PASSERINZ. Bis 
with a moderate sized cuneiform tail; as large asa Thrush. Buphaga 
africana, Enl. 293; Vaill. Afr, pl. 97; Vieill. 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 tT. 
+ 
IcrERUS j. 
The bill arcuated throughout its length, and only forming a small acute 
notch in the feathers on the forehead§. 
XANTHORNUS]|| 
Only differs from the preceding in the perfect straightness of the bill**. 
* Vieill. has adopted this name and genus. 
} Cassicus bifasciatus, Spix, LX1, a;—Cassic. angustifrons, Id. LX11;—Cass. niger- 
rimus, Id. LXIIL, 1;—Oriolus cristatus, Enl. 344;—y 328;—hemorrhous, 482 ;—per- 
sicus, 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. III, 
p. 167. 
{ Vicillot has changed the French term of the above subdivision, Troupiale, into 
Carouge, which I had adopted for the following subgenus. He translates Carouge 
by Pendulinus, Galer. pl. 186. 
§ Oriolus varius, En]. 607, 1;—Or. cayanus, 535, 2;—Or. capensis, Enl. 607. 
(N.B. It is from Louisiana, and not from the Cape) ;—Or. chrysocephalus, Merr. 
Beytr. I, pl. 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. III, xvi, 3. It 
appears to be both the Gracula quiscala, L., Catesb. pl. xii, and the Gracula barita, 
Lath. I, pl. 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. 
|| M. Vieill. calls these birds, Baltimore and Yphantes, Galer. pl. Ixxxvii. He se- 
parates some of them, which he names more particularly Troupiales, or AGELAIUS, 
pl. Ixxxviii. 
** Oriolus icterus, Enl. 532;—Oriolus minor and Tanagra bonariensis, Enl. 710; 
the same bird;—Oriolus citrinus, Spix, 76;—JZe Car. gasquet. Quoy and Gaym. Voy. 
de Freycin. pl. xxiv:-—Oriolus pheniceus, Enl. 402;—Or. americanus, 236, 2;—Or. 
leucopterus, Lath. Syn. I, frontisp.;—Or. bonana, Enl. 535, 1;—Or. cayenensis, Ib. 2; 
— Or. icterocephalus, 342;—Or. xanthocephalus, Ch. Bonap. I, IV, 1, 2;—Or. meai- 
canus, En]. 533;—Or. xanthornus, 5, 1;3—Or. baltimore, 506,1; Vieill. Galer. 87, and 
Wils. I, 1, 3;—Or. spurius, Enl. 2, and Wils. I, iv, 1—4;—Or. melancholicus, En). 
448, of which Or. guyanensis, Enl. 586; Vieill. Galer. pl. 88, is the adult. 
Add, Or. agripennis, Bonap. (Enl. oryzivora, of others), the common Reed Bird in 
America.—Ewne. Ep. 
