PASSERINiE. 275 



with a moderate sized cuneiform tail ; as large as a Thrush. Buphaga 

 africana, Enl. 293; VaiU. Afr. pi. 97; VieiU. Gal. 



Cassicus, Cuv. 



The Cassiques have a large and exactly conical bill, thick at base, and 

 very sharp at the point; small round nostrils, pierced on the sides; the 

 commissure of the mandibles forms a broken line, or is angular like that 

 of the Starlings. They are American birds, whose manners are similar 

 to those of the last-mentioned ones, living like them in flocks, frequently 

 constructing their nests close together, and sometimes with much art. 

 They feed on grain and insects, and do great injury to cultivated grounds. 

 Their flesh is bad. We subdivide them as follows : 

 Cassicus*, properly so styled. 



The base of the bill mounts on the forehead, encroaching on the 

 plumage, and forming a semicircular notch in it. The largest species 

 belong to this subgenus -j-. 



Icterus J. 



The bill arcuated throughout its length, and only forming a small acute 

 notch in the feathers on the forehead §. 



XanthornusjI 

 Only diff'ers from the preceding in the perfect straightness of the bill**. 



* Vieill. has adopted this name and genus. 



f Cassicus bifasciatus, Spix, LXI, a; — Cassic. avgustifrons, Id. LXII; — Cass, niger- 

 rimus, Id. LXIII, 1; — Oriolus cristatus, Enl. 344; — y 328; — hcmorrlious, 482;— per- 

 skus, 184. — A black species, with metallic reflections, the plumes of whose neck are 

 erectile, and form a kind of mantle. It is the Grand troupiale of Azz. Voy. Ill, 

 p. 1C7. 



X Vieillot has changed the French term of the above subdivision, Troupiale, into 

 Carouge, which I had adopted for the followng subgenus. He translates Carouge 

 by PejiduUnus, Galer. pi. 186. 



§ Oriolus varius, Enl.' 607, I;— Or. cayanus, 535, 2;—0r.capensis, Enl. 607. 

 (N. B. It is from Louisiana, and not from the Cape) ; — Or. chrysocephalus, Merr. 

 Beytr. I, pi. iii, Vieill. Gal. 86; — Or. dominicensis, Enl. 5, 1; — and a species of a 

 changeable black, whose tail assumes all kinds of shapes, according to the direction 

 of its lateral feathers, which are sometimes in the same plane with the rest, and at 

 others turned up, &c. (Quiscalus versicolor), Vieill. Gal. 108; Wils. Ill, xvi, 3. It 

 appears to be both the Gracula quiscala, L., Catesb. pi. xii, and the Gracula hartta, 

 Lath. I, pi. xviii, or the Pie de la Jamaique: it is found in all the Antilles, Carolina, 

 &c. It has been confounded with the Rice Eater (Ploceus niger). 



We should separate the Icterus sulcirostris, Spix, LXIV, the lower jaw of whose 

 much larger bill is obliquely furrowed at base. 



II M. Vieill. calls these birds, Baltimore and Yphantes, Galer. pi. Ixxxvii. He se- 

 parates some of them, which he names more particularly Troupiales, or Agelaius, 

 pi. lxxx\'iii. 



** Oriolus icterus, Enl. 532; — Oriolus minor and Tanagra honariensis, Enl. 710; 

 the same bird; — Oriolus citrinus, Spix, 76; — Le Car. gasquct. Quoy and Gaym. Voy. 

 de Freycin. pi. xxiv: — Oriolus phaniceus, Enl. 402; — Or. americanus, 236,2; — Or. 

 leucopterus, Lath. Syn. I, frontisp.; — Or. banana, Enl. 535, 1; — Or. cayenensis, lb. 2; 

 —Or. icterocephalus, 342; — Or. xanthocephalus, Ch. Bonap. I, IV, 1, 2;— Or. mexi- 

 canus, Enl. 533;— Or. xanthornus, 5, 1;— Or. baltimore, 506, 1; Vieill. Galer. 87, and 

 Wils. I, 1, 3; — Or. spurivs, Enl. 2, and Wils. I, iv, 1 — 4; — Or. melancholicus, Enl. 

 448, of which Or. guyanensis, Enl. 536; Vieill. Galer. pi. 88, is the adult. 



Add, Or. agripemiis, Bonap. {Enl. oryzivora, of others), the common Reed Bird iu 

 America. — Eng. Ed. 



