DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF ICTERUS 67 



brightest on the rump and middle of the abdomen; median wing-coverts pale 

 sulphur-yellow; greater coverts brown, edged with whitish; chin, throat, and 

 cheeks much mixed with black, which here prevails over the yellow; there are 

 scattered black feathers over the breast and head, and in one specimen blackish 

 patches on the outer edge of the scapulars and sides of the breast; wings and tail 

 brown, the remiges edged with whitish, and the rectrices with olive. 



Other specimens in a less advanced stage are similar, except that there are 

 fewer black feathers intermixed with the yellow, the chin and the front edge of the 

 cheeks alone being decidedly blackish, and the back is less olivaceous. 



Measurements. — Length (from skins) .205 mm. (195-215 mm.); wing 

 94 mm. (90-99 mm.); tail 94 mm. (90-97 mm.); culmen 22 mm. (21-22 mm.); 

 tarsus 25 mm. (24-27 mm.). 



Types. — No. 49,911, Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., d ad., Andros Island, Bahamas, 

 June, 1890; Mr. and Mrs. John I.i^Northrop. No. 49,912, Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 

 V ad., Andros Island, Bahamas, April 16, 1890. 



The extent and distribution of the black and yellow in the adults 

 are the same as in P. wagleri except that the tail-coverts are yellow 

 instead of black; the tint of the yellow is nearly as in I. 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 crissum. The two species agree in 

 general size, but in /. northropi the bill is much stouter than in /. 

 dominicensis. 



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

 mon, as this should hitherto have escaped observation, Andros Island 

 having been several times previously visited by ornithologists. 



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 8, 1890. 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 positions 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 plu- 

 mage. 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 fortunate 



