THE AUK: 



A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF 

 ORNITHOLOGY. 



Vol. xxviii. January, 1911. No. 1 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW ORIOLE (ICTERUS FUERTES I) 

 FROM MEXICO. 



BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN. 



Plate I. 



Among the birds collected by Louis Agassiz Fuertes and the 

 writer in Mexico, between February 23 and April 21, 1910, are 

 four specimens of an apparently undescribed oriole which, while 

 most nearly related to Icterus spurius, appears to be specifically 

 distinct from that bird. For this new bird I propose the name 

 Icterus fucrtesi, in honor of Louis Agassiz Fuertes, not alone in 

 recognition of his invaluable services to ornithology, but also 

 because, attracted by its notes, he was the actual discoverer of 

 the species to which his name is now given. 



This interesting species was found on the south bank of the 

 Tamesi River, Mexico, some 75 miles by river and 35 miles in an 

 air-line from Tampico, where from April 1-9, we were the guests 

 of Mr. Thomas H. Silsbee on the sugar plantation Paso del Haba. 

 The Tamesi River at this point is 100 yards wide. Its banks 

 are high and, except where cleared, support narrow strips of heavy 

 forest which, a short distance inland, is flanked by the lower, 

 more scrubby growth characteristic of the region. 



The orioles in question inhabited the dense bushy growth which 

 has sprung up on the river banks from which the forest has been 

 cut. They were all taken in a space not more than two hundred 



