284 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



[90.] 1. Icterus Baltimore. (Daudin.) Baltimore Hangnest. 



Sub-family, Icterinse, Swains. Genus, Icterus, Briss. 



Baltimore Oriole. Penn. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 257, No. 142, pi. 12 ; right-hand figure. 



Oriolus Baltimorus {Baltimore-bird). Wn.s , i., p. 23, pi. 1, f. 3, male ; pi. 53, f. 4, female. 



Yphantes Baltimore. Vieil. Gal. des Ois., pi. 87 ; very good. 



Oriolus Baltimorus. Sab. Frankl. Journ., p. 673. 



Icterus Baltimore. Bonap., Cat. No. 49. 



This richly coloured bird visits the United States in great numbers in the 

 summer, and ranges through the central districts of the fur-countries, up to the 

 fifty-fifth degree of latitude, arriving on the Saskatchewan plains on the 10th of 

 May. It affects the vicinity of man, frequenting familiarly the crowded streets 

 of cities, and building its ingenious pensile nest in orchards. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a, male, killed on the Saskatchewan, June 27, 1827. 



Colour. — Head, neck above and below, forepart of the back, scapulars, lesser quills, with 

 their coverts, and middle of the tail, brownish-black ; primaries and their coverts umber- 

 brown ; all the quills and the greater coverts edged with white. Lesser coverts, posterior 

 part of the back, tail coverts, base and tip of the tail, the shoulders, breast, and whole 

 under plumage, vivid dutch-orange. Bill and legs bluish-black. Irides brown. 



Form, typical. Bill perfectly conic, entire, and very acute. Nostrils for the most part 

 naked. Under mandible thicker at the base than the upper one. Wings moderate ; the 

 three first quills nearly equal : lesser quills slightly and obliquely emarginate. Tail rounded, 

 the three outer feathers only being graduated, the middle ones forked or slightly divaricated. 

 Tarsi moderate, stout ; claws strong, broad, and fully curved. 



A female, killed on the 8th of July. — Upper aspect of the head, neck, and fore part of the 

 back brownish or honey-yellow, spotted with black : posterior part of the back gradually 

 changing to orange-yellow, without spots ; the tail orange, glossed with brown. Orange 

 mark on the wing, the chin, and throat, spotted with black. Under plumage orange-yellow. 



Dimensions 

 Of the male. 



Inch. Lin. Inch. Lin. Inch. Lin. 



Length, total . . .80 Length of bill to rictus . 9f Length of lateral toe . 3£ 



„ of tail ..30 ,, of tarsus . . 10 „ of hind toe . .0 5 



., of wing . . 3 10 ,, of middle toe .08 „ of its nail . . 3§ 

 „ of bill above . 8 



The female is half an inch shorter. 



