ICTERID^E — THE URIOLES. 17.-J 



wing-coverts (ujiicolor with tlif winjfs (instead of very dccideiUy 

 more bluish) ; blacl-: bars ol' tertials and tail-feathers clean, narrow, 

 and isolated. White of sides, flanks, and crissum nearly pnre. 

 Hab. Western United States and Western Mexico . \-m: ne<j Lecla. 



In magna uirI iicglcda, the feathers of the pectoral crescent are generally 

 black to the base, their roots being grayish-white ; one specimen of the 

 former, however, from North Carolina, has the roots of the i'eatliers yellow, 

 fnrl)i(liling the announcement of this as a distinguishing character; marieana 

 may have the bases of these feathers either yellow or grayish ; while hipjm- 

 crcpis has only the tips of the feathers black, the whole concealeil portion 

 being bright yellow. 



In mexicana, there is more of an approach to an orange tint in the yellc)\v 

 than is usually seen in maffna, but specimens from Georgia ha\e a tint not 

 distinguishable ; in both, however, as well as in hippocrcfis, there is a deeper 

 yellow than in negkcta, in which the tint is more citreous. 



As regards the bars on tertials and tail, there is considerable variation. 

 Sometimes in either of the species opposed to negkcta by this character 

 there is a tendency to their isolation, seen in the last few toward the ends 

 of the feathers; but never is there an approach to that regularity seen in 

 negleda, in which they are isolated uniformly everywhere they occur. Two 

 specimens only (54,064 California and 10,316 Pembina) in the entire series 

 of negkcta show a tendency to a blending of these bars on the tail. 



Magna, mcxkana, meridionalis and liippncrep)is, are most similar in colora- 

 tion; negkcta is most dissimilar compared with any of the others. Though 

 each possesses peculiar characters, they are only of degree ; for in the most 

 widely different forms {neglccta and mcxkana) there is not the slightest 

 departure from the pattern of coloration ; it is only a matter of extension or 

 restriction of the several colors, or a certain one of them, that produces the 

 differences. 



Each modification of plumage is attended by a still greater one of pro- 

 portions, as will be seen from the diagnoses ; thus, though negkcta is the 

 largest of the group, it has actually the smallest legs and feet ; with nearly 

 the same general projjortions, magnet exceeds it in the latter respects 

 (especially in the l)ill), while mcxkana, a very much smaller bird than 

 either, has disproportionally and absolutely larger legs and feet united with 

 the smallest size otherwise in the whole series. Merklionalis presents no 

 differences from the last, except in proportions of bill and feet ; for wl.<ile 

 the latter is the smallest of the series, next to negkcta, it has a biU much 

 exceeding that of any other. 



The markings of the upper plumage of the young or even winter birds 

 are different in pattern from those of the adult ; the tendency being toward 

 the peculiar features of the adult neglccta; the various species in these 

 stages being readily distinguishable, however, by the general characters 

 assigned. Alexkana and neglccta are both in proportions and colors the 



