XANTHOCEPHALTJS. 455 



XANTHOCEPHALUS. 



Xanthocephalus, Bonaparte, Consp. Av. i. p. 431 (1850) ; Scl. Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xi. p. 349. 



The single species included in this genus is a rather peculiar form, both as to its struc- 

 ture and coloration. Its longer, stronger tarsi and distinct style of plumage separate it 

 from Agelceus, the former feature being doubtless due to its terrestrial habits in contra- 

 distinction to the more arboreal ones of Agelceus. 



The bill is formed much as in Agelceus, but the nasal operculum is more strongly 

 developed and has the lower edge more thickened. The wing is long, the first quill 

 the longest, the second, third, and fourth nearly as long though gradually shorter; the 

 tail is long and but slightly rounded. 



1. Xanthocephalus longipes. 



Icterus icterocephalus, Bp. Am. Orn. i. p. 27, t. 3. f. 1, 2 ' (nee Oriolus iderocephalm, Linn.). 

 Xanthocephalus icterocephalus, Baird, B. N. Am. p. 531 ^ ; Baird, Mex. Bound. Surv. ii., Zool. 



p. 18'; Scl. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 175^ Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 281 "^ ; Baird, 



Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. ii. p. 167°; Coues, B. N. W. p. IBS'"; Gundl. Orn. Cub. 



p. 100'. 

 Icterus xanthocephalus, Bp. Journ. Ac. Phil. v. p. 223 '. 

 Agelaius xanthocephalus, Cass. Pr. Ac. Phil. 1866, p. 11 '°. 

 Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus, Check-List N. Am. B. p. 249 " ; Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1886, 



p. 152". 

 Agelaus longipes, Sw. Phil. Mag. new ser. i. p. 436 ". 

 Xanthocephalus longipes, Scl. Ibis, 1884, p. 14 " ; Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xi. p. 350". 



Niger ; capite tofco cum pectore aurantiis, regione ooulari et mento nigris, pileo postico et nucha nigro transvit- 

 tatis ; alls nigris, tectricibus alarum majoribus albis, alula spuria quoque pro parte alba ; rostro et pedibus 

 nigris. Long, tota 11'5, alse 5*5, caudse 4-0, rostri a rictu 1"0, tarsi 1*4. (Deser. maris ex Presidio prope 

 Mazatlan, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 



5 fuliginosa, capite summo et nucha dorso concoloribus, supercihis et gutture flavis, pectore imo albo guttato. 

 Long, tota 11-0, alee 5-2, cauda9 3'7, rostri a rictu 0'85, tarsi 1-4. (Descr. feminse ex urbe Mexico. 

 Mus. nostr.) 



Edb. Western North America, from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Texas to the Pacific. — 

 Mexico, Nuevo Leon (Conch ^), Mazatlan (Grayson^), Presidio [Forrer'^^), table- 

 land (Bullock ^^), valley of Mexico (White ^, le Strange ^^), Chietla, Huehuetlan, 

 San Martin Texmelucan, Laguna del Eosario (Perez ^^). — Cuba^. 



Xanthocephalus longipes is a bird of the open or prairie country, resorting to marshy 

 tracts in large numbers to roost and build their nests. In Northern Mexico the 

 naturalists of the Boundary Survey observed large flocks in the State of Nuevo Leon, a 

 roosting-place being on an island in a lagoon near Fort Brown, to which birds assembled 

 from all quarters between sunset and dark, when for an hour a constant chattering was 

 kept up ; a similar roosting-place was on an island near the mouth of the Eio Grande. 

 It has also been noticed in the interior of Mexico near the capital and other places on 

 the plateau. It has been recorded, too, as occurring in the neighbourhood of Mazatlan, 



