BIRDS. 109 



description it is obvious that the egg of M. niger is larger and of a much redder 

 tint ; the more prominent spots also are larger, the subdued grey being quite 

 similar in both. 



If we were to judge from habits alone, the specific difference between these 

 two species of Molothrus might well be doubted ; they seem closely to resemble 

 each other in general habits, — in manner of feeding, — in associating in the same 

 flock with other birds, and even in such peculiarities as often alighting on the backs 

 of cattle. The M. pecoris, like the M. niger, utters strange noises, which Wilson* 

 describes " as a low spluttering note as if proceeding from the belly." It appears 

 to me very interesting thus to find so close an agreement in structure, and in 

 habits, between allied species coming from opposite parts of a great continent. 

 Mr. Swainsonf has remarked that with the exception of the Molothrus, the 

 cuckoos are the only birds which can be called truly parasitical ; namely, such 

 as " fasten themselves, as it were, on another living animal, whose animal heat 

 brings their young into life, whose food they alone live upon, and whose death 

 would cause theirs during the period of infancy." It is very remarkable, that 

 the cuckoos and the molothri, although opposed to each other in almost every 

 habit, should agree in this strange one of their parasitical propagation : the 

 habit moreover is not universal in the species of either tribe. The Molothrus, 

 like our starling, is eminently sociable, and lives on the open plains without art 

 or disguise : % the cuckoo, as every one knows, is a singularly shy bird ; it 

 frequents the most retired thickets, and feeds on fruit and caterpillars.^ 



Amblyramphus ruber. G. R. Gray. 



Oriolus ruber, Gmel. 



Amblyramphus bicolor, Leach. 



Sturnus pyrrhocephalus, Licht. 



Sturnella rubra, Vieill. 



Leistes erythrocephala, Swains. Class. Birds. 



This bird frequented marshy places in the neighbourhood of Maldonado, but 

 it was not common there. It is more solitary than the following allied species ; I 

 have, however, seen it in a flock. Seated on a twig, with its beak widely open, it 

 often makes a shrill, but plaintive and agreeable cry, which is sometimes single 



* Wilson's American Ornithology, vol. ii. p. 162. 



t Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. i. p. 217. + See Azara, vol. iii. p. 170. 



S It appears that the eggs in the same nest with that of the Molothrus pecoris, are turned out by the parent 

 birds before they are hatched, owing to the egg of the M. pecoris being hatched in an unusually short time ; in 

 the case of the young cuckoo, as is well known, the young bird itself throws out its foster-brothers. Mr. C. Fox, 

 however, (Silliman's American Journal, vol. xxix. p. 292), relates an instance of three young sparrows having 

 been found alive with a Molothrus. 



