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 
