ICTERUS. 473 
Mr. Scott has given a good account of this species as observed by him in the Santa 
Catalina Mountains in Arizona. He describes at length ten nests taken by him within 
a small area. They differed considerably in their form and in the materials of which 
they were composed—coarse grasses and the fibre of the yucca being the chief materials 
employed, which were woven in the skilful manner peculiar to members of the genus. 
It will be noticed that the materials used by J. nelsoni differ from those employed by 
I. cucullatus, at least so far as the Rio Grande valley is concerned ; this may be due to 
the absence of suitable 7¢//andsia in this part of Arizona, but on this point we have no 
information. 
This bird has been traced as far north as Santa Barbara in California, and southwards 
it reaches Mazatlan, where, according to Grayson, it is rare, and where he only obtained 
two examples, both from the same tree. Here they were feeding on the fruit of the 
wild fig (ficus americanus) in company with other Orioles. 
Xantus obtained specimens of an Oriole at Colima ascribed by Mr. Lawrence to 
I. cucullatus, which probably belong to J. nelsoni; but on this point we cannot be 
certain without a reexamination of the specimens. Xantus also found this species to 
be very abundant at Cape St. Lucas in Lower California, and he took many nests and 
egos, the former being placed in very varied situations, some in acacia trees, others in 
yuccas, and one in a convolvulus growing on a perpendicular rock. 
Both the Mazatlan specimen and that obtained by Rébouch in Western Mexico have 
the feathers of the black portion of the back edged with yellowish. 
14. Icterus auratus. (Tab. XXXIII. fig. 2.) 
Icterus auratus, Bp. Consp. Av. i. p. 4851; Lawr. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. ix. p. 271°; Boucard, P. Z. 8. 
1883, p. 445°; Scl. Ibis, 1883, p. 369*; Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xi. p. 382’. 
Intense aurantius interscapulio incluso; loris et gutture medio nigerrimis; alis nigris, tectricibus minoribus 
aurantiis, tectricum mediorum apicibus et remigum marginibus externis albis; cauda nigra, rectricibus 
(preter quatuor medias) albo terminatis; rostro et pedibus plumbeo-nigris. Long. tota 7°6, ale 3-6, caude 
3°5, rostri a rictu 0°85, tarsi 0°9. (Descr. exempl. ex Yucatan. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Mexico, Yucatan ! (Schott 2, Gaumer 3). 
Though described by Bonaparte under a MS. name attached to a specimen in the 
Brussels Museum by Vicomte Du Bus, this Jcterws was not subsequently recognized 
until 18692, when Mr. Lawrence determined the specimens obtained by Dr. Schott 
in Yucatan to belong to [cterus auratus, and we have no doubt that his view, though 
differing from that of Cassin, is correct. It is apparently a rare bird in Northern 
Yucatan, where alone it has been met with. Mr. Gaumer, to whom we are indebted for 
the three skins we possess, speaks of its great rarity, for at the time the paper written 
on his birds was published (in 1883) he had only secured two examples*. ‘This rarity 
may be more apparent than real, for the resemblance of J. auratus to the very common 
I. cucullatus is great, and the difference between them might readily be overlooked. 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Aves, Vol. [., April 1887. 60— 
