218 
ICTERUS PECORIS. 
This COW bird is now six months old, is in complete 
plumage, and repays the affectionate services of his 
foster parent with a frequent display of all the musical 
talents with which nature has gifted him. These, i* 
must be confessed, are far from being ravishintrj yet, 
for their singularity, are worthy of notice. lie spreads 
his wings, swells his body into a globular form, bristlintf 
every featlier iu the manner of a turkey cock, and. 
with great seeming difficulty, utters a few low, splutter- 
ing notes, as if proceeding from his belly; always, oo 
these occasions, strutting in front of the spectator witb 
great consequential affectation. I 
To see the red-bird, who is himself so excellent a 
performer, silently listening to all this guttural splutter, 
reminds me of the great Handel contemplating a n retched | 
catgut scraper. Perhaps, however, these may be meant 
for the notes of /one and f/ratitude, which are sweeter te 
the ear, and dearer to the heart, than all the artificial 
solos or concertos on this side heaven. 
The length of this species is seven inches, breadth . 
eleven inches ; the head and neck is of a very <leep silk/ 
drab; the upper part of the breast a dark changeable ' 
violet ; the rest of the bird is black, with a considerable 
gloss of green when exposed to a good light ; the torn* 
of the bill is evidently that of an emheriza; the tail ij | 
slightly forked ; legs and claws, glossy black, strong an* , 
muscular; iris of the eye, dark hazel. Catesby says o* 
this bird, “ it is all over of a hroivn colour, and soiRe" 
thing lighter below;” a description that a|)plies only 
to the female, and has been repeated, in nearly the saiR^ 
words, by almost all succeeding ornithologists. Th* 
young male birds are at first altogether brown, and, tb’’ 
a mouth, or more, are naked of feathers round the ey'-' ' 
and mouth ; the breast is also spotted like that of 
thrush, with light drab and darker streaks. In abo'‘* 
two months after they leave the nest, the black ooi»' 
mences at the shoulders of the n-ings, and graduafiy 
increases along each side, as the yoiuig feathers coi»^ 
out, until the bird appears mottled on the back 
breast with deep black, and light drab. At thrc« 
