iSgo.] Allen «« a Nc-v Species of Icterus. 1JC 



/. dominicensis, from which it differs in having the whole lower 

 parts yellow from the middle of the breast posteriorly, instead of 

 the yellow being confined to the sides of the abdomen and cris- 

 sum. The two species agree in general size, but in /. northropi 

 the bill is much stouter than in I. domhiicensis. 



It is surprising that a bird so conspicuous, and apparently so 

 common, as this should hitherto have escaj^ed observation, An- 

 dros Island having been several times previously visited by or- 

 nithologists. 



Mr. Northrop has kindly presented the types of this species to 

 the American Museum of Natural History, and contributes the 

 following notes on its habits and distribution. 



"The above species of Icterus was first collected by us at 

 Nicol's Town, near the northern end of Andros, on April S, 1S90. 

 We had been there nearly a month when one morning a new 

 note called us out of the house, and we saw three or four of these 

 birds flying about the shrubs near by. They were so tame and 

 unsuspicious, that when one was shot, the others kept their posi- 

 tions undisturbed until they met a similar fate. Of the three we 

 got then, one was a male, one a female, and one we could not 

 determine, but they were all in immature plumage. Two 

 weeks or so later, while on a trip to the west side, we saw a 

 number of these birds near Red Bays, and this time were fortu- 

 nate enough to get a male and female in full plumage. They 

 were flying about the palmettoes, or the flower stalk of an Ao-ave 

 which was a mass of golden blossoms and a great attraction to 

 all the birds in the neighborhood, as the flowers contained a large 

 amount of nectar. While here one day, we heard a great com- 

 motion near by, and approaching the scene found two of these 

 young birds fighting so violently that we almost got near enough 

 to take them up in our hands. The only sound we heard them 

 utter here was a rather plaintive call of two notes ; but a month 

 later, on May 22, we heard their song. It was a sort of whistle of 

 eight or nine notes, very sweet and pleasing, and almost always 

 given with the same intervals, and the same arrangement of 

 notes. The bird was observed in two other localities, the last 

 time, June 18, near Wide Opening on the west side. It seems 

 to inhabit the more open portions of the island, near the coast, as 

 we never saw any inland. 



