ICTERIDJO — THE ORIOLES. 207 



head an.l ne<'k. wlncli aro irlossotl with ]Mirj»lish-vii»l»'t. Female much duller, of a. liirht 

 Itrowuish anteriorly: a very taint sujuTciliai-y stripe. Lenj,'th about 10 iuc: -s; wing, 

 ;■).:;(); tail. 4.40. 



IIau. IliLrli Central Plains to the Taeilie; south to Mexico. IVinhina. Minn.; R. 

 Illinois (Wahash Co.; li. KiixavAv); Matanioras and San Antonio. Texas (breeds; 

 DuKSSKK, Ibis, iSCi!). 4!);>) ; Thileau oi Mexico (very abundant, and resident; Si'mi- 

 cnu.vsT, M. 1>. S. 1, ')i)o). 



Aiituinnal speeiiiions do not oxliibit the l)roa(l rusty edges of feathers seen 

 in S. ftrrtftf incus. 



The h'nudes and ininiatiire males differ from the adult males in nuu'li the 

 same imints as *s'.y«/vv/////<t//.s except that the " rusty " markings are less 

 prominent and more grayish. The dillerences generally hetween the two 

 species are very appreciahle. Thus, in S. n/inwccphalKs, the hill, tliougli of 

 the same length, is mucli liiglier and hroader at tlie hase, as well as nnu'l) 

 less linear in its upper outline ; the point, too, is less tlecurved. The size is 

 every way larger. The purplish gloss, which \nf('rnf(/innis is I'ound on most 

 of the hody except the wings and tai^ is here cimfuied to the head and 

 neck, the rest of the hody being of a ricldy lustrous and strongly marked 

 green, more distinct than tliat on the wings and tail oi fcrrui/ineas. In one 

 si)ecimen oidy, f^oni Santa llosalia, Mexico, is there a trace of pur^de on 

 some of the wing and tail feathers. 



il.vBiTs. This si)ecies was first given as a hird of our hiuna hy Mr. Au- 

 dubon, in the sui)plementary pages of the seventh vidume of his Jiirds of 

 America. He met with it on the prairies around Fort Tnion, at the junc- 

 tion of the Yellowstone and the Missouri Kivers, and in the extensive ravines 

 in that neighborhood, in which were found a few dwarhsh trees and tall 

 rough weeds or grasses, along the margin of scanty rivulets. In these L)cali- 

 ties he met with small groups of seven or eight of these birds. They were 

 in loose flocks, and ni«)ved in a silent manner, permitting an ai)proach to 

 within some fifteen or twenty paces., and uttering a call-note as his party stood 

 watching their mov'ements. Perceiving it to be a species new to him, he 

 procured several specimens. He states that they did not evince the pertness 

 so usual to ])irds of this family, but seemed rather as if dissatisfied with their 

 abode. On the ground their i^ait was easy and brisk. He heard nothini* 

 from th(3m of the nature of a song, i-nly a single c/nck, not unlike that of the 

 liedwing, betw^een which birils and the C. J\rniijiacus he was disposed to 

 place this species. 



Dr. Newberry found this lUackbird common both in California and in 

 Oregon. He saw large flocks of them at Fort Vancouver, in the last of Oc- 

 tober. They were flying from field to field, and gathered into the large 

 spruces about the fort, in the maimer of other lilackbirds when on the point 

 of inigratinjjf. 



Mr. Allen found this lilackbird, though less an inhabitant of the marshes 

 than the Yellow-headed, associating with them in destroying the farmers' 



