186 
ICTERUS SPURIUS. 
great horned owl is not, in fact, a bastard goose, or the 
carrion crow a mere variety of the humming-bird ? 
These mistakes have been occasioned by several 
causes. Principally by the changes of colour to which 
the birds are subject, and the distance of Europeans 
from the country they inhabit. Catesby, it is true, 
while here, described and figured the Baltimore, and 
perhaps was the first who published figures of either 
species ; but he entirely omitted saying any thing of 
the. female, and, instead of the male and female of the 
present species, as he thought, he has only figured the 
male in two of his different dresses ; and succeeding 
compilers have followed and repeated the same error. 
Another cause may be assigned, viz. the extreme shy- 
ness of the female orchard oriole. This bird has 
hitherto escaped the notice of European naturalists, 
or has been mistaken for another species, or perhaps 
for a young bird of the first season, which it almost 
exactly resembles. In none of the numerous works on 
ornithology has it ever before appeared in its proper 
character ; though the male has been known to Euro- 
peans for more than a century, and has usually been 
figured in one of his dresses as male, and in another as 
female ; these varying according to the fluctuating 
opinions of different writers. It is amusing to see how 
gentlemen have groped in the dark in pairing these 
two species of orioles, of which the following examples 
may be given. 
Buffo n’s and Latham’s Bal Male — Male Baltimore. 
Spurious Baltimore of ditto 
Pennant’s Baltimore oriole. 
Spurious oriole of ditto. 
Catesby’s Baltimore oriole. 
Spurious Baltimore of ditto 
timore oriole. 
timore oriole. 
Female — Male orchard oriole. 
Male — Female Baltimore. 
Female — Male orchard oriole. 
Male — Male Baltimore. 
Female-^- Young male Baltimore, 
Male*— Male orchard oriole. 
Female — Ditto ditto. 
Male — Male Baltimore. 
Female — Not mentioned. 
Male — Male orchard oriole. 
Female . — Ditto ditto. 
