374 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



yellow, more or less tinged with olive-greenish on upper sur- 

 face.) 

 e x . Scapulars entirely olive-greenish or yellowish, like back ; 

 middle wing-coverts yellow ; outer webs of greater wing- 

 coverts tipped with whitish (sometimes inclining, more or 

 less, to yellow or grayish), and tertials broadly edged with 

 same. Young : Without any black, the upper parts entirely 

 olive-green, the lower parts wholly yellow, tinged laterally 

 with olive. Length about 8.75-10.50, wing 3.75-4.25, tail. 

 4.15-4.40, culmen .90-1.10, tarsus .95-1.10. Nest semi-pen- 

 sile, fastened usually between upright twigs, composed of 

 dried grasses, etc. Eggs .89 X -65, white, finely speckled 

 or " dusted," chiefly on larger end, with brown, usually 

 mixed with stains of lilac-gray. Hab. Central and north- 

 ern Mexico, north to lower Eio Grande Valley in Texas. 

 503. I. audubonii Giraud. Audubon's Oriole. 

 e 2 . Scapulars and middle wing-coverts partly (sometimes entirely) 

 black ; wings without any white markings ; otherwise very 

 similar to I. audubonii, but averaging a little smaller. Sab. 

 Southern Mexico (tierra caliente) north to Yera Cruz. 



I. melanocephalus (Wagl.). Black-headed Oriole. 1 

 6 2 . Bill distinctly decurved terminally. 



c 1 . Tail longer than wing, graduated for at least as much as length of 

 tarsus ; adult males yellow, or orange, and black. 

 d 1 . Tail graduated for much more than length of tarsus ; adults with 

 entire head and neck black. (Adult males : Head, neck, chest, 

 back, scapulars, wings, except lesser and middle coverts, upper 

 tail-coverts, and tail, uniform deep black ; rest of plumage yel- 

 low, or orange, the lower tail-coverts sometimes black. Adult 

 females similar, but colors duller. Young males : The black first 

 appearing on wings, chest, throat, cheeks, and forehead, the 

 black of head and neck at one stage occupying precisely the 

 same area as in adult male of I. cucullatus. Older : Head, nape, 

 fore-part and sides of neck, and chest entirely black, but lower 

 hind-neck, back, and scapulars olive-yellow, like lower back and 

 rump. 1 Still older : Similar to the last, but back and scapulars 

 mixed with black. Young of year: Without any black, the 

 upper parts dull olive, duller and browner on back, the 

 wings and middle tail-feathers dusky, with olivaceous edgings, 

 rest of tail-feathers olive, with yellowish edges, and lower 



1 Psarocoliue melanocepkalua Wagl., Isis, 1829, 756. Icterus melanocephalun Hahn & Kttster, Vog. aus 

 Asien, Lief. vi. 2, pi. 3. 



2 In this stage exactly resembling in coloration the fully adult plumage of /. melanocephaluB and /. audu- 

 bonii except that the secondaries, etc., lack the white edgings of the latter, while in /. wagleri the tail-coverts 

 are black. 



