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. Swainsont 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 pyrrhoceplialus, 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. 
^ 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^ 
