172 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



not be difficult to divide the group into several sharply circumscribed 

 and easily characterized lesser groups; this has been attempted for 

 the family as a whole, and the "subfamilies" Cassicinse, Agelseinae, 

 Sturnellin^, Icterinse, and Quiscalinse have long been adopted, even by 

 the latest authority.^ A careful comparison of all the forms, however, 

 will soon convince one that such a subdivision can not be maintained, 

 the different supposed groups running into one another so gradually 

 that any subdivision of the family is most likely to be more or less 

 arbitrary. So far as 1 am able to discover, only two genera stand out 

 prominently from all the rest, these Ixnng Sturnella and Doliclionyx; 

 yet each of these is obviously related to other genera — Sturnella to 

 Truplalifi, and this, through Leistes, obviously leading to the Agelaiine 

 type, the latter through Icterxm to CdcicuK, and this in turn to the 

 opposite extreme from Sturnclhi, the larger caciques or oropendolas 

 {Gymnostinops, Zarhjnchis, etc.). The two " lateral offshoots" repre- 

 sented by Dili iel I onyx and the typical Quiscali (genera Quiscalus, 

 Iloloqaiscalus, and Megaq^uhcalwi) are both obviously connected with 

 the more generalized types, though Dollclumyx evidently shows points 

 of relationship to the Sturnelline end of the series. 



The following arrangement of the genera is far from satisfactory to 

 the author, but is the best he has been able to make without a far 

 greater amount of time than is at his disposal, together with a careful 

 study of internal characters, not now practicable on account of absence 

 of the necessary material. While not entirely natural, the key has 

 been prepared to show as nearly as can be in a linear arrangement, 

 what appears to be the most natural sequence of the genera, without 

 obscuring the characters which serve to most readily identify them. 



The Icteridas comprise birds of most various habits. Some are 

 strictly arboreal, and if placed upon the ground are almost incapable of 

 progression; others are terrestrial (though more or less frequently 

 alighting on trees and sometimes nesting there), and walk upon the 

 ground with the grace and dignity of a crow or starling; many inhabit 

 reedy marshes, and these usually nest in large colonies. The oropendolas 

 (genera Ocyalus, Clypicterus, Zarhjnchiis, Oymnostinops, and Osti- 

 nops) and caciques (genera Cacicm and Cassiculus^) also nest in colonies, 

 but instead of building an open cup-shaped nest attached to the upright 

 stems of aquatic plants, attach their long pensile nests to the extremi- 

 ties of branches of tall forest trees. The " American Orioles" (genus 

 Icterus) also build pensile nests, but, usually at least, are not gregarious. 

 Many species are remarkable either for the fullness and richness or 

 other remarkable character of their notes, some of them being song- 

 sters of high merit, while others utter only the most harsh and dis- 

 cordant sounds. Some genera {3fol(/fhrus, Oallotkrm, and 



' P. L. Sclater in Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xi, 1886, pp. 308-405. 

 ^ The nesting habits of Amblycercus are apparently unknown. 



