YELLOW-HEADED TROOPIAL. 7 



with the Cow-bunting, and alights on the backs of the horses. Its note 

 is very harsh and grating, and does not resemble that of the Red- 

 winged Blackbird." 



I have represented a male, a female, and the head of a young bird 

 approaching towards maturity. 



IcTEKUs ICTEROCEPHALUS, CL BoTiap. Amei'. Ornith. vol. i. p. 27. pi. 3, fig. 1, 2. 



Icterus xanthocephalus, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 52. 



Agelaius xanthocephalus, Swains. — SArFRON-HEADED Maize-Bird, Richards. 



and Swains. Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 281. 

 Yellow-headed Troopial, Nuttall, Manual, vol. i. p. 176. 



Adult Male. Plate CCCLXXXVIII. Fig. 2. 



Bill shorter than the head, stout, straight, conical, tapering to a 

 fine point ; upper mandible with the dorsal line nearly straight, being 

 slightly convex at the base, the ridge a little flattened toward the base, 

 where it runs into a short tapering process, the sides rounded, the ed- 

 ges inflected, the tip a little depressed ; lower mandible rather higher 

 at the base than the upper, with the angle short and wide ; the sides 

 convex at the base, toward the end rounded, the edges involute, the 

 tip acute ; the gape-line straight, but at the base deflected. Nostrils 

 oval, in the fore part of the short nasal depression. 



Head of moderate size, ovate, with the forehead flattened ; neck 

 short ; body moderately stout. Feet of ordinary length ; tarsus rather 

 stout, compressed, with seven large anterior scutella, and two lateral 

 plates, meeting behind at an acute angle ; toes rather large, compres- 

 sed, the first much stronger, the outer a little shorter than the inner 

 and united with the third as far as the second joint ; claws long, little 

 arched, compressed, laterally grooved, very acute. 



Plumage soft, blended, glossy ; the feathers generally ovate ; those 

 on the upper part of the head stifiish and somewhat silky. Wings of 

 ordinary length, the first, second, and third quills almost equal, the se- 

 cond being longest ; outer secondaries slightly emarginate. Tail ra- 

 ther long, rounded, the lateral feathers four-twelfths of an inch shorter 

 than the longest. 



Bill and feet black ; iris hazel. The head, the upper part of the 

 hind neck, the fore neck and part of the breast, orange-yellow, the 

 throat paler ; the feathers along the base of the bill, the loral space, a 



