XANTHOCEPHALUS. 455 
| XANTHOCEPHALUS. 
Xanthocephalus, Bonaparte, Consp. Av. i. p. 431 (1850); Scl. Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xi. p. 349. 
The single species included in this genus is a rather peculiar form, both as to its struc- 
ture and coloration. Its longer, stronger tarsi and distinct style of plumage separate it 
from Ageleus, the former feature being doubtless due to its terrestrial habits in contra- 
distinction to the more arboreal ones of Agel@us. 
The bill is formed much as in Agelwus, but the nasal operculum is more strongly 
developed and has the lower edge more thickened. The wing is long, the first quill 
the longest, the second, third, and fourth nearly as long though gradually shorter; the 
tail is long and but slightly rounded. 
1. Xanthocephalus longipes. a 
Icterus icterocephalus, Bp. Am. Orn. i. p. 27, t. 3. £..1, 2* (nec Oriolus icterocephalus, Linn.). 
Xanthocephalus icterocephalus, Baird, B. N. Am. p. 531°; Baird, Mex. Bound. Surv. il., Zool. 
p. 18°; Sel. P. Z.S. 1864, p. 175°; Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 281°; Baird, 
Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. ii. p. 167°; Coues, B. N. W. p. 1887; Gundl. Orn. Cub. 
p. 100°, 
Icterus xanthocephalus, Bp. Journ. Ac. Phil. v. p. 223°. 
Agelaius xanthocephalus, Cass. Pr. Ac. Phil. 1866, p. 11”. . 
Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus, Check-List N. Am. B. p. 249"; Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1886, 
p-. 152”. 
Agelaus longipes, Sw. Phil. Mag. new ser. i. p. 436. 
Xanthocephalus longipes, Scl. Ibis, 1884, p. 14*; Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xi. p. 350. 
Niger ; capite toto cum pectore aurantiis, regione oculari et mento nigris, pileo postico et nucha nigro transvit- 
tatis; alis nigris, tectricibus alarum majoribus albis, alula spuria quoque pro parte alba; rostro et pedibus 
nigris. Long. tota 11°5, ale 5:5, caudse 4:0, rostri a rictu 1-0, tarsi 1-4. (Descr. maris ex Presidio prope 
Mazatlan, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 
@ fuliginosa, capite summo et nucha dorso concoloribus, superciliis et gutture flavis, pectore imo albo guttato. 
Long. tota 11:0, ala 5:2, caude 3:7, rostri a rictu 0°85, tarsi 1-4. (Descr. femine ex urbe Mexico. 
Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Western Nortu America, from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Texas to the Pacific.— 
Mexico, Nuevo Leon (Couch *), Mazatlan (Grayson *), Presidio (Forrer 14), table- 
land (Bullock !), valley of Mexico (White 4, le Strange), Chietla, Huehuetlan, 
San Martin Texmelucan, Laguna del Rosario (Perez !2).—Cusa 8. 
_ Aanthocephalus longipes is a bird of the open or prairie country, resorting to marshy 
tracts in large numbers to roost and build their nests. In Northern Mexico the 
naturalists of the Boundary Survey observed large flocks in the State of Nuevo Leon, a 
roosting-place being on an island in a lagoon near Fort Brown, to which birds assembled 
from all quarters between sunset and dark, when for an hour a constant chattering was 
kept up; a similar roosting-place was on an island near the mouth of the Rio Grande. 
It has also been noticed in the interior of Mexico near the capital and other places on 
the plateau. It has been recorded, too, as occurring in the neighbourhood of Mazatlan, 
