ICTERUS.—SCOLECOPHAGUS. 479 
generally suspended from the extreme end of a slender decumbent branch or twig in 
some shady spot, where it may swing to and fro in the breeze free from entanglement 
with other branches. The nest, which is purse-shaped, and about twelve or thirteen 
inches in length, with the entrance near the top, is composed of a long narrow grass or 
the fibres of maguey leaves, which are very strong and elastic, and lined with silk-cotton ; 
it is firmly and well woven together, and would be difficult to pull apart; it differs a 
little in form from those found in the vicinity of Mazatlan. Few birds surpass this 
Oriole in discovering the hiding-places of the various kinds of insects and their larvee 
upon which it feeds. With its exceedingly sharp bill it searches and probes every 
crevice in the bark and leaves of trees and with unceasing industry; the number it 
destroys in one day alone must be very great. Thus we see beauty and elegance com- 
bined with utility in the place assigned to this species in the great economy of nature 
in checking the accumulation of insects. During my stay upon the islands I often saw 
them clinging about decaying logs or branches, sometimes with their heads downwards, 
busily engaged in piercing the rotten wood in search of wood-worms or borers and white 
ants; it also feeds on various kinds of fruit, Pitahaya (Pitajata cactus) they are very 
partial to. In the islands of the Tres Marias these birds become excessively fat, finding 
there an abundance of food, with nothing to molest them in their peaceful green island 
home.” 
Subfam. V. QUISCALIN AL. 
Nares plus minusve membrano obtecte ; mesorhinium altum, haud dilatatum, rotundatum; tarsi longi; cauda 
cuneata. 
SCOLECOPHAGUS. 
Scolecophagus, Swainson, Faun. Bor.-Am. ii. p. 494 (1831); Scl. Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xi. p. 390. 
There are two recognized species of Scolecophagqus, both belonging to North America, 
one of which extends its range over the greater part of Mexico. The genus has some 
affinities to the next genus, Dives ; but the wings are considerably longer, the bill shorter, 
and the membrane above the nostrils more fully developed, the tarsi and toes also are 
more slender; both, however, have a slightly rounded tail, and in this respect they 
differ from the members of the genus Quiscalus, the tail of which is distinctly wedge- 
shaped. The bill of S. cyanocephalus has a slightly rounded culmen, the mesorhinium 
being rounded, not flat or dilated; the nasal fossa is deep, the nostrils lying along its 
lower edge, and margined above by a well-developed membrane; the maxilla is slightly 
compressed towards the tip, and its tomia considerably incurved ; the legs are long, the 
tarsi and toes being rather slender; the wings are moderately long, the second quill 
slightly the longest, the first and fourth being nearly equal, the longest secondaries are 
equal to the seventh quill; the tail is slightly rounded, the feathers themselves being 
rounded at their ends. The male considerably exceeds the female in size; they nest in 
colonies, and are probably polygamous. 
