288 
YELLOW-HEADED TROOPIAL. 
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 ac- 
count of this bird, from a Cayenne specimen sent to Reaumur’s 
Museum, and who seems to have been copied by all subsequent 
authors, states its length to be less than seven inches, a size 
considerably inferior to that of the living bird. Had this ad- 
measurement 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. Viellot, 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 
tail-coverts, which are yellow at base, are glossy black, very 
slightly tinged with brownish. Some of the exterior wing- 
coverts are pure white, with black tips, constituting two very 
remarkable white spots on the wing, the larger of which is 
formed by the greater coverts of the primaries, and the smaller 
one by the middling coverts. The first, second, and third 
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