATION OF A TROUPIAL 
homes: the tenacity, the shrinking from that long 
voyage over an unknown hostile waste, is equally 
strong in some species that live and spend their 
summer in the open grassy plains. I am tempted 
to give one remarkable instance of the kind. This 
refers to a migratory troupial, Leistes superciliaris, 
a beautiful Starling-like bird resembling the military 
Starling in its dark plumage and scarlet breast. That 
is the male: the female has a modest colouring, and 
differs in habits from her mate. It is a solitary bird 
that comes alone from the north in spring to inhabit 
and breed on the open grassy plain. The male finds 
a tall grass or thistle or herb of some kind which he 
makes his stand, and there he spends most of his 
time, looking very cOnspicuous with his scarlet breast, 
and at interVals he springs aloft to utter his song in 
the air, then drops back to his stand. The female 
lives alone also, but skulking like a landrail under 
the grass. After breeding they again separate, and 
in March and April the males, alone or in small 
companies of three or four, migrate north. A little 
later the females depart, after uniting in parties of 
about half a dozen. It looks then as if their fear 
had brought them together, when one watches them 
on their passage. They come over the plain, flying 
north and very low, just above the surface, and their 
flight is like a series of dashes, for now they dash 
away to this side, now to that, and every time they 
come to a spot where there is thick long grass, 
the sort of cover they live in, they dash into it as 
if they were being pursued by a hawk, and after 
