VELLOW-HREADED TROOPIAL. 185 
The female has been hitherto entirely unknown, and all the 
figures yet given of the male being extremely imperfect, from 
the circumstance of their having been drawn from wretchedly 
stuffed specimens, we may safely state that this sex also is 
for the first time represented with a due degree of accuracy 
in our plate. The figures published by Edwards and Buffon 
approach the nearest to the real magnitude; but they are 
mere masses of black, surmounted by a yellow cap: those of 
Brisson and others are considerably smaller. 
As that striking character, the white spot on the wing, is 
neither indicated in the figure nor description of any author, 
we might have been induced to believe that our species is dif- 
ferent from the South American, if a close comparison of the 
two had not proved their identity. Another circumstance 
might have been equally deceptive: Brisson, who gave the first 
account of this bird, from a Cayenne specimen sent to Reau- 
‘mur’s Museum, and who seems to have been copied by all sub- 
sequent authors, states its length to be less than seven inches, 
a size considerably inferior to that of the living bird. Had 
this admeasurement been taken from a recent specimen, we 
could hardly hesitate to believe our bird distinct ; but as he 
had only a dried skin, and as Buffon’s figure represents a 
nearer approach to the size of nature, we conclude that Brisson’s 
estimate is not to be implicitly relied upon. Vieillot, who never 
saw the bird, states the length to be six inches and a half, and 
refers it to his genus Pendulinus, but it certainly belongs to his 
genus Agelaius. 
The male yellow-headed troopial is ten inches and a half 
long. The bill is dark horn-colour, and formed exactly like 
that of the red-winged troopial. The feet are black; the 
irides, dark brown. ‘The whole head, neck, and breast are 
brilliant orange yellow, more vivid and sericeous on the head, 
and terminating in a point on the belly ; the feathers around 
the base of the bill, the chin, and a wide stripe passing from 
the bill through the eye, are black. The remaining parts, 
excepting some feathers of the belly, and some of the under 
