320 ICTERIDiE. 



into fulvous on the rump ; wings blackish, wing-coverts and secon- 

 daries edged with olive-brown : below not quite so dark, greener on 

 the throat, and fulvous on the crissum ; tail yellow, the middle 

 pair of rectrices, the outer webs of the pair next to the middle pair, 

 and the tips of the lateral rectrices blackish olive ; biU dark plum- 

 beous ; feet black : whole length 17-5 inches, wing 9, tail 7-7. 

 Female similar but smaller : whole length 14 inches, wing 7*2, 

 tail 6-2. 



Hah. Upper Amazonia and Colombia. 



The uniform dark bill of this Cassique renders it easily distin- 

 guishable. 



«, 6. d" 2 ad. sk. Yquitos, Peru ( Whitehj). Sclater Coll. 



c. (S ad. sk. Sarayacu, Peruvian Amazons Salvin-Godman CoU. 



{Bartlett). 



(1, e. S 2 ad. sk. Upper Ucayali. E. Bartlett [C.]. 



f. 2 ad. sk. Santa Cruz, Upper Amazons Salvin-Godman Coll. 



(Bartlett). 



cj. 2 ad. sk. Santa Cruz, Upper Amazons E. Bartlett [C.]. 



{Bartlett). 



h, i. (S ad. sk. Sarayacu, Ecuador {Buckley). Salvin-Godman Coll. 



j. $ ad. sk. Bogota. Sclater Coll. 



6. CASSICUS. Type. 



Cacicus, Cuv. Leqons d'An. Comp. tab. 2 (1800) No type given. 



Cassicus, III. Prodr. p. 214 (1811) C. hremorrhous. 



Brisson originally spelt this term " Cassicus " * (no doubt from 

 cassis, a helmet) ; but Cuvier, and Daudin after him, used " Cacicus." 

 I think, however, we are justified in reverting to " Cassicus " (as a 

 more correct form), under which name the genus was first properly 

 characterized by Illiger, and as the term which most authors have 

 employed. 



The typical Cassiques form a group of about nine species of me- 

 dium size, with the frontal shield well developed, but not to the 

 extent met with in the preceding genera. The prevailing colours 

 are black, varied by patches of scarlet or yellow. 



Like their larger brethren these Cassiques nest in society, and 

 suspend their purse-like nests from the branches of tall trees, gene- 

 rally over the water. The eggs are white or blue, spotted with 

 violet or reddish (cf. AVied, Beitr. iii. pp. 1234, 1239). 



Range. From Nicaragua southwards to Paraguay and Bolivia. 



Key to the Sjpecies. 



A. Black : rump yellow. 

 a. Crissum vellow : 



j basal half of rectrices yellow 1. jwrsicus, p. 321. 



I basal third of rectrices" yellow 2. Jlavicrissus, p. 322. 



* Orn. ii. pp. OS. 100, but not used as a generic term, tlie two birds called 

 'assicus" being embraced in his genus " Id cms." 



' Cassicus 



