244 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



MEGAQUISCALUS NICARAGUENSIS ( Salvin and Godman). 

 NICARAGUAN GRACKLE. 



Adult /yi«Zt^— Entire plumage black, the head, neck, bod}^, smaller 

 wing-coverts, and tail-coverts glossed with violet, the larger wing- 

 coverts, remiges, and rectrices slightly glossed with greenish; the violet 

 gloss most pronounced on rump and under parts, inclining to bronzy 

 on back and chest; bill, legs, and feet black; iris silvery white;' length 

 (skins), about 2T9.-i-3(M.8 (292.1);'^ wing, 1.27;^ tail, 134.6-139.7 

 (137.2);^ culmen, from base, 34.3;'' depth of bill at base, 9.9;' tarsus, 

 36.6-38.1 (37.3); middle toe, 29.2.' 



Adult female.— ''Ahove brown, the back, wings, and tail darker 

 and tinged with purple; an obsolete superciliary stripe and parotic 

 region much paler; beneath dirty white, the breast slightly darker, 

 the Hanks and under tail-coverts brown; bill and feet black; length, 

 241.3; wing, 104.1; tail, middle rectrices, 101.6; lateral rectrices, 63.5; 

 bill to rictus, 29.2; tarsus, 31.8." (Salvin and Godman, translation 

 of description.) 



Nicaragua (Momotombo and Managua, Lake Managua). 



I have not seen the female or young of this species, which, judging 

 from the description of Messrs; Salvin and Godman, seems to be very 

 much paler beneath than that of M. tenuirostris. Not having seen the 

 male of the latter, 1 am unable to state the differences between it and 

 the male of the present bird. 



Qxdscaluii nicaraguensis Salvin and Godman, Ibis, 6th ser., iii, Oct., 1891, 612 

 (Momotombo, Lake Managua, Nicaragua; coll. Salvin and Godman).— 

 RiCH.MOND, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xvi, 1893, 496, in text sub. Q. mucroums 

 (San Carlos, Nicaragua). 



Scaphidurus nicaraguensis Ridgway, Proc. Wash. Ac. Sci., iii, Apr. 15, 1901, .152. 



Genus SCOLECOPH AGUS Swainson. 



Scolecophagus Swainson, Fauna Bor.-Am., ii, 1831, 286, 494. (Type, Orlolus 



ferrugineus Gmelin,= Turdus carolinus Midler.) 

 Euphagus Cassin, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., xviii, Dec, 1866, 413. (Type, 



Psarocolius cyanocephalus Wagler. ) 



Medium-sized or rather small and slender Icteridfe, with bill narrow 

 and shorter than head, wing long and pointed, tail nearly as long as 

 wing, moderately rounded, not plicate; adult males entirely glossy 

 black, females and young grayish brown or slaty. 



Bill shorter than head, narrowly conoid, slightly decurved at tip, 

 compressed (especially the terminal half); its basal depth about one- 

 half the exposed culmen or a little less, its basal width still less; cul- 

 men decidedly but not strongly decurved at tip, slightly elevated and 



1 As noted on label of specimen in U. S. Nat. Mus. collection. 

 ^ Two specimens. 

 ^ One specimen. 



