346 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



Sub-Family ICTERIKE. The Orioles. 



Bill slender, elongated, as long as the head, generally a little decurved, and very 

 acute; tarsi not longer than the middle toe, nor than the head; claws short, much 

 curved; outer lateral toe a little longer than the inner, reaching a little beyond base 

 of middle toe; feet adapted for perching; tail rounded or graduated; prevailing 

 colors yellow or orange, and black. 



ICTERUS SPURIUS. Bonaparte. 

 The Orchard Oriole. 



Oriolus qpurius, Linnaeus. Syst. Nat., I. (1766) 162. 



Icterus spurius, Bonaparte. Obs. on Nom. Wils. (1825), No. 44. Aud. Ora. 

 Biog., I. (1831) 221; V. 485. 



Oriolus mutatus, Wilson. Am. Orn., I. (1808) 64. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Bill slender, attenuated, considerably decurved ; tail moderately graduated. 



Male. Head and neck all round, wings, and interscapular region of back, with 

 tail feathers, black; rest of under parts, lower part of back to tail, and lesser upper 

 wing coverts, with the lower one, brownish-chestnut ; a narrow line across the wing, 

 and the extreme outer edges of quills, white. 



Female. Uniform greenish-yellow beneath, olivaceous above, and browner in 

 the middle of the back ; two white bands on the wings. Young male like the female, 

 with a broad black patch from the bill to the upper part of the breast; this color 

 extending along the base of the bill so as to involve the eye and all anterior to it to 

 the base of the bill. 



In this species the bill is slender, attenuated, and a good deal decurved to the 

 tip. The second and third quills are longest; the first intermediate between 

 the fourth and fifth. The tail is rather long ; the feathers moderately graduated, the 

 greatest difference in length amounting to half an inch. 



The black of the throat extends backwards as far as the bend of the wing, and 

 ends as an obtuse angle. The tail feathers are entirely black, with dull whitish tips 

 when not fully mature. 



Specimens are found in all stages between the characters given above. When 

 nearly mature, some yellowish feathers are found mixed in with the chestnut ones. 



Length of specimens, seven and twenty-five one-hundredths inches ; wing, three 

 and twenty-five one-hundredths inches. 



This bird is rather rare in New England, and is confined 

 to the southern districts as a summer visitor. It arrives 

 about the second week in May, and commences building 

 about the first week in June. The nest is usually placed in 

 a forked branch of a tree in the orchard, seldom more than 

 twenty feet from the ground. It is constructed of different 



