90 BIRDS. 



RoBiM'. Black, belly white; sides chestnut; outer tail 

 feathers, primaries, and inner secondaries with white; 9 

 clear brown instead of black; L. 8^; W. 3^; T. 4. B. 

 U. S., abundant every where. 



FAMILY XXXIV.— ICTERIDJE. 



{The Orioles.) 



Primaries 9; bill with the commissure angulated, as in 

 Fringillidm., but usually lengthened, rarely shorter than 

 head, straight or gently curved, without notch or rictal 

 bristles; culmen usually extending up on the forehead, 

 dividing the frontal feathers. Legs stout, tarsus strictly 

 oscine. Plumage usually brilliant or lustrous, predom- 

 inant color generally black, often with red or yellow; 

 females usually diiferent, smaller in size, brown or streaky 

 in the lustrous species, and yellowish or dusky in the 

 brightly colored ones. Notes usually sharp, often richly 

 melodious, in other cases harsh. 



Genera about twenty, species one hundred, all Ameri- 

 can, some of the short-billed forms scarcely distinct from 

 Frinyillidm; others are as closely related to SturnidoB 

 (Old World Starlings) and CorvidoB. There are three 

 sub-families, of which Agelceince includes most of our 

 species. Icterinm includes Icterus, while Scolecophagus 

 and Quiscahis belong to QuiscalincB. 



I. Tail feathers rigid, acute; middle toe and claw longer than 



tarsus; black and whitish ($) or brownish, strealted (s); bill 

 short, finch-like Dolichonyx, 1. 



II. Feathers of crown bristle-tipped ; tail short, its feathers acute ; 



yellow below, a black breast patch ; bill long. Stueneixa, 5. 



III. Lateral claws elongated ; black or brown, yellow on head and 



neck; length more than 8. . . Xanthocephalus, 4. 



IV. With none of the above combinations of characters. 

 * Length at least more than 7. 



