374 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



yellow, more or Ies8 tinged with olive-greenish on upper sur- 

 face.) 



e\ Scapulars entirely olive-greenish or yellowish, like back ; 

 middle wing-coverts yellow ; outer webs of greater wing- 

 coverts tipped with whitish (sometimes inclining, more or 

 less, to yellow or grayish), and tertials broadly edged with 

 same. Young : Without any black, the upper parts entirely 

 olive-green, the lower parts wholly yellow, tinged laterally 

 with olive. Length about 8.75-10.50, wing 3.75-4.25, tail. 

 4.15-4.40, culmen .90-1.10, tarsus .95-1.10. Nest semi-pen- 

 sile, fastened usually between upright twigs, composed of 

 dried grasses, etc. Eggs .89 X -65, white, finely speckled 

 or "dusted," chiefly on larger end, with brown, usually 

 mixed with stains of lilac-gray. Hob. Central and north- 

 ern Mexico, north to lower Eio Grande Yalley in Texas. 



503. I. audubonii GIRAUD. Audubon's Oriole. 



e 2 . Scapulars and middle wing-coverts partly (sometimes entirely) 



black ; wings without any white markings ; otherwise very 



similar to I. audubonii, but averaging a little smaller. Hab. 



Southern Mexico (tierra caliente) north to Yera Cruz. 



I. melanocephalus (~WAGL.). Black-headed Oriole. 1 

 >*. Bill distinctly decurved terminally. 



c 1 . Tail longer than wing, graduated for at least as much as length of 



tarsus ; adult males yellow, or orange, and black. 



d 1 . Tail graduated for much more than length of tarsus ; adults with 

 entire head and neck black. (Adult males : Head, neck, chest, 

 back, scapulars, wings, except lesser and middle coverts, upper 

 tail-coverts, and tail, uniform deep black ; rest of plumage yel- 

 low, or orange, the lower tail-coverts sometimes black. Adult 

 females similar, but colors duller. Young males : The black first 

 appearing on wings, chest, throat, cheeks, and forehead, the 

 black of head and neck at one stage occupying precisely the 

 same area as in adult male of /. cucullatus. Older : Head, nape, 

 fore-part and sides of neck, and chest entirely black, but lower 

 hind-neck, back, and scapulars olive-yellow, like lower back and 

 rump. 1 Still older : Similar to the last, but back and scapulars 

 mixed with black. Young of year: "Without any black, the 

 upper parts dull olive, duller and browner on back, the 

 win'gs and middle tail-feathers dusky, with olivaceous edgings, 

 rest of tail-feathers olive, with yellowish edges, and lower 



1 Psarocolius melnnocephalus WAOL., Isis, 1829, 756. Icterut melanocephalut HAHN A KCSTER, Vog. aus 

 Asien, Lief. vi. 2, pi. 3. 



2 In this stage exactly resembling in coloration the fully adult plumage of /. melanocephalug and /. audu- 

 bonii, except that the secondaries, etc., lack the white edgings of the latter, while in /. wagleri the tail-coverts 

 are black. 



