CASSICUS.—-CASSICULUS. 443 
been found in the Chontales district of Nicaragua by the late Thomas Belt ®, and also at 
Greytown by Holland’; and it occurs in all the intervening country as far as the 
Truando; but immediately to the southward its place is taken by the closely allied 
C. uropygialis, from which it differs in having a much smaller and weaker bill; hence 
its name. 
Nothing has been written of its habits. 
CASSICULUS. 
Cassiculus, Swainson, Zool. Journ. iii. p. 8352 (1827); Scl. Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xi. p. 328. 
Cassiculus, as now restricted, is a monotypic genus, its range being restricted to 
Western Mexico. In the arrangement of the colours of the plumage it resembles Cas- 
sicus flavicrissus and its allies, but its sharper, more cuneiform bill and much straighter 
culmen, its occipital crest, and the normal structure of the feathers of the lower back 
sufficiently distinguish it. On the other hand, the shape of the nostril, which is that of 
typical Cassicine, at once separates it from Amblycercus, from which it is still further 
removed by its long wings. The third quill is slightly the longest, the fourth and fifth 
are next in length, then the second, the first and sixth being subequal; the tail is rather 
long and rounded, the feathers being somewhat pointed. 
1. Cassiculus melanicterus. 
Icterus melanicterus, Bp. Journ. Acad. Philad. iv. p. 389". 
Cassicus melanicterus, Cass. Proc. Ac. Phil. 1867, p. 66°. 
Cassiculus melanicterus, Scl. P. Z. S. 1859, p. 880°; Ibis, 1883, p. 156*; Cat. B. Brit. Mus, xi. 
p. 828°; Dugés, La Nat. i. p. 139°; Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p.278"; Bull. U.S. 
Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 23°; Salv. P. Z.S. 1883, p. 422°. 
Cassiculus coronatus, Sw. Phil. Mag. new ser. i. p. 436". 
Icterus diadematus, Temm. PI. Col. 482”. 
Niger, crista elongata, nigra ; dorso postico, alarum tectricibus minoribus et crisso flavis; cauda flava, rectricibus 
duabus mediis omnino nigris, extima utrinque in pogonio externo quoque nigra; rostro viridi-eburneo, 
pedibus nigris. Long. tota 11-0, ale 6-0, caude 5:3, rostri a rictu 1-6, tarsi 1-3. 
@ cinerascente-nigra, aliter mari similis, sed rectricibus omnibus in pogonio externo fusco-nigricantibus. Long. 
tota 10-5, alee 5°0, caude 4:3, rostri a rictu 1-4, tarsi 1-1. (Descr. maris et femine ex Mazatlan, Mexico, 
Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Mexico} (M*Clellan 1), Mazatlan (Grayson’, Bishoff', Forrer°), Presidio 
(Forrer®), Tepic (Grayson), plains of Colima, Rio de Coahuana (Xantus’), Aca- 
pulco? (Markham®), Guerrero (Dugés *), Temiscaltepec (Bullock 1°), Oaxaca ®, Rio 
Grande® (Boucard®), Morelia (Je Strange), Barrio, Chihuitan, Tehuantepec city 
(Sumichrast *), Tonala, Chiapas (Swmichrast). 
This is an abundant species in Western Mexico, from Mazatlan to Tehuantepec, but 
56* 
