l^ASSERIN^E. 305 



ICTERUS.(I) 



The beak arcuated throughout its length, and only forming a small 

 notch in the feathers on the forehead. (2) 



Xanthornus. (3) 



Only difiers from the preceding in the perfect straightness of the 

 beak. (4) 



We should distinguish among the number a species with a 

 somewhat shorter beak, which therein approaches the Frin- 

 gilla, Cuv. 



Icterus pecoris. Tern.; Emberiza pecoris, Wils. II, xviii, 1, 2, 

 and Enl. 606, 1. (The Cow Bunting.) A violet black; head 

 and neck a brown grey. Lives in flocks among the cattle; but 

 the most peculiar trait in its habits is that, like the Cuckoo, it 

 lays its eggs in other birds' nests. (5) 



(1) Vieillot has changed the French term of the above subdivision, Troupiale, 

 into Carouge, which I had adopted for tlie following- subgenus. He translates 

 Carouge by Fendulinus, Galer. pi. 186. 



(2) Oriolus varius, Enl. 607, 1; Or. cayanus, 535, 2; Or. capensis, Enl. 6UT- 

 (N.B. It is from Louisiana, and not from the Cape;] Or. chrysocephalus, Merr. 

 Beytr. I, pi. iii, Vieill. Gal. 86; Or. dominicensis, Enl. 5, 1; and a species of a 

 changeable black, whose tail assumes all kinds of shapes, according to the direc- 

 tion of its lateral feathers, which are sometimes in the same plane with the rest, 

 and at others turned up, &c. (Quiscalus versicolor) Vieill. Gal. 108; Wils. Ill, 

 xvi, 3. It appears to be both the Gracula quiscala, L-, Catesb. pi. xii, and the 

 Gracula harita, Lath. I, pi. xviii, or the Pie de la Jamaique : it is found in all the 

 Antilles, Carolina, &c. It has been confounded with the Rice Eater {Ploceus 

 niger). 



We should separate the Icterus sulcirostris, Spix, LXIV, the lower jaw of whose 

 much larger beak is obliquely furrowed at base. 



(3) M. Vieill. calls these birds, Baltimore and Yphanies, Galer. pi. Ixxxvii. He 

 separates some of them, which he names more particularly Troupiales, or Age- 

 lAius, pi. Ixxxviii. 



(4) Oriolus icterus, Enl. 532; Oriolus mtTZor and Tanagra bonariensis, Enl. 710; 

 the same bird; Oriolus citrinus, Spix, 76; Le Car. gasquet, Quoy and Gaym. 

 Voy. de Freycin. pi. xxiv; Oriolus phxniceus, Enl. 402; Or. americanus, 236, 2; 

 Or. leucopterus. Lath. Syn. I, frontlsp.; Or. lonana, Enl. 535, 1; Or. cayenensis, 

 lb. 2; Or. icterocephalus, 342; Or. xanthocephalus, Ch. Bonap, 1, IV, 1, 2; Or. 

 mexicanus, Enl. 533; Or. xanthornus, 5, 1; Or. baltimore, 506, 1; Vieill. Galer. 

 87, and Wils. I, 1, 3; Or. spurius, Enl. 2, and Wils. I, iv, 1 4; Or. melancholicus, 

 Enl. 448, of which Ov. guyanensis, Enl. 536, Vieill. Galer. pi. 88, is the adult. 



Add Or. agripennis, Bonap. {Enlb. oryzivora, of others) our common Reed 

 Bird. Am. Ed. 



(5) Gmel. cites fig. 606, 1, of the Pl. Enl., as Oriolus minor; it is a mistake- 



Vol. I. 2 O 



