ICTEEID^ — THE ORIOLES. 



171 



usually, from five to six eggs. These are of an oblong-oval shape, and 

 measure 1.0:^ inches in length by .70 of an inch in breadth. Their ground- 

 color is of a pale greenish-white, profusely covered with blotches and finer 

 dottings of drab, purplish-brown, and umber. 



Genus STURNELLA, Vieillot. 



Stumella, Vieillot, Analyse, 1816. (Type, Alauda magna, L.) 



Gen. Char. Body thick, stout ; legs large, toes reaching beyond the tail. Tail short, 

 even, with narrow acuminate feathers. Bill slender, elongated ; length about three times 



Stumella magna. 



the height; commissure straight from the basal angle. Culmen flattened basally, ex- 

 tending backwards and parting the frontal feathers ; longer than the head, but shorter 

 than tarsus. Nostrils linear, covered by an incumbent membranous scale Inner lateral 

 toe longer than the outer, 

 but not reaching to basal 

 joint of middle ; hind toe a 

 little shorter than the middle, 

 which is equal to the tarsus. 

 Hind claw nearly twice as 

 long as the middle. Feathers 

 of head stiffened and bristly; 

 the shafts of those above 

 extended into a black seta. 

 Tertials nearly equal to the 

 primaries. Feathers above all 

 transversely banded. Be- 

 neath yellow, with a black 

 pectoral crescent. 



The only species which we can admit is the S. miKjna, tliough under this 

 name we group several geographical races. They may be distinguished as 

 follows : — 



