BIRDS — ICTERIDAE — ICTERUS SPURIUS 547 



ICTERUS SPURIUS, Bon. 



Orchard Oriole. 



Orioftts spurius, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 176G, 162.— Gm. I, 1788, 389. (Very inaccurate description ; only identified by 



the references.) 

 Icterus spurivs, Bon. Obs. on Nom. Wils. 1825, No. 44.— Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 221 : V, 485 ; pi. 42.— Ib. Birds 



Amer. IV, 1842, 46 ; pi. 219. 

 Oriolus varius, G.melin, Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 390. 

 Turdus ater, Gm. Syst. 1783, I, 1788, 831. 



OrioUis castaneus, Latham, Ind. Orn. 1, 1790, 181. (Same citations as 0. varius, Gm.) 

 Turdvs jugularis, Latham, Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 361. (Same citations as Turdus aler, Gm.) 

 Yphantes solitaria, Vieill. <}. 

 " Pendulinus nigricollis, Vieill. o. — vlridis, Ib." 

 Oriolus mutatus, Wilson, Am. Orn. I, 1808, 64 ; pi. 4, f. 1 — 4. 

 Xanthornus affinis, Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lye. N. H. V, May, 1851, 113. (Small race from Texas.) 



Sp. Ch. — Bill slender, attenuated, considerably decurved ; tail moderately graduated. 



Male. — Head aud necl^ all round, wings, and interscapular region of back, with tail feathers, black. Rest of under parts, 

 lower part of back to tail, and lesser upper wing coverts, with the lower one, brownisli cliestnut. A narrow line across the 

 wing, and the extreme outer edges of quills, white. 



Female. — Uniform greenisli yellow beneath, olivaceous above, and browner in tlie middle of the back ; two white bands on 

 the wings. Young male like the female, with a broad black patch from the bill to the upper part of the breast, this color 

 e-xtending along the base of the bill so as to involve the eye and all anterior to it to the base of the bill. 



Length of Pennsylvania male specimens, 7.25 ; wing, 3.25. 



Hab. — United States from the Atlantic to the High Central Plains, probably throughout Te.xas ; south to Guatemala. 



In this species the hill is slender, attenuated, and a good deal decurved to the tip. The 

 second and third quills are longest ; the first intermediate between the fourth and fifth. The 

 tail is rather long; the feathers moderately graduated, the greatest difference in length 

 amounting to half an inch. 



The black of the throat extends backwards as far as the bend of the wing, and ends as an 

 obtuse angle. The tail feathers are entirely black, with dull whitish tips when not fully mature. 



Specimens are found in all stages between the characters given above. When nearly mature, 

 some yellowish feathers are found mixed in with the chestnut ones. 



As in most birds with an extensive summer range, the specimens from southern limits are 

 smaller than from northern. The difference is more strongly marked between skins from the 

 lower Rio Grande of Texas and New York or Pennsylvania, and upon the former Mr. Lawrence 

 has founded his XantJiornus affinis. The difference is not greater, however, than in nearly every 

 other sp'Jcies of similar habits as to summer range. The table of measurements of species 

 will illustrate the variations in size. 



The pattern of coloration in this species resembles that of /. baltimore, but the orange red is 

 replaced by dark chestnut ; there is less white on the wing, and the tail is entirely black. The 

 bill is considerably slenderer aud more attenuated and curved. The tail also is more graduated. 



