although we doubt very much whether the species was ever taken within our limits, except as escaped from captivity.
An allied race (I. longirostris) from New Grenada has a longer and more slender bill, and a paler, lemon-yellow color. The I. aurantius of Brazil lacks the long, pointed, distinct feathers of the throat, and is of an intensely rich orange-red color, with much the same pattern as the present bird.
Habits. The common Troupial of South America and some of the West India Islands is probably only an imported species, or an accidental visitant. It is given by Mr. Audubon in the appendix to his seventh volume, on the strength of a specimen shot in Charleston, S. C., by his son, John W. The bird, when first seen, was perched on the point of the lightning-rod of Dr. Bachman’s house. A few days after others were seen, one of which was shot, though it fell into the river and was lost. Mr. Audubon was afterwards informed that small groups of four or five subsequently made their appearance in the same city and among the islands. If his information was correct, it precludes the supposition that those which have been procured are caged birds. Yet the Troupial is so common and so popular a bird in the cage, that its accidental occurrence is possible in many localities it never visits of its own accord.
This bird is common in all the northern countries of South America, Venezuela, Guiana, Rio Negro, Northern Brazil, etc. Its occurrence in Jamaica and the West Indies may be only accidental. It is said by Daudin to be a common species in South America, where it associates in large flocks, and constructs a large and pensile nest. In confinement it becomes very easily tamed, is reconciled to a life of imprisonment, and is very fond of those who feed and care for it. It has a loud, clear, and ringing whistle, and a great variety of call-notes and single or brief utterances, but rarely indulges in a continuous song. One kept in confinement several years answered readily to the name of Troopy, and always promptly responded, when thus addressed by his mistress, in notes of unmistakable and affectionate recognition. He was very fond of his liberty, and used his sharp bill with such effect that it was difficult to keep him in his cage. When at large he never attempted to escape, but returned upon being called. He, however, acquired such a mortal antipathy to children, attacked them so fiercely when at large, and his sharp bill was so dangerous a weapon, that it was found very necessary to keep him a close prisoner.
The eggs of this species measure 1.02 inches in length by .88 of an inch in breadth; they are a rounded, obtuse oval in shape. Their ground-color is a reddish-drab, and they are very generally blotched with markings of a deep claret-brown and faint purple, the markings being deeper and larger at one end.
Icterus melanocephalus, var. auduboni, Giraud.
AUDUBON’S ORIOLE.
Icterus auduboni, Giraud, Sixteen New Species Texas Birds, 1841 (not paged).—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 542.—Cassin, Pr. A. N. S. 1867, 53. Xanthornus melanocephalus, Bon. Consp. 1850, 434 (not the description of the young). Icterus melanocephalus, Cassin, Ill. I, V, 1854, 137, pl. xxi (the description, but perhaps not the figure).
Sp. Char. Bill stout; upper and lower outlines very little curved downwards. Tail much graduated. Head and neck all round (this color extending down on the throat), tail, and wings black; rest of body, under wing-coverts, and middle and lesser upper coverts, yellow; more olivaceous on the back. An interrupted band across the ends of the greater wing-coverts, with the terminal half of the edges of the quills, white. Supposed female similar, but the colors less vivid. Length, 9.25; wing, 4.00; tail, 4.65; tarsus, 1.10.
Hab. Valley of the Lower Rio Grande of Texas, southward; Oaxaca (Scl. 1859, 38); Xalapa (Scl. 132); Vera Cruz (temperate regions; Sumichrast, M. B. S.).