ICTERUS. 473 



Mr. Scott has given a good account of this species as observed by him in the Santa 

 Catalina Mountains in Arizona. He describes at length ten nests taken by him within 

 a small area. They differed considerably in their form and in the materials of which 

 they were composed— coarse grasses and the fibre of the yucca being the chief materials 

 employed, which were woven in the skilful manner peculiar to members of the genus. 

 It will be noticed that the materials used by /, nelsoni differ from those employed by 

 I. cucullafus, at least so far as the Rio Grande valley is concerned ; this may be due to 

 the absence of suitable Tillandsia in this part of Arizona, but on this point we have no 

 information. 



This bird has been traced as far north as Santa Barbara in California, and southwards 

 it reaches Mazatlan, where, according to Grayson, it is rare, and where he only obtained 

 two examples, both from the same tree. Here they were feeding on the fruit of the 

 wUd fig {Ficus americanus) in company with other Orioles. 



Xantus obtained specimens of an Oriole at Colima ascribed by Mr. Lawrence to 

 I. cucullatus, which probably belong to /. nelsoni; but on this point we cannot be 

 certain without a reexamination of the specimens. Xantus also found this species to 

 be very abundant at Cape St. Lucas in Lower California, and he took many nests and 

 eggs, the former being placed in very varied situations, some in acacia trees, others in 

 yuccas, and one in a convolvulus growing on a perpendicular rock. 



Both the Mazatlan specimen and that obtained by Eebouch in Western Mexico have 

 the feathers of the black portion of the back edged with yellowish. 



14. Icterus auratus. (Tab. XXXIII. fig. 2.) 



Icterus auratus, Bp. Consp. Av. i. p. 435^; Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ix. p. 271^; Boucard^ P. Z. S. 

 1883, p. 445 'j Scl. Ibis, 1883, p. 369*; Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xi. p. 382 '. 



Intense anrantius interscapulio incluso ; loris et gutture medio nigerrimis ; alis nigris, tectricibus minoribus 

 aurantiis, tectrioum mediorum apicibus et remigum margiuibus externis albis ; cauda nigra, rectricibus 

 (prseter qnatuor mediae) albo termiaatis ; rostro et pedibus plumbeo-nigris. Long, tota 7'6, alae 3'6, caudae 

 3"5, rostri a rictn 0*85, tarsi 0"9. (Descr. exempl. ex Yucatan. Mns. nostr.) 



Hob. Mexico, Yucatan ^ [Schott ^, Gaumer ^). 



Though described by Bonaparte under a MS. name attached to a specimen in the 

 Brussels Museum by Vicomte Du Bus, this Icterus was not subsequently recognized 

 until 1869 ^, when Mr. Lawrence determined the specimens obtained by Dr. Schott 

 in Yucatan to belong to Icterus auratus, and we have no doubt that his view, though 

 differing from that of Cassin, is correct. It is apparently a rare bird in Northern 

 Yucatan, where alone it has been met with. Mr. Gaumer, to whom we are indebted for 

 the three skins we possess, speaks of its great rarity, for at the time the paper written 

 on his birds was published (in 1883) he had only secured two examples 3. This rarity 

 may be more apparent than real, for the resemblance of /. auratus to the very common 

 I. cucullatus is great, and the difference between them might readily be overlooked. 



BIOL. CBNTB.-AMEE., Aves, Vol. I., April 1887. 60 



