BIBDS — ICTEEIDAE — ICTERUS MELANOCEPHALUS. 



5i3 



The bill of this species is shaped very much as in /. haUimore, a little more attenuated at the 

 tip, but not more decurved. The tail is long and much graduated; the outer feather 1.10 of an 

 inch shorter than the inner. 



In this species there is no yellow below the black of the feathers of the head^ the basal portion 

 being plumbeous. The outline of the black on the upper neck is at the same distance from the 

 bill all round, except on the throat, where it extends three quarters of an inch further back as 

 a semicircular patch on the upper part of the breast. There is a slight orange tinge on the 

 breast ; the sides under the wings, and back, more greenish. The tail feathers are entirely 

 black to their bases ; some of them tipped with whitish. Females and immature males have, 

 sometimes, an elongated patch of dusky greenish yellow on the exterior of some of the tail 

 feathers. The white outer edges of the wings are seen only on the terminal half of the prima- 

 ries and secondaries ; the band across the wing is scarcely continued to its external edge. 



The third quill is longest ; the fourth and fifth, successively, a very little shorter than the 

 second ; the first shorter than the seventh. 



From an examination of the description of Wagler it is, I think, clearly evident that he had 

 in view the smaller species of the Black-headed Oriole. (See the next article.) The measure- 

 ments are exactly the same, and the narrow grayish margins of the quills and the greenish 

 edges of the tail feathers, are merely indicative of immaturity. No mention is made of the 

 broad white or yellowish white borders of the coverts and quills. The dimensions given, 

 (Length, 8 inches ; bill from forehead, .75 ; fail, 3.88 ; wings, 3.38 ; tarsi, 1.00,) allowing for 

 the larger size of the German inch, will be almost exactly those of the smaller bird, and neces- 

 sarily much inferior to that from the Kio Grande. 



As far as I can judge, the Icterus graduacauda of Lesson, {alis caudaque nigerrimis,) belongs 

 to the smaller bird. The /. auduhonii of Giraud, on the other hand, has the white edges 

 of the wings and is large enough to belong to the more northern species, which, accordingly, 

 should take its name. 



The Xanthornus melanocephalus of Bonaparte probably refers to the northern bird, but the 

 description of the young is probably that of true melanocejohalus. 



List of specimens. 



ICTERUS MELANOCEPHALUS, Gray. 



Psarocolius nulaiiocepkalus, Wagler, Isis, 1829, 756. 



Icterus imlanucqihalus , Gray, Genera. — Sclater, Pr. Zool. Soc. 1858, 97. 

 Xanthornus melanocqiludus, Bon. Consp. 1850, 434. Description of young only. 

 '! Icterus graduucauila, Lesson, Rev. Zool. 1839, 105. 



Sp. Ch. — Similar to X auduhonii, but without any white whatever on the wing. Head and neck all round, wings, scapulars, 

 and tail, uniform pure black. Rest of body, including beneath the wing and tibia and the lesser wing coverts, orange yellow j 



