ICTEETJ8.— SCOLECOPHAQUS. 479 



generally suspended from the extreme end of a slender decumbent branch or twig in 

 some shady spot, where it may swing to and fro in the breeze free from entanglement 

 with other branches. The nest, which is purse-shaped, and about twelve or thirteen 

 inches in length, with the entrance near the top, is composed of a long narrow grass or 

 the fibres of maguey leaves, which are very strong and elastic, and lined with silk-cotton ; 

 it is firmly and well woven together, and would be difficult to pull apart ; it differs a 

 little in form from those found in the vicinity of Mazatlan. Few birds surpass this 

 Oriole in discovering the hiding-places of the various kinds of insects and their larvae 

 upon which it feeds. With its exceedingly sharp bill it searches and probes every 

 crevice in the bark and leaves of trees and with unceasing industry ; the number it 

 destroys in one day alone must be very great. Thus we see beauty and elegance com- 

 bined with utility in the place assigned to this species in the great economy of nature 

 in checking the accumulation of insects. During my stay upon the islands I often saw 

 them clinging about decaying logs or branches, sometimes with their heads downwards, 

 busily engaged in piercing the rotten wood in search of wood-worms or borers and white 

 ants ; it also feeds on various kinds of fruit, Pitahaya {Pitajaia cactus) they are very 

 partial to. In the islands of the Tres Marias these birds become excessively fat, finding 

 there an abundance of food, with nothing to molest them in their peaceful green island 

 home." 



Subfam. V. QUISCALINM 



Nares plus minusve membrano obtectse ; mesorMnium altum, baud dilatatum, rotundatum ; tarsi longi ; cauda 

 cuneata. 



SCOLECOPHAGUS. 



Scolecophagus, Swainsou, Faun. Bor.-Am. ii. p. 494 (1831) ; Scl. Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xi. p. 390. 



There are two recognized species oi Scolecophagus, both belonging to North America, 

 one of which extends its range over the greater part of Mexico, The genus has some 

 affinities to the next genus, Bives ; but the wings are considerably longer, the bill shorter, 

 and the membrane above the nostrils more fully developed, the tarsi and toes also are 

 more slender ; both, however, have a slightly rounded tail, and in this respect they 

 differ from the members of the genus Quiscalus, the tail of which is distinctly wedge- 

 shaped. The bill of S. cyanocephalus has a slightly rounded culmen, the mesorhinium 

 being rounded, not flat or dilated ; the nasal fossa is deep, the nostrils lying along its 

 lower edge, and margined above by a well-developed membrane ; the maxilla is slightly 

 compressed towards the tip, and its tomia considerably incurved ; the legs are long, the 

 tarsi and toes being rather slender ; the wings are moderately long, the second quill 

 slightly the longest, the first and fourth being nearly equal, the longest secondaries are 

 equal to the seventh quill ; the tail is slightly rounded, the feathers themselves being 

 rounded at their ends. The male considerably exceeds the female in size ; they nest in 

 colonies, and are probably polygamous. 



