ICTERID^ — THE ORIOLES. 181 



The colors of the Orioles are chiefly black and yellow, or orange, the wing 

 sometimes marked with white. The females are generally much duller in 

 plumage, and the young male usually remains in immature dress till the 

 third year. In all the North American species the rump is of the same 

 color with the belly ; the chin, throat, and tail, black. 



In the North American Orioles the haltimore and hullocki have the tail 

 but little graduated ; s'puriiis, more so ; the others very decidedly graduated. 

 The bills of the two first mentioned are stout and nearly straight ; that of /. 

 melanocephalus quite similar. /. 2}(^'i"'isorum has the bill more attenuated, 

 but scarcely more decurved ; in spurius it is attenuated and decurved, much 

 as in ivaglcri ; this character is strongest in /. cucullatus. The much gradu- 

 ated tail is combined with a slender decurved bill in /. cucullatus and uiagleri ; 

 with a straighter one in j^arisomm ; with a thick, nearly straight, one in me- 

 lanocephalus. The arrangement, according to the graduation of the tail, 

 would be haltimore, hullocki, spurius, parisorum, vxigleri, melanocephalus, and 

 cucullatus. According to stoutness and curvature of bill, it would be hal- 

 timore, melanocephalus, hidlocki, p)arisorum, spurius, wagleri, and cucullatus. 



All the species have the rump and under parts yellow or orange. All 

 have the head entirely black, except hullocki, in which its sides are orange, 

 and cucullatus, which has an orange crown. All have black on the throat. 

 In the species with black head and neck, all have the tails black towards the 

 end, except hullocki and haltimore. 



The females and young males are so entirely different in colors from the 

 adult males, and so similar in the different species, that they can best be 

 distinguished by the details of form and size. The /. prosthcmelas and /. 

 melanoccphahis are placed, according to the above arrangement, in different 

 subgenera, yet the young male of the former and the adult male of the latter 

 are so perfectly similar in colors as to be undistinguishable in this respect, 

 and require careful examination of points of external structure to be sepa- 

 rated (see description of /. melanocephalus, p. 782). 



The following synopsis may help to distinguish the North American 

 Orioles and their nearest allies, as far as color is concerned. 



Species and Varieties. 



ICTERUS, Head all round deep black, sharply defined against the yellow 

 of the nape ; wings black, with or without white markings. Body generally, 

 including lesser wing-coverts, deep greenish-yellow (intense orange-red in some 

 South American species). 



I. vulgaris. Feathers of the throat elongated and lanceolate. Bill longer 

 than head. Back and scapulars black ; greater coverts and tertials with 

 much white on outer webs ; middle wing-coverts white. Rest of plumage, 

 including lesser coverts, chrome-yellow. Sexes alike. Nab. Northern South 



is rather well marked by square tail and straight outlines of the bill, as indicated above. The 

 differences are really so minute, and the characters so variable with the species, that it seems 

 entirely imnecessary to subdivide the genus. 



