54 
QUISCALUS MAJOR. 
of Linne is a species not found in the United States, 
but common in the West Indies, called Icterus niger 
by Brisson, and afterwards Oriolus niger by Gmelin 
and Latham; the barita of Latham, his boat-tailed 
grakle, is evidently the same with the quiscala ; % 
Gmelin’s barita is taken partly from that of Linne, 
and partly from the boat-tailed grakle of Latham, being 
compounded from both species ; we shall not be at 
the trouble of deciphering the errors of subsequent 
compilers. 
Ornithologists are all at variance as to the classifica- 
tion of these species. Linne and Latham improperly 
referred them to Gracula ; Daudin, with no better 
reason, placed them under Sturnus ; Temminck consi- 
ders them as Icteri , Cuvier as Cassica , and Vieillot 
has formed a new genus for their reception. I have 
no hesitation in agreeing with the latter author, and 
adopt his name of Quiscalus ; but I add to the genus, 
as constituted by him, the Gracula ferruginea , which 
he regarded as a Pendulinus , and which other authors 
have arranged in several different genera, making of it 
a profusion of nominal species. Wilson judiciously 
included that species in the same genus with those 
above mentioned, although other authors had placed it 
in Turdus , Oriolus , 8fc. 
The genus Quiscalus is peculiar to America, and is 
composed of four well ascertained species, three of 
which are found in the United States ; these are, 
Quiscalus major ,j~ versicolor , and ferrugineus ; the 
fourth, Quiscalus baritus , inhabits the West Indies, 
and probably South America. 
The species of this genus are gregarious, and omni- 
vorous ; their food being composed of insects, corn, 
* It was probably by Latham, that Mr Ord was led to misapply 
the names of the two species ; for, perceiving that the barita of 
that author was the quiscala , he inferred, that the quiscala was 
the barita . 
f We call the present species Quiscalus major , agreeably to 
Vieillot, who certainly intended this bird, although his description 
is a mere indication. 
