28 YELLOW-HEADED TROOPIAL. 
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 different 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 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 admeasurement been taken from a 
recent specimen, we could hardly hesitate to believe our bird dis¬ 
tinct.; but as he had only a dried skin, and as Buttons 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 JPendulinus, but it certainly belongs 
to his genus Jlgelaius. 
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 primaries, are 
