468 ICTERIDZ. 
Dr. Dugés includes this species in his list of Guanajuato birds®; but it is more than 
probable that a wrong identification has been made, for there are no other records of its 
occurrence in Mexico, the bird being, so far as our knowledge goes, strictly confined to 
the forest-clad slopes of the mountains trending towards the Pacific coast of Guatemala. 
In this district most of our specimens were obtained at various points at elevations 
ranging between 1500 and 3500 feet above the sea, but we sometimes met with it at 
higher elevations in the Volcan de Fuego. Cassin states that the original specimen in 
the Academy of Philadelphia is labelled as coming from Coban in Vera Paz; but this 
locality we think more than doubtful, since Coban, being the headquarters of the bird- 
collectors of Vera Paz, has been thoroughly explored ; and we have examined hundreds 
of specimens obtained in that district, but Icterus maculi-alatus was never amongst 
them. ‘The species is very like Jcterus wagleri and Icterus prosthemelas, but may at 
once be recognized by the less extent of the black on the throat and the conspicuous 
white markings on the wings. 
9. Icterus melanocephalus. 
Psarocolius melanocephalus, Wag). Isis, 1829, p. 756’. 
Icterus melanocephalus, Hahn, in Kiister, Vog. aus Asien, Lief. vi. p. 2, t. 3°; Cass. Pr. Ac. Phil. 
1848, p. 90°; 1867, p.53°; Scl. P. Z. S. 1856, p. 801°; 1858, p. 97°; 1859, p. 3657; 
Ibis, 1883, p. 365°; Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xi. p. 875°; Sumichrast, Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. i. 
p- 553°°; Lawr. Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 23”. 
Icterus melanocephalus, var. auduboni, Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. ii. p. 186”. 
Icterus auduboni, Giraud, B. Texas, p. 1”; Baird, Mex. Bound. Surv. ii. Zool., Birds, p. 194; Sel. 
P. Z. 8. 1859, p. 881%; 1864, p. 175"; Ibis, 1883, p. 366"; Cass. Pr. Ac. Phil. 1867, 
p. 53; Sumichrast, Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H.i. p. 553”; Sennett, Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. iv. 
p. 26”; v. p. 399”; Perez, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1886, p. 150”. 
Icterus graduacauda, Less. Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 105”. 
Oleagineo-flavus ; capite toto undique, alis et cauda nigris, tectricibus alarum minoribus, abdomine toto 
subtus et subalaribus flavis, gutture toto ad medium pectus nigro; rostro nigro, mandibule basi et pedibus 
plumbeis. Long. tota 7:5, ale 3-7, caude 3°8, rostri a rictu 0-9, tarsi l-1. (Descr. exempl. ex Jalapa. 
Mus. nostr.) 
© mari similis, sed supra paullo olivascentior. 
Hab. Nortu America, Rio Grande valley 2° 21.—Muxtico ! 22 28 (Sal/é5), Charco Escon- 
dido, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon (Couch 1418), valley of Mexico (White 16), temperate 
region of Vera Cruz, Orizaba (Sumichrast 1° 19), Jalapa (Pease, Perez 22, de Oca ’) 
Mirador (Sartorius*), Orizaba (le Strange), Juquila (Boucard 5), Guichicovi 
(Sumichrast ™). 
Two forms of this bird have generally been recognized, under the names of Jcterus 
melanocephalus and Icterus auduboni, the former being distinguished from the latter by 
its smaller, stouter, and more curved bill and the absence of any white on the wing. 
These characters, however, do not seem to be constant, and the ranges of the two 
forms coincide. The valley of the Rio Grande is its extreme northern limit, and here 
