196 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Genus CASSIDIX Lesson. 



Cassidix Lesson, Traits d'Orn., i, 1831, 433. (Type, Corvus (Cassidix) mexicanus 



Lesson. ) 

 (?) Scaphidurus (not of Swainsou, 1827') Swainson, Fauna Bor.-Am., ii, 1831, 



494. ( ' ' Type, Oriolus nifer Auct. )"^ 

 Scaphidura Swainson, Classif. Birds, ii, 1837, 272. 



Large, wholly black terrestrial or semiterrestrial (?) Icteridse with 

 long and pointed wing, rather long and rounded tail, stout black bill 

 with broad and flattened mesorhinium, and feathers of sides of neck 

 developed into erectile lateral ruffs. 



Bill about as long as head, stout, subconical, much more curved 

 above than below, its basal depth equal to about one-half the culmen, 

 its basal width decidedly less; culmen decidedly convex from base, 

 very broad and flattened basally, forming a more or less conspicuous 

 " frontal shield," ^ith rounded or obtusely pointed posterior extremity; 

 gonys nearly straight, about half as long as culmen, decidedly less 

 than length of maxilla from nostril; commissure nearly straight or 

 faintly concave to beneath the nostril, where strongly deflexed, with 

 a gradual curve, to the rictus. Nostril rather large, broadly oval, 

 horizontal, in lateral median line of maxilla or slightly below, its upper 

 margin formed by the overhanging edge of the broad mesorhinium, 

 posteriorly extending somewhat behind the frontal antise. Wing long 

 (more than five times as long as culmen, about four and a half times as 

 long as tarsus), the tip well produced (more than twice as long as cul- 

 men), pointed; outermost (ninth) primary longest or at least equal to 

 eighth, the seventh much shorter; inner webs of outer primaries 

 gradually narrowed terminally, but not appreciably sinuated. Tail 

 about three-fourths as long as wing, rounded, the rectrices broad at 

 ends. Tarsus much longer than culmen (about two-fifths as long as 

 wing), its anterior scutella distinct; middle toe, with claw, about as 

 long as tarsus; lateral toes with claws reaching to or slightly beyond 

 base of middle claw; hallux much shorter than lateral toes, but much 

 stouter, its claw much shorter than the digit. Feathers of neck greatly 

 developed laterally and posteriorlj% forming a conspicuous ruff (less 

 conspicuous in female), with a bare or downy space immediately behind 

 on sides of neck. 



Coloration. — Wholly black, more or less strongly glossed with 

 violet, purple, or bronze. 



' = Quiscalus Vieillot. 



' Oriolus niger (Boddaert, 1783) is not a synonym of any form of Cassidix, but is a 

 Quiscalus; and Swainson' s diagnosis of his genus Scaphidurus certainly fits Quixdus 

 in part, the expression "tail graduated, boat-shaped" being exclusively pertinent 

 The description of the bill and wing, however, seem to fit Cassidix better than 



