Rump black; sides and flanks black; forehead and auriculars black; no yellow or orange supraloral stripes. Xanthic tint a very intense gamboge, without any shade of orange. Wing, 4.00; tail, 3.50; culmen, .75; tarsus, .85. Hab. Mexico … var. abeillei.[40]
Icterus vulgaris, Daudin.
TROUPIAL.
Oriolus icterus, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 161. Icterus vulgaris, “Daudin.”—Aud. Birds Am. VII, 1844, 357, pl. ccccxcix.—Bp. Conspectus Av. 1850, 434.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 542.—Cass. P. A. N. S. 1867, 46. Le troupiale vulgaire, Buffon, Pl. enl. “532” (535, Bp.).
Sp. Char. Bill curved. Throat and chin with narrow pointed feathers. A naked space around and behind the eye. Tail-feathers graduated. Head and upper part of neck all round, and beneath from tail to upper part of breast, interscapular region of back, wings, and tail, black. Rest of under parts, a collar on the lower hind neck, rump, and upper tail-coverts, yellow-orange. A broad band on the wing and outer edges of secondaries, white. Length, 10 inches; wing, 4.50; tail, 4.50; bill above, 1.35.
Hab. Northern South America and West Indies? Accidental on the southern coast of the United States?
This is the largest Oriole said to be found in the United States, and differs from the rest in its longer bill, and pointed, elongated feathers on the throat. The bill is attenuated, and somewhat decurved. The third quill is longest, the first quill almost the shortest of all the primaries. The outer tail-feather is about .60 of an inch less than the middle.
There is only a trace of whitish on the edges of the primaries. The broad white edges to the secondaries are continuous in the folded wing with the white on the greater coverts, the lowest row of which, however, is black. The extreme and concealed base of the tail is white.
One specimen has the light markings yellow, instead of orange.
This species is given by Mr. Audubon as North American, on the strength of occasional stragglers from South America. One of the specimens before us was received from Mr. Audubon (2,842), and is, possibly, North American,