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Genus III.— AGELAIUS, Sioains. MARSH-BLACKBIRD. 
Bill shorter than the head, stout, straight, conical, tapei'ing to an acute 
point ; upper mandible with the dorsal line straight, slightly convex at the 
base, the ridge flattened toward the base, where it forms a short tapering 
process on the forehead, the sides rounded, the edges inflected, the tip a little 
depressed ; lower mandible with the angle short and wide, the sides convex 
at the base, toward the end rounded, the edges involute, the tip acute ; the 
gap-line ascending to the base, afterwards direct. Nostrils basal, oval, with 
a small operculum. Head ovate, of moderate size ; neck short ; body mode- 
rately stout. Feet of ordinary length, rather stout ; tarsus compressed, with 
seven anterior scutella ; toes rather large, the first much stronger, the outer 
a little shorter than the inner, and adherent at the base. Claws long, little 
arched, compressed, laterally grooved, very acute. Plumage soft and 
blended, glossy in the males. Wings of moderate length, with the outer 
four quills nearly equal. Tail rather long, rounded. Roof of the upper 
mandible with three longitudinal ridges ; tongue tapering to a horny, flat- 
tened, slightly emarginate tip ; oesophagus wide, considerably dilated about 
the middle ; stomach roundish, muscular ; intestine short and of moderate 
width ; coeca very small, cloaca oblong. 
YELLOW-HEADED TROOP1AL. 
Agelaius XANTIIOCEPHALUS, Bonap. 
PLATE CCXIII. — Male, Female, and Young. 
This species was first made known as an inhabitant of North America 
by the naturalists of Major Long’s expedition to the Rocky Mountains. 
According to Dr. Richardson, “ the species ranges in summer to about the 
fifty-eighth parallel,” but has not been found to the eastward of the Missm 
