806 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



3. Ag«laius. First quill shorter than the second and third. Outer lateral claws 

 scarcely reaching to the base of middle: claws moderate. 



4. Xanthocephalus. First auiU longest Outer lateral claw reaching nearly to the 

 tip of the middle. Toes and claws all much elongated. 



C. Bill as long as, or longer than, the head. Feathers of crown with the shafts pro- 

 longed into stiffened bristles. Nostrils covered by a scale which stands out more or less 

 horizontally. 



5. Sturnella. Tail feathers acute. Middle toe equal to the tarsus. 



Suhfamily Icteriiuc. 



6. Icterus. Bill slender, acute, sometimes slightly docurved, about as long as. or a 

 little shorter than, the head. Nostrils as in jiff e^aixs. Tail rounded or graduated 

 about as long as, or slightly longer than, the wing.* 



Suhfamily Quiscalina;. 



7. Sooleoophagus. Tall shorter than the wings; nearly even. Bill shorter than th« 

 head. 



8. Quisoalus. Tail longer than the wings ; much graduated. Bill as long as, or longer 

 than, the head. 



The three so-called subfamilies represent, superficially, three Old 

 World famihes ; viz. : The Agelaince may be said to correspond to 

 the Starlings (Sturnida), and have been called the American Star- 

 Ungs; the Icterina may hkewise be compared with the Orioles 

 (Oriolidce), and in fact currently, though very improperly, bear the 

 same name. For want of a more distinctive term, that of American 

 Orioles is perhaps defensible, the name "Hang-nests," while very 

 appropriate for the Icterime, lacking sufficiently exclusive pertinence 

 to make it preferable. The Quiscalinis are very appropriately called 

 Crow-Blackbirds, but they have been termed Grakles by many 

 authors, on account of a supposed resemblance to the true Grakles, 

 or Minos, {Graculidce) of Southern Asia. 



Some of the Agelaime (notably the genera Dolichonyx and Moloth- 

 rus) present a very close resemblance to certain Fringillidm in their 

 general fonn, especially in the shortness and conical shape of the 

 bill. They may, however, be readily separated by the family char- 

 acters, as given on page 43. 



All of the genera characterized in the above synopsis belong to 

 the Illinois fauna, no others occurring in North America. 



• Decidedly shorter than the wing in the subgenus Tphantes, to which the Baltimore 

 and Bullock's Orioles (/. galbula and /. bullocki) belong. 



