ICTERIC ORIOLE. 
Oriolus icterus. Lin. Syst. i. p. 1 6 1 . No. 4. 
Le TROUPEALE. BtisS. Om . ii. p. 86. pi. 8. fig. 1. 
Banana Bird, from Jamaica. Albin. ii. pi. 40. 
Icteric Oriole. Lath. Gen. Syn. ii. p. 4 2 4. 
The American Continent is the native region of this species, which is 
near ten inches long from the point of the bill to the end of the tail. It 
is met with in Carolina, the Brazils, and in all the Caribbee Islands. 
It is nearly related to the Stare, and may very properly be considered 
as the Stare of the New World. The instincts and habits are the same; 
except in the method of building their nests, which is the most curious part 
of the history of the Troupeale. 
These nests are in the form of a cylinder, and are suspended from the 
extremity of the branch of a tree; so that the young are not only conti- 
nually rocked by the wind, but are likewise secure from the attempts of 
land animals, and especially snakes, which would otherwise destroy the 
young birds. 
These birds in their wild state are very agile, and irritable, and are so 
bold as even to attack men : when reclaimed, they are of a very docile, 
social disposition; so much so, that in America they are kept in houses 
for the express purpose of killing flies and other insects. 
The bill of these birds is long and pointed, and seems to have no constant 
colour; in some it is grey, in others of a horn colour, and black : the legs 
are likewise subject to the same variation# 
