476 ICTEEIDiE. 



17. Icterus sclateri. (Tab. xxxiii. fig. 1. 



Icterus sclateri, Cass. Pr. Ac. Phil. 1867, p. 49' ; Scl. Ibis, 1883, p. 371 "; Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xi. 



p. 385 ^ 

 Icterus mentalis, Cab. Mus. Hein, i. p. 185*; Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1860, p. 375°; R. Owen, Ibis, 



1861, p. 62, t. 2. f . 5 \ 

 Icterus formosus, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. x. p. 184'; Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 23*; Scl. 



Ibis, 1883, p. 372 '. 



J. gulari affiids, sed rostro debili, interscapuHo aurantio variegato et colore nigro ad rostri basin lafciore sat 

 diversus. 



Eab. Mexico, San Juan del Eio (BSbouch ^), Santa Efigenia ^, Juchitan '^ ^, Tonala ^ 



(Sumichrast) ; Guatemala', San Geronimo {0. S.& F. D. G. ^, B. Owen ^) ; Nicae- 



AGUA, San Juan ^. 



This Icterus is best known to us as a common bird in the neighbourhood of San 

 Geronimo in Guatemala, where it is a resident and builds in considerable numbers. It 

 was here that Mr. Eobert Owen took several nests with their eggs, and respecting them 

 he has given us the following note ^ : — " The materials used by this bird for its nest vary 

 considerably ; the structure, however, is the same in all. It is a compact and firmly 

 woven nest, attached at the top to the ends of a bough, its length varying from one to 

 two feet. In some the materials used are fine dried creepers and twigs, with here and 

 there a leaf; in others fibrous roots and the stringy centres of the Maguey leaves; while 

 others are formed exclusively of a species of Tillandsia. All are spherical at the bottom, 

 and have a long loophole at the top for an entrance. 



" The eggs'are a pale grey, spotted and streaked with very dark brown; on some there 

 are marks of faint lilac. They measure, axis 1"05 in., diam. 0*7. 



" The ' Chorcha ' * generally nests in colonies of four or five, I have never found more 

 together ; but it not unfrequently selects a completely isolated spot for its graceful, 

 pendent nest. The breeding-place is mostly chosen on the banks of rivers or upon 

 some tributary stream, over which the nest swings securely in the breeze. At first I 

 experienced some difficulty in taking these nests, as they hang from the extreme points 

 of the boughs, and being rarely less than eighteen feet from the ground, are inaccessible 

 to the climber. The only way to obtain them is to provide oneself with a long light 

 cord with a running noose at the end, and a few wild canes lashed together, so as to 

 make two rods of the required length. At the extremity of one a bush-knife must be 

 tied firmly, so that, when the rod is held up with the knife uppermost, the latter points 

 to the ground, the edge facing the cane at a small angle. By means of the other rod the 

 noose is slipped over the nest a little below the aperture through which the bird passes, 

 and the other end left hanging down. When the bird returns to the nest the string is 

 drawn tight, and nothing remains but to cut the twig by which the nest hangs, 

 first twisting the other rod into the top of the nest, so as to lower it gradually when 



* A name common to all the species of Icterus. 



