BIRDS—ICTERIDAE—ICTERUS SPURIUS 
547 
ICTERUS SPURIUS, Bon. 
Orchard Oriole. 
Oriolus spurius, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 162.— Gm. I, 1788, 389. (Very inaccurate description ; only identified by 
the references.) 
Icterus spurius, Bon. Obs. on Nom. Wils. 1825, No. 44.— Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 221: V, 485 ; pi. 42.— Ib. Birds 
Amer. IV, 1842, 46 ; pi. 219. 
Oriolus varius, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 390. 
Turdus ater, Gm. Syst. 1788, I, 1788, 831. 
Oriolus castaneus, Latham, Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 181. (Same citations as O. varius, Gm.) 
Turdus jugularis, Latham, Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 361. (Same citations as Turdus ater, Gm.) 
Yphantes solitaria, Vieill. c?. 
“ Pendulinus nigricolUs, Vieill. O.— viridis, Ib.” 
Oriolus mutatus, Wilson, Am. Orn. I, 1808, 64 ; pi. 4, f. 1—4. 
Xanthornus ajfinis, Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. N. H. V, May, 1851, 113. (Small race from Texas.) 
Sp. Ch. —Bill slender, attenuated, considerably decurved ; tail moderately graduated. 
Male. —Head and neck all round, wings, and interscapular region of back, with tail feathers, black. Rest of under parts, 
lower part of back to tail, and lesser upper wing coverts, with the lower one, brownish chestnut. A narrow line across the 
wing, and the extreme outer edges of quills, white. 
Female. —Uniform greenish yellow beneath, olivaceous above, and browner in the middle of the back ; two white bands on 
the wings. Young male like the female, with a broad black patch from the bill to the upper part of the breast, this color 
extending along the base of the bill so as to involve the eye and all anterior to it to the base of the bill. 
Lengtli of Pennsylvania male specimens, 7.25 ; wing, 3.25. 
Hab .—United States from the Atlantic to the High Central Plains, probably throughout Texas ; south to Guatemala. 
In this species the hill is slender, attenuated, and a good deal decurved to the tip. The 
second and third quills are longest; the first intermediate between the fourth and fifth. The 
tail is rather long; the feathers moderately graduated, the greatest difference in length 
amounting to half an inch. 
The black of the throat extends backwards as far as the bend of the wing, and ends as an 
obtuse angle. The tail feathers are entirely black, with dull whitish tips when not fully mature. 
Specimens are found in all stages between the characters given above. When nearly mature, 
some yellowish feathers are found mixed in with the chestnut ones. 
As in most birds with an extensive summer range, the specimens from southern limits are 
smaller than from northern. The difference is more strongly marked between skins from the 
lower Rio Grande of Texas and New York or Pennsylvania, and upon the former Mr. Lawrence 
has founded his Xanthornus affinis. The difference is not greater, however, than in nearly every 
other species of similar habits as to summer range. The table of measurements of species 
will illustrate the variations in size. 
The pattern of coloration in this species resembles that of I. haltimore, hut the orange red is 
replaced by dark chestnut; there is less white on the wing, and the tail is entirely black. The 
bill is considerably slenderer and more attenuated and curved. The tail also is more graduated. 
