190 Wetmore, The Palate in Icteridce. [April 



article of 1884, the Sparrow, as a migrant, has become well known 

 to ornithologists. Its narrow migration path, the center of which 

 in the United States is approximately down the 96th meridian, has 

 been worked out; the wide extent of territory covered by strag- 

 glers has been fully reported; ' the food habits of the bird while 

 on migration have been thoroughly investigated and the results 

 published; 2 the nest has been seen once, 3 and young just out of the 

 nest have been collected, 4 and the general region of the breeding 

 ground itself is known to be where barren tundra meets the edge 

 of the timber between Hudson Bay and Great Bear Lake. But the 

 eggs yet remain to be discovered. 



NOTES ON THE STRICTURE OF THE PALATE IN THE 



ICTERIDCE. 



BY ALEXANDER WETMORE. 



The curious keel-like, angular projection found on the palate 

 in the North American Grackles of the genus Quiscalus, recognized 

 as one of the prominent characters distinguishing that group of 

 Blackbirds, is a structure that can hardly fail to attract attention 

 when the mouth is examined in freshly killed specimens, or in 

 birds preserved in spirits. Recently, certain observations made in 

 the field on these birds, which will be recounted later, recalled 

 this structure to mind and the writer was led to make a somewhat 

 detailed study of the palatal keel in the Grackles, and finally to 

 examine the appearance of the palate in other members of the family 

 Icteridce. In these studies, carried on in the United States National 



1 The Status of the Harris's Sparrow in Wisconsin and Neighboring States. By Alvin 

 R. Cahn. Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc, Vol. XIII, No. 2, pp. 102-108. Also in numerous 

 lists and field notes published in 'The Auk,' ' Wilson Bull.' and the other bird journals. 



2 The Belation of Sparrows to Agriculture. By Sylvester A. Judd. Bull. Biol. Surv. 

 No. 15, 1901. 



» Bird Records from Great Slave Lake Region. By E. T. Seton. The Auk, 1908, p. 72. 

 1 Biological Investigation of Hudson Bay Region. By E. A. Preble. N. A. Fauna No. 

 22. Washington, 1901. 



