IB YCTER—IC TER US 



457 



IBYCTER, see Caracara. 



ICTEEIA, see Chat. 



ICTERUS, a l)ird so called by classical authors, and supposed 

 liy Pliny to be the same as the Galguhs, which nearly all writers 

 agree in considering to be Avhat we now know as Oriolus galbula 

 (Oriole). At any rate it signified one in the plumage of which 

 yellow or green predominated, and hence Brisson did not take an 

 unhappy liberty when he applied it in a 

 scientific sense to some birds of the New 

 World of which the same could be said. 

 These are now held to constitute a distinct 

 Family, Iderklx ; and, while many of them 

 bear the vulgar name of Troopials (the English 

 equivalent of the French Troupiales, first used 

 by Brisson), others are known as the American 

 Grackles. The typical species of Icterus is 

 the Oriolus icterus of Linnaeus, the Icterus 

 vulgaris of Daudin and modern ornithologists, 

 an inhabitant of northern Brazil, Guiana, 

 Venezuela, which seems to have been intro- 

 duced into some of the Antilles, and occa- 

 sionally, it is said, visits the United States. 

 Thirty-eight species of the genus Icterus alone, and ninet}'' others 

 belonging to 28 genera, are recognized by Mr. Sclater {Cat. B. Br. 

 Mus. xi. pp. 308-405), most of them belonging to the Neoti'opical 

 Region, though a few have their home to the northward, whither 

 they repair to breed in summer. It would be impossible here to 

 dwell upon them, but Eucorystes, Cassicus and Agelxus may perhaps be 

 named as the most remarkable. They are nearly all gregarious 

 birds, many of them with loud and melodious notes, rendering them 



Icterus. (After Swainson.) 



Agel^us, 



(After Swainson.) 



Sturnella. 



favourites in captivity, for they readily leai'u to whistle simple tunes, 

 which are admirably reproduced by their clear voice. Some have 

 a plumage wholly black, others are richly clad, as is the well-known 

 Baltimore Oriole, Golden Robin, or Hangnest of the United States, 



