98. 
312. 
400 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES — OSCINES. 
Grackles (Quiscalus). (See any figs., beyond.) Excepting the arboreal orioles, the feet are 
large and strong, fitted for the more or less terrestrial life which all the species lead, walking 
on the ground with ease instead of hopping like most Fringillide. No specialties of wing or 
tail; former usually pointed, latter rounded, sometimes very large and fan-shaped. 
Among our moderate number of species are representatives of four of the subfamilies into 
which the Icteride are conveniently and quite naturally divisible. In most of the genera black 
is the prevailing color, — either uniform and of intense metallic lustre, or contrasted with 
masses of red or yellow. In Sturnella alone the pattern is “‘ niggled.” In nearly all, the sexes 
are conspictously dissimilar, the female being smaller and brownish or streaky in the iridescent 
black species, greenish and yellowish in the brilliantly colored ones. All are migratory in this 
country. Other details are best given under heads of the subfamilies. These groups, with 
their component genera, may be analyzed as follows by the salient features more likely to 
attract the attention of the student than less obvious technical characters‘: — 
Analysis of Subfamilies and Genera. 
AGELEINZ. Marsh Blackbirds. Terrestrial and gregarious. Bill conic-acute, sometimes quite fringilline, 
shorter or scarcely longer than head. Feet stout. 
Bobolinks. Sexes unlike in summer. Black and buff, or aera ; Dored. Tail-feathers very acute. 
Tarsus shorter than middle toe and claw . eS j . . Dolichonyx 98 
Cowbirds. Sexes unlike. Lustrous black ¢, brown 9; no 5 red or yellow met des es . . Molothrus 99 
Blackbirds. Sexes unlike. Lustrous black ¢, red on wing; streaky 9; noyellow . . . Ageleus 100 
Blackbirds. Sexes unlike. Lustrous black ¢, brown 2, both with yellow head . Xanthocephalus 101 
STURNELLINE. Meadow Larks. Terrestrial and imperfectly gregarious. Bill of peculiar shape. Tail very 
short. Feet large and stout. 
Sexes alike. Motley-colored, extensively yellow below . 7 . . + Sturnella 102 
IcTERINE. Orioles. Arboreal, non-gregarious. Bill extremely acute: sonietimes decurved. Feet weak. 
Sexes unlike. 
Black, with yellow or orange or chestnut in masses, in the ¢; ? greenish and yellowish . Icterus 103 
QuIScALINZ. Crow Blackbirds. Terrestrial and guegarious. Bill elongate, corvine. Feet stout. Color 
of ¢ entirely iridescent black; @ brown or blackish. 
Bill shorter than head ; even tail shorter than wings . . F . . Scolecophagus 104 
Bill not shorter than head ; graduated tail not shorter than wings Quiscalus 105 
22. Subfamily ACELAAINAZ: Marsh Blackbirds. 
Gregarious, granivorous species, more or less completely terrestrial, and chiefly palustrine, 
not ordinarily conspicuous vocalists; building rather rude, not pensile, nests, laying 4-6 spotted 
or curiously limned eggs. With the feet strong, fitted, both for walking and for grasping 
swaying reeds ; the wings more or less pointed, equalling or exceeding the tail in length: the 
pill conic-acute, shorter or little longer than the head, its cutting edges more or less inflected. 
Four well-marked genera, the species of which abound in the United States, on plain and. 
prairie, in marsh and meadow. In the West, they swarm about the settlements, stage stations, 
military posts and other detestable places. 
DOLICHONYX. (Gr. dodiyds, dolichos, long; éyv&, onux, claw.) Bopotmygs. Sexes 
unlike, but only in the breeding season: ¢ black, buff and white; 9 brownish and yellowish. 
Bill short, conic, fringilline, not nearly as long as head. Wings long and pointed, 1st and 2d 
quills longest, others rapidly graduated. Tail stiffened, with rigid very acute feathers, almost 
like a woodpecker’s, shorter than wing. Feet stout; tarsus shorter than middle toe and claw ; 
claws all very large. One remarkable species, though there are several others in tropical 
America; noted for the peculiar changes of plumage and the ‘‘mad music” of the ¢; abundant 
in marsh and meadow of the Eastern U. 8. 
D. oryzi/verus. (Gr. gputa, oruza, Lat. oryza, rice; voro, I devour. Fig. 257.) Boson. 
MEApDOW-WINK. SKUNK BLACKBIRD, Northern States. REED-BIRD, Middle States. Rice- 
BIRD, Southern States. @, in breeding plumage: Black; cervix buff; scapulars, rump and 
upper tail-coverts ashy-white ; interscapulars streaked with black, buff, and ashy ; outer quills 
