ICTERIDA, AMERICAN STARLINGS.—GEN. 92, 93. 159 
Hooded Oriole. $ orange; wings, tail, a narrow dorsal area and a large 
mask on the face and throat, black; tips of wing coverts, and edges of many 
quills, white ; size of the foregoing, but wings shorter and tail longer. The 
g lacks the black mask; but the species may be distinguished in any plum- 
age from either of the foregoing by not having the wings evidently longer 
than the tail. Valley of the Rio Grande and Colorado, Lower California, 
and southward. Cass., Ill. 42, pl. 8; Bpo., 546; Coopr., 275. cUCULLATUS. 
*** The g black and clear yellow. 
Scott’s Oriole. @ black; below from the breast, rump and upper tail 
coverts, lesser, middle and under wing coverts, both above and below, and 
basal portions of all the tail feathers, except the central ones, clear yellow ; 
greater wing coverts tipped, inner quills edged, with white ; in the 9 or young 
the black is replaced by brownish, and the yellow is not pure; about 8; 
wing and tail about 4. Valley of the Rio Grande and Colorado, Lower 
California, and southward. Bop., 544; Coop., 276. . . . PARISORUM. 
Audubon’s Oriole. 3 yellow, somewhat olivaceous on the middle of the 
back ; head, neck, breast, wings and tail black ; wings with a white cross bar 
and white edging; about 9; wing 4; tail 44. Texas, and southward. Cass., 
Ill., p. 137, pl. 21? (apparently represents the Southern smaller true melan- 
ocephalus); Bp.,542.  . . . . (MELANOCEPHALUS var?) AUDUBONII. 
Oss. Several additional orioles have been ascribed to this country, but the fore- 
going are all that appear to have been actually taken within our limits; others, 
however, may be confidently expected to occur on our Southern border. 
Subfamily QUISCALIN. Crow Blackbirds. 
Closely resembling the Agelwince both in structure and in habits, these birds are 
distinguished by the length and attenuation of the bill, with decidedly curved culmen, 
especially towards the end, and strongly inflected tomia. The typical Quiscali have 
a certain crow-like aspect, but they are readily distinguished by several features. 
The feet are large and strong, and the birds spend much of their time on the ground, 
where they walk or run instead of advancing by leaps. They generally build rude, 
bulky nests, lay spotted or streaked eggs, and their best vocal efforts are hardly to 
be called musical. The g¢ of most of the species is uniform lustrous black, the 
@ brown and much smaller. There is only one genus (Cassidix) besides the two 
of this country; in 93, the tail is slightly rounded and shorter than the wings ; 
in 94, the tail is graduated, and about equals or exceeds the wings. 
93. Genus SCOLECOPHAGUS Swainson. 
Rusty Grackle. gin summer lustrous black, the reflections greenish, and 
not noticeably different on the head; but not ordinarily found in this condi- 
tion in the U.S.; in general simply glossy black, nearly all the feathers 
skirted with warm brown above, and brownish-yellow below, frequently 
continuous on the fore parts; the g of the first season, like the ? , is entirely 
rusty brown above, the inner quills edged with the same ; a pale superciliary 
stripe; below, mixed rusty and grayish-black, the primaries and tail alone 
