72 ORIOLUS. ORIOLE. 



In the systems of Linnaeus and Latham, the genus Oriokis 

 was composed of a number of birds having very little affinity 

 to each other, but w^hich Daudin, Vieillot, and others, have se- 

 parated into several genera. The American species have been 

 referred to the genera Cassicus, Icterus, XantJiornus, and some 

 others, which are in a manner intermediate between the Stur- 

 ninae and the Conirostres ; and the genus as now restricted com- 

 prehends only those species, all belonging to the Old Continent, 

 which bear a strong resemblance in form to the Golden Oriole, 

 Oriohcs Galbula, the only species that visits Europe. It ap- 

 pears to me strange that the Orioles should ever have been 

 associated with such birds as the Icteri and Quiscali, to which 

 they seem to have very little affinity. Their short tarsi and 

 broad toes appear to approximate them to the Rollers, and both 

 these genera seem to be allied in the form of their bill to the 

 Flycatchers and Shrikes. But upon the whole, the Orioles are 

 probably more allied to the Thrushes and Thremmaphilinae, 

 than to any other groups. 



