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3846 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
Sub-Family Icterinx.— The Orioles. 
Bill slender, elongated, as long as the head, generally a little decurved, and very 
acute; tarsi not longer than the middle toe, nor than the head; claws short, much 
curved; outer lateral toe a little longer than the inner, reaching a little beyond base 
of middle toe; feet adapted for perching; tail rounded or graduated; prevailing 
colors yellow or orange, and black. 
ICTERUS SPURIUS.— Bonaparte. 
The Orchard Oriole. 
Oriolus spurius, Linneus. Syst. Nat., I. (1766) 162. 
Tcterus spurius, Bonaparte. Obs. on Nom. Wils. (1825), No. 44. Aud. Orn. 
Biog., I. (1831) 221; V. 485. 
Oriolus mutatus, Wilson. Am. Orn., I. (1808) 64. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Bill slender, attenuated, considerably decurved; tail moderately graduated. 
Male. — Head and neck 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, brownish-chestnut; a narrow line across the wing, 
and the extreme outer edges of quills, white. 
Female.— Uniform greenish-yellow beneath, olivaceous above, and browner in 
the 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 
extending along the base of the bill so as to involve the eye and all anterior to it to 
the base of the bill. 
In this species the bill is slender, attenuated, and a good deal decurved to the 
dip. 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. 
Length of specimens, seven and twenty-five one-hundredths inches; wing, three 
and twenty-five one-hundredths inches. 
This bird is rather rare in New England, and is confined 
to the southern districts as a summer visitor. It arrives 
about the second week in May, and commences building 
about the first week in June. The nest is usually placed in 
a forked branch of a tree in the orchard, seldom more than 
twenty feet from the ground. It is constructed of different 
