292 Dr. A. Hall on the Mammals and Birds 



2nd primary longest ; tail rounded. Length 9j inches ; alar 

 expanse 15 inches. The female has the belly and rump ashy. 

 Genus Oriolus. 



Gen. char. Bill conic, horizontally compressed at the base ; 

 upper mandible ridged and carinate ; nostrils basal, lateral and 

 naked, and horizontally pierced in a large membrane ; tarsus and 

 middle toQ subequal in length ; outer and middle toes connected 

 at base ; 2nd primary longest. 



0, Baltimorus. Baltimore Oriole. 

 Icterus Baltimorus. Buonaparte ! Baird ! 



v.s.p. Bill, legs and feet pale blue ; irides deep hazel ; eggs 4 

 to 5, bluish white, spotted and streaked with dark brown ; ne&t 

 pendant. 



Dorsal aspect. Head, neck, and back deep black; rump or- 

 ange ; tail square, the two central feathers black with minute 

 orange tips ; all the lateral ones black with their distal halves 

 orange ; smaller wing coverts orange ; greater ones black tipped 

 with white on their outer vanes, the three or four last secondaries 

 similar ; primaries and the other secondaries black, with faint 

 emarginations of white on their outer vanes. 



Ventral aspect. Neck black, terminating in a cone on the 

 lower part of the throat ; breast and all the other parts orange. 



2nd primary longest; 1st and 3rd very little shorter. Length 

 7 J inches; alar breadth 11 inches. The female differs consider- 

 ably from the male. Her dorsal aspect is yellowish brown, with 

 the tail olivaceous; the wing coverts tipped with yellowish; se- 

 condaries much more broadly margined with white than in the 

 male ; head of the dorsal tint. Ventral aspect yellowish.. Taken 

 from a living female in the author's possession ; her second moult. 

 The winter plumage is the same as the summer. 

 Family II. Fissirostres. 

 Genus Hirundo. 



Gen. char. Bill short, triangular, depressed and wide at the 

 base, and cleft nearly to the eyes ; upper mandible notched, and 

 a little hooked at the point ; nostrils basal, oblong, semi-closed by 

 a membrane ; exterior and middle toes united to the first joint ; 

 1st primary longest ; tail more or less furcate. 

 H. purpurea. The Purple Martin. 

 Progne purpurea. Linn. ! Baird ! 



V.S.P. Bill, legs and feet black ; irides hazel ; eggs 4 to 6, white. 



