Section ICTERIEÆ.
In this section there are two American genera; one found in the United States, the other not. The diagnoses are as follows:—
Size large (about 8 inches). Lower jaw not deeper than upper anterior to nostrils. Tail moderate. Partly yellow beneath, olive-green above … Icteria.
Size smaller (about 6 inches). Lower jaw deeper than upper. Tail almost fan-shaped. Partly red beneath, plumbeous-blue above … Granatellus.[58]
Genus ICTERIA, Vieill.
Icteria, Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. I, 1807, iii and 85. (Type, Muscicapa viridis, Gm. Turdus virens, Linn.)
Icteria virens.
2260
Gen. Char. Bill broad at base, but contracting rapidly and becoming attenuated when viewed from above; high at the base (higher than broad opposite the nostrils); the culmen and commissure much curved from base; the gonys straight. Upper jaw deeper than the lower; bill without notch or rictal bristles. Nostrils circular, edged above with membrane, the feathers close to their borders. Wings shorter than tail, considerably rounded; first quill rather shorter than the sixth. Tail moderately graduated; the feathers rounded, but narrow. Middle toe without claw about two thirds the length of tarsus, which has the scutellæ fused externally in part into one plate.