BIRDS OF AMERICA 
FAMILY XVI. — AGELAINJ3. MARSH BLACK BIRDS. 
Bill of moderate length, sometimes short, seldom longer than the head, 
stout, straight, conical, compressed, tapering, pointed ; upper mandible with 
the dorsal line nearly straight, the nasal sinus short and very wide, the 
ridge thus appearing to encroach on the forehead, the sides rounded, the 
edges without notch ; lower mandible with the angle short and rounded, the 
dorsal line straight, the edges involute. Nostrils basal, roundish or oblong. 
Head rather large, ovate; neck short ; body moderately full. Legs of mode- 
rate length, stout, rather slender; tarsus compressed, with eight anterior 
scutclla ; hind toe large, lateral toes equal, the outer adherent at the base. 
Claws generally long, arched, compressed, acute. Plumage soft, blended, in 
the males usually glossy. Wings of moderate length, with the outer three 
or four quills longest, the first being very little shorter than the second, or 
sometimes even exceeding it ; tail of twelve feathers, of moderate length, 
or elongated. The roof of the upper mandible concave, with three longi- 
tudinal ridges, of which the middle is larger, and at the base forms a hard 
prominence; tongue sagittate and papillate at the base, narrow, deep, 
pointed. (Esophagus wide, dilated about the middle ; provenlriculus 
oblong ; stomach roundish or elliptical, with the lateral muscles distinct and 
well developed; the epithelium dense and longitudinally rugous ; intestine 
short and rather wide; coeca very small, cylindrical ; cloaca oblong. Tra 
chea simple, with four pairs of inferior laryngeal muscles. Female mucb 
smaller. Nest various, on trees or bushes, or on the ground, generally 
elaborate. Eggs about five, ovate, spotted and streaked. 
Vol. IV 2 
