yv I Xanthorlus dbeillei 



I Icterus aheilUi 



JPenduUnus abeillii 



J) J) 



Sypliantes abeillii 



Plate XCIV, 



ICTERUS ABEILLiEI 



(BLACK-SIDED HANG-NEST), 



Lesson, Eev. Zool. 1839, p. 101. 



Sclater, P.Z.S. 1860, p. 252, et 1864, p. 175 : Cat. Am. Birds, p. 130. 



Bp. Consp. I. p. 433, et C. E. xxxvii. p. 834. 



Baird, Birds K". Am. p. 550. 



Cassin, Proe. Ac. Phil. 1867, p. 62. 



Supra nigerrimus ; superciliis curtis aureis ; teetricibiis alarum majoribus in pogonio exteriore et remigum mar» 

 ginibus extus et intus albis : subtus aureo flavus, gula media et lateribus totis nigris : cauda flav^, rectricibus quatuor 

 medis fere omnino nigris, ceterorum apicibus nigro terminatis ; subalaribus flavis : rostro nigro ; pedibus obscure 

 plumbeis : long, tota 7"5, alse 4'0, caudre 3'4. Fetn. Supra olivaceo-ilava, interscapulio et alis extiis nigricantibus, /^is 

 albo bifasciatis et limbat^s : subtus flavescens, ventre medio et subalaribus griseo-albicantibus : Cauda oUvaceo-flaya 

 versus apicem grisescente. 



Hob. in reipublicsB Mexicanse regione elevata. 



This well-marked Icterus was first made known to science by tlie late French, naturalist^ 

 Eene Primivers Lesson. This writer, although not a very high authority on Ornithology, pub- 

 lished descriptions of many rare birds, principally from the collection of the late Dr. Abeill^ of 

 Bordeaux, to whose memory he dedicated the present species. Several recent authors have 

 since attempted to identify it with the Oriolus costototj of Gmelin, founded upon an old descrip- 

 tion of Hernandez, which, however, it is not possible to identify satisfactorily. 



The Black-sided Hang-nest, as we propose to term it from one of its most characteristic 

 features, is closely allied in structure to the Icterus hullochii of Swainson, with which, indeed, 

 some authorities have erroneously stated it to be identical. The males of these birds when in 

 full plumage are, however, conspicuously diflerent ; the present species being at once distin- 

 guishable by its black rump and upper tail coverts, and the black sides of the body below. The 

 young male, of which there is a specimen in Sclater's collection, is also recognisable/ as soon as 

 the black feathers of the flank commence to appear. But the only specimen of the female we 

 have seen, which is in the collection of ]\lr. H. S. le Strange, is barely distinguishable from the 

 corresponding sex of the allied species. These two birds along with the well-known " Baltimore 

 Oriole of North AmericaLL halthnorej form a natural group of the genus Icterus^ to which the 

 name Hypliantes has been applied. 



Prof. Baird has given " California " as a locality for this bird, probably from a misinter? 

 pretation of Bonaparte's remark in the " Comptes Eendus " concerning Icterus hullocld. Bat 



[187] 



A, 



