(SCARLET-HEADED MARSH-BIRD.)
+Amblyrhamphus holosericeus+, _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 114 (Buenos
Ayres); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 37; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877,
p. 174 (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 18 (Buenos
Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 602 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows,
Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 135 (Entrerios); _Scl. Cat. B._
xi. p. 351. +Amblyrhamphus ruber+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p.
491 (Entrerios, Santa Fé, Paraná).
_Description._--Black; whole head and neck all round, and upper
breast and thighs scarlet; bill and feet black: total length 9·5
inches, wing 4·5, tail 4·0. _Female_ similar. _Young_ uniform black.
_Hab._ Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina.
Azara named this species _Tordo negro cabeza roxa_; it is also called
_Boyero_ (ox-herd) by country people, from its note resembling the long
whistle of a drover; and sometimes _Chisel-bill_, from the peculiar
conformation of the beak, which is long, straight, and has a broad fine
point like a chisel. In both sexes the plumage of the head and neck
is scarlet, of an exceedingly brilliant tint, all other parts intense
black. These birds are lively, active, and sociable, going in flocks of
from half-a-dozen to thirty individuals; they remain all the year, and
inhabit the marshes, from which they seldom wander very far, but seek
their insect food in the soft decaying rushes. They are common on the
swampy shores of the Plata, and when seen at a distance, perched
in their usual manner on the summits of the tall rushes, their
flame-coloured heads shine with a strange glory above the sere sombre
vegetation of the marshes. The long whistling note above mentioned is
their only song, but it varies considerably, and often sounds as mellow
and sweet as the whistle of the European Blackbird.
The nest is an ingenious structure of dry grasses, fastened to the
upright stems of an aquatic plant, three or four feet above the water.
The eggs are four, in size and form like those of the English
Song-Thrush, spotted somewhat sparsely with black on a light blue
ground.
The young birds are entirely black at first, and afterwards assume on
the head and neck a pale terra-cotta red, which gradually deepens to
vivid scarlet.