388 



Subfamily V. QUISCALIN.E. 



After the elimination of CassiclLv, the Quiscalina'. form a more 

 natural group, characterized by their rather attenuated bill, which 

 has an incurved culmen and a rounded and unexpanded meso- 

 rhinium, and by their long and generally graduated tail, which in 

 the typical genera is carried in life in a boat-shaped fashion, so that 

 the side feathers are brought up together above the median rectrices. 

 The legs are stout, and the tarsi long and ambulatorial. The 

 coloration is mostly uniform black, only relieved by metallic glosses 

 in some genera, and by scarlet and brown patches in others. 



The nests of the Qtiiscalinai, so far as known to us, are open and 

 cup-shaped, and placed in bushes or trees. The eggs are variously 

 spotted on a lighter ground. 



Ranrje. Whole of the Nearctic and Neotropical Regions. 



Key to the Genera. 



A. Head-feathers normal. 



a. Frontal plumes erect 23. LAMPBOPSAn, p. 388. 



h. Frontal plumes recumbent. 

 a'. Tail sliglitly rounded. 



j Bill thin, compressed 24. Scolecophagus, p. 390. 



I Bill stout, thick 25. Dives, p. 391. 



v. Tail much graduated. 



( Bill longer, thinner 26 Quiscai.us, p. 393. 



j Bill shorter, broader 27. Macbagel^us, p. 403. 



B. Head-feathers lanceolate. 



Tail graduated ; bill smooth 28. Hypopybbhus, p. 403. 



Tail slightly rounded ; bill rugose .... 29. Aphobus, p. 404. 



23. LAMPROPSAE. 



Type. 



Lampropsar, Cah. Mus. Hein. i. p. 194 (185]) L. tanagrinus. 



Potamopsar, Scl. Cat. A. B. p. 141 (18G2) L. tanagrinus. 



The peculiar structure of the short erect frontal feathers charac- 

 terizes this genus. The tarsi are rather short, and indicate arboreal 

 habits ; the tail is long and much rounded ; the mesorhinium is 

 Unciform, and the culmen slopes but very slightly. 



Ranrje. Guiana, Venezuela, and Amazonia. 



1. Lampropsar tanagrinus. 



Icterus tanagrinus, Sjn.r, Av. Bras. i. p. 67, pi. 64. f. 1. 



Lampropsar tanagrinus, Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 194 ; Scl. et Salv. No- 

 mend, p. 38 ; Pek. Orn. Bras. p. 200 ; Scl. Ibis, 1884, p. 149 ; Tacz. 

 Orn. Per. ii. p. 433 ; Scl. et Salo. P. Z. S. 1873, p. 267 (Ucayali). 



Lampropsar guianensis, Cab. in Schomb. Guian. iii. p. 682 ; id. Mus. 

 Hein. i. p. 194 ; Scl. ct Salv. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 167 (Venezuela) ; iid. 

 Nomencl. p. 38. 



