BIRDS — ICTEEIDAE — XANTHOCEPHALUS ICTEROCEPHALUS. 



531 



The female of A, tricolor is much grayer than phoeniceus, lacking the yellow and reddish brown 

 margins to the feathers of the latter. The light margins beneath are gray, not white ; besides, 

 being narrower. There is no median stripe on the head; and the superciliary stripe is scarcely 

 visible. There is none of the yellow about the head seen in phoeniceus ; the throat is more 

 streaked, and there is no light maxillary stripe cut off by an inferior one of black. 



The relationships of the female to that of A. gubernator are, however, very close ; so much 

 so that, in the absence of a sufficiently large series of well established specimens, I can only 

 refer to the usually slenderer and longer bill and more even tail of tricolor, to distinguish them. 



List of specimens. 



1 Length, 8. 00 ; Extent, 13 inches. 



XANTHOCEPHALUS, Bonap. 



Xanthocephalws, Bonap. Conspectus, 1850, 431. Type Icterus icterocephalws, Bonap. 



Ch — Bill conical, the length about twice the height ; the outlines nearly straight. Claws all very long ; much curved ; the 

 inner lateral the longest, reaching beyond the middle of the middle claw. Tail narrow, nearly even, the outer web scarcely 

 widening to the end. Wings long, much longer than the tail ; the first quill longest. 



This genus differs from typical Agelaius in much longer and more curved claws, even tail, and 

 first quill longest, instead of the longest being the second, third or fourth. The yellow head 

 and black body are also strong marks. The measurements will be found in the table with 

 Agelaitis. 



XANTHOCEPHALUS ICTEEOCEPHALUS, Baird. 



Yellow-headed Blackbird. 



Icterus icterocephalus, Bonap.. Am. Orn. 1, 1825, 27 ; pi. iii.— Nutt. Man. I, 1832, 176.— Ib. 2d ed. 187. Not OHolus 



icterocephalus, Linn. 

 Agelaius icterocephalus, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 188. 



Icterus (Xanthornus) xanthocephalus, Bonap. J. A. N. Sc. V, ii, Feb. 1826, 222.— Ib. Syn. 1828, 52. 

 Icterus xanthocephalus, Add. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 6 ; pi. 388. 



Agelaius xanthocephalus, Swainson, P. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 281.— Bon. List, 1838-— Aud. Syn. 1839, 140.— Ib. Birds 

 Amer. IV, 1842, 24 : pi. 213.— Newberry, Zool. Cal. and Or. Route ; Rep. P. R. R. 

 Surv. VI, IV. 1857, 86. 

 Agelaius longipes, Swainson, Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 436. 

 Psarocolius perspicillatus, " Light." Wagler, Isis, 1829, vii, 753. 

 Icterus perspicillatus, "Light, in Mus." Wagler, as above. 

 Xanthocephalus perspidllatus, Bonap. Consp. 1850, 431. 



Icterus frenatus, Light. Isis, 1843, 59.— Reinhardt, in Kroyer's Tidskrift, IV.— Ib. Vidensk. Meddel. for 1853, 



1854, 82. Greenland. 



Sp. Ch. — First quill nearly as long as the second and third, (longest,) decidedly longer than the third. Tail rounded, or 



slightly graduated. General color black, including the inner surface of wings and axillaries, base of lower mandible all round, 



feathers adjacent to nostrils, lores, upper eyelids, and remaining space around the eye. The head and neek all round ; the fore 



