578 



BIRDS OF BRITISH GUIANA. 



Genus MELANOPSAR Class. 



Melanopsar Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1867, p. 56. Type 

 M. chrysocephalus (Linn.). 



Fig. 210. — Melanopsar clirysocephalus. 



The chief characters that distinguish this genus are the long 

 and slender bill and the long and graduated tail. The wing is 

 rounded, the second, third, and fourth primaries are longest and 

 equal, and the first about equal in length to the sixth. The 

 tail is rounded at the tip and graduated, the outermost feather on 

 each side being about one-fourth shorter than the middle ones. 

 The tarsus is about equal in length to the exposed culmen. 

 Coloration : male and female similar. 



711. Melanopsar clirysoceplialus. 



MoRiCHE Oriole. 



Or/olus chri/socephalus Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 164, 1766 (Guiana"). 

 Icterus chri/socephalns Cab. in Schomb. Reis. iii. p. 680, 18-48 ; Selater, 



Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xi. p. 369, 1886 (Koraima, Bartica Grove) ; 



Beebe, Our Search for a AVilderness, p. 112, 1910 (Hoorie Creek) ; 



Brabourne & Chubb, B. S. Amer. i. p. 139, no. 4-512, 1912 ; Beebe, 



Tropical Wild Life in British Guiana, p. 243, 1917 (Kalacoon). 



