The bill is slender and attenuated, very little decurved, much less so than in I. cucullatus, slenderer and a little more decurved than in I. baltimore. The tail is moderately graduated, the outer feather .45 of an inch less than the middle.
In this species the black feathers of the neck, except below, have a subterminal bar of yellow; elsewhere it is wanting. The black of the breast comes a little posterior to the anterior extremity of the folded wing. The posterior feathers in the yellow patch on the shoulders are tinged with white. The white in the bar across the ends of the greater coverts is confined mainly to the terminal quarter of an inch of the outer web. In the full plumage, there is only a faint trace of white on the edges of the primaries. The yellow of the base of the tail only extends on the middle feather as far as the end of the upper tail-coverts; on the three outer, it reaches to within an inch and a quarter of the end of the tail.
An immature male has the yellow more tinged with green, the black feathers of the head and back olivaceous with a black spot.
Specimens vary much in size; the more northern being the larger.
Icterus wagleri[42] is an allied species found just south of the Rio Grande by Lieutenant Couch, but not yet detected within our limits.
Habits. Notwithstanding the apparent abundance of the species at Cape St. Lucas, and also in Northern Mexico along our entire border, as far as New Mexico and Texas, our knowledge of its history still remains quite incomplete. A single specimen was obtained in Western Texas on the Pecos River, by Captain Pope, in 1856. Others were obtained by Lieutenant Couch, April, 1853, at Santa Catarina, in Mexico. They were first seen by him in the vicinity of Monterey. They were found to be generally of secluded habits. Their song, consisting of three or four notes, is said to be both rich and melodious.
In the State of Vera Cruz, this species is given by Sumichrast as occurring in both the temperate and the alpine regions. Its common name is Calandria india. They are said by him to occur chiefly in the temperate parts, where they breed, but not to be exclusively confined there, for they are also found in the alpine region to the height of at least five thousand feet, near Orizaba, and on the plateau at even a higher elevation. Dr. Cooper saw a bird at Fort Mohave, in April, which he supposed to be this bird, but he was not able to assure himself of the fact, by obtaining it.
Mr. Xantus found this species very abundant during his stay at Cape St. Lucas, and procured a number of specimens of the birds and of their nests and eggs. From his brief notes we gather that the nests are open, and are not pensile. One, found May 22, was built in a bunch of moss hanging
down from an old cactus. Another was made in a bunch of hops, suspended from a cactus. A third was placed in a bunch of weeds growing out from a crevice in a perpendicular rock. Another, found May 29, was built in a small dead tree, overhung with vines. This nest was about five feet from the ground. A nest containing four young birds was found placed in a bunch of moss, hanging out of a crevice in a rock. These instances serve to show the general character of the position of their nests. Without being pensile they are usually resting upon pendent branches, and are not placed at great elevations.
The eggs measure .90 of an inch in length by .65 in breadth. Their shape is an oblong-oval, and they are obtuse at either end. Their ground-color is a dull white, with a purplish or a bluish tint. They are variously marked, in different eggs, with small blotches and finer dottings of a light purple, purplish-brown, darker purple, and even black.