Plate XOIV. 



ICTERUS ABEILLJH 



(BLACK-SIDED HANG-NEST). 



Xanthornus dbeillei 

 Icterus abeillii 

 Pendulinus abeillii 



Syphantes abeillii 



Lesson, Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 101. 



Sclater, P.Z.S. 1860, p. 252, et 1864, p. 175 : Cat. Am. Birds, p. 130. 



Bp. Consp. i. p. 433, et C. E. xxxvn. p. 834. 



Baird, Birds IS". Am. p. 550. 



Cassin, Proc. Ac. Phil. 1867, p. 62. 



Supra nigerrimus ; superciliis curtis aureis ; tectricibus alarum majoribus in pogonio exteriore et remigum mar- 

 ginibus extus et intus albis : subtiis aureo-flavus, gula media et lateribus totis nigris : cauda flava-, rectricibus quatuor 

 mediis fere omnino nigris, ceterorum apicibus nigro terminatis ; subalaribus flavis : rostro nigro ; pedibus obscure 

 plumbeis : long, tota 7'5, alse 4*0, caudge 3 4. Fern. Supra olivaceo-flava, interscapulio et alis extus nigricantibus, bis 

 albo bifasciatis et limbatis : subtus llavescens, ventre medio et subalaribus griseo-albicantibus : cauda olivaceo -llava 

 versus apicem grisescente. 



Sab. in reipublicse Mexicans regione elevata. 



This well-marked Icterus was first made known to science by the late French naturalist 

 Bene Primivers Lesson. This writer, although not a very high authority on Ornithology, pub- 

 lished descriptions of many rare birds, principally from the collection of the late Dr. Abeille of 

 Bordeaux, to whose memory he dedicated the present species. Several recent authors have 

 since attempted to identify it with the Oriolus costototl of Gmelin, founded upon an old descrip- 

 tion of Hernandez, which, however, it is not possible to determine satisfactorily. 



The Black-sided Hang-nest, as we propose to term it from one of its most characteristic 

 features, is closely allied in structure to the Icterus bullockii of Swainson, with which, indeed, 

 some authorities have erroneously stated it to be identical. The males of these birds when in 

 full plumage are, however, conspicuously different ; the present species being at once distin- 

 guishable by its black rump and upper tail coverts, and the black sides of the body below. The 

 young male, of which there is a specimen in Sclater's collection, is also recognisable as soon as 

 the black feathers of the flanks commence to appear. But the only specimen of the female we 

 have seen, which is in the collection of Mr. H. S. le Strange, is barely distinguishable from the 

 corresponding sex of the allied species. These two birds along with the well-known " Baltimore 

 Oriole" of North America {Icterus baltimore) form a natural group of the genus Icterus, to which 

 the name Hyphantes has been applied. 



Prof. Baird has given " California " as a locality for this bird, probably from a misinter- 

 pretation of Bonaparte's remark in the " Comptes Bendus " concerning Icterus bullochii. But 



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