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How to Name the Birds 



STUDIES OF THE FAMILIES OF PASSERES 



BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



THIRD PAPER 



Family 5. Blackbirds, Orioles, Meadowlarks, Bobolinks, Etc. Icterida 



Range. — The 150 or more species contained in this family are con- 

 fined to the western hemisphere, where they are distributed from Labrador 

 and Alaska southward to Patagonia, including the West Indies. 



Nineteen species and 9 subspecies occur in North America (north of 

 Mexico), 10 species and 5 subspecies being found east of [the Mis- 

 sissippi. 



Season. — The Oriole and Bobolink are found in the eastern United 

 States only from late April to October; our Blackbirds and Grackles 

 winter from about southern New Jersey southward and are our earliest 

 migrants, coming in late February or early March and remaining until 

 November and occasionally later; while the Meadowlark is a permanent 

 resident from Massachusetts southward. 



Color. — With the Orioles orange or yellow and black is the prevailing 

 color, the chestnut of our Orchard Oriole being unusual; the character- 

 istic color of the Blackbirds is indicated by their group name; the colors 

 of the Bobolink, of which there is only one species, and of the Meadow- 

 lark, of which there is also only one species, but eight subspecies, are well 

 known. 



Size. — The members of this family vary in length from about 7 inches 

 in the small Blackbirds to 24 inches in the Cassiques or giant Orioles of 

 the tropics. Our eastern species range from j}{ inches in the Bobo- 

 link to 16 inches in the Boat-tailed Grackle. 



External Structure. — So widely do the members of this family differ 

 from each other in external appearance that no one general description 

 can be applied to them. The Orioles have a rather long, sharply pointed 

 bill; with the Grackles it is somewhat longer, less pointed and heavier; 

 in the Blackbirds it is decidedly shorter, and with the Cowbird and Bobo- 

 link the bill becomes almost like that of a Sparrow. The bill of the 

 Meadowlark resembles that of the Starling in being flattened and broader 

 than high at the end. In no species are the nostrils concealed by bristles, 

 as with the Crows and Jays, from which birds the members of this family 

 also differ in having the first three primaries of equal length. The 



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