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Show 304: AVES. Parrots •,Jive in flocks, build many of their nests on the same bush, and sle:p suspended to its branches in crowds, with the head down. wards. · They feed on fruit. ( 1) Here also come the BuPHAGA, Briss. The Beef-eaters fortn a small genus in which the beak is of a moderate length, cylindrical at the beginning, and inflated (both mandibles) near the end, which terminates in a blunt point. They use it to compr~ss the skin of cattle in order to force out the larvre of the CEstrus lodged in it, on which they feed. ·One species only is known, and that is from Africa; brownish, with a moderate sized cuneiform tail; as large as a Thrush. Buphaga africana, Enl. 293; Vaill. Afr. pl. 97; Vieill. Gal. CAssicus, Cuv. A large and exactly conical beak, thick at base, and very sharp at the point; sma11 round nostrils, pierced on the sides; the commissure of the mandibles forms a broken line, or is angular like that of the Star· lings. They are American birds, whose manners are similar to those of the last mentioned ones, living like them in flocks, frequently constructing their nests close together, and sometimes with much art. They feed on grain and Insects, and do great injury to culti· vated grounds. We subdivide them as follows: CAssrous,(2) properly so styled. The base of the beak mounts on the forehead, encroaching on the plumage, and forming a semicircular notch in it. :r~e largest species belong to this subgenus.(3) (1) Col. capensis, Enl. 282, 1; Vaill. 258, and the young, 256. This latter a the C. striatus, and the C. panayensis,·-Col. erythropus, Gm.; leuwnotua, Lath. Vaill. 257;-Col. gularis, Vaill. 259. I place near the Colies the birds called Meriou natte (Malurus textilia, Less.) and Merion leucoptere (M. leucopterus, Id.), Voy. de Freycin. pl. 23. ' (2) Vieill. has adopted this name and genus. (3) Cassicus bifasciatus, Spix, LXI, a;-Cassic. angustifrons, Id. LXli;-CilSI· nigerrimus, Id. LXlli, 1;-0riolus cristatus, Enl. 344;-'}' 328;-hemorrhoua, 482' persicus, 184. (N.ll. That it is not from Persia, but from America, like the others._)A black species, with metallic reflections, the plumes of whose neck are erectile, and form a kind of mantle. It is the Grandtroupialeof Azz. Voy.lll, P' 167• PASSERIN..tE. 305 IOTERUs.(l) The beak arcuated throughout its length, and only forming a small notch in the feathers on the forehead.(2) XANTHORNUs.(3) Only differs from the preceding in the perfect straightness of the beak.( 4) We should distinguish among the numbet• a species with a somewhat shorter beak, which therein approaches the Fringilla, Cuv. Icterus peco1·is, Tem.; Emberiza pecot·is, Wils. II, xviii, 1, 2, and Enl. 606, 1. (The Cow Bunting.) A violet black; head and neck a brown grey. Lives in flocks among the cattle; but the most peculiar trait in its habits is that, like the Cuckoo, it lays its eggs in other birds' nests.( 5) (1) Vieillot has changed the French term of the above subdivision, P.roupiale, into Carouge, which I had adopted for the following subgenus. He translates Carouge by Pendulinus, Galer. pl. 186. (2) Oriolus varius, Enl. 607, l;-Or. cayanus, 535, 2;-0r. capensis, Enl. 607. (N.B. It is from Louisiana, and not from the Cape; )-Or. chrysocephalus, Merr. Beytr. I, pl. iii, Vieill. Gal. 86;-0r. dominicensis, Enl. 5, 1;-and a species of a changeable black, whose tail assumes all kinds of shapes, according to the direction of its lateral feathers, which are sometimes in the same plane with the rest, and at others turned up, &c. ( Quiscalus versicolor) Vieill. Gal. 108; Wils. III, xvi, 3. It appears to be both the Gracula quiscala, L., Catesb. pl. xii, and the Gracula barita, Lath. I, pl. xviii, or the Pie de la Jamaique: it is found in all the Antilles, Carolina, &c. It has been confounded with the Rice Eater (Ploceua niger). We should separate the Icterus sulcirostris, Spix, LXIV, the lower jaw of whose much larger beak is obliquely furrowed at base. (3) M. Vieill. calls these birds, Baltimore and Yphantes, Galer. pl. lxxxvii. He separates some of them, which he names more pu1·ticularly Troupiales, or AGE· LAIUs, pl. lxxxviii. (4) Oriolus icterus, Enl. 532;-0riolus minor and Tanagra bonm·iensis, Enl. 710; the same bird;-0?-iolus citrinus, Spix, 76;-Le Car. gasquet, Quoy and Gaym. Voy. de Freycin. pl. xxiv;-Oriolus phamiceus, Enl. 402;-0r. americanus, 236, 2;- 0r.leucopterus, Lath. Syn. I, frontisp.;-Or. bonana, Enl. 535, 1;-0r. cayenensis, lb. 2;-0r. icterocephalus, 342;-0r. xantlwcephalus, Ch. Bonap, 1, IV, 1, 2;-0r. ~canua, Enl. 533;-0r. xanthomus, 5, 1;-0r. baltimore, 506, 1; Vieill. Galer. 87,and Wils. I, 1, 3;-0r. spurius, Enl. 2, and Wils. I, iv, 1-4;-0r. melancholicua, En!. 448, of which Ov. guyan6nsis, Enl. 536, Vieill. Galer. pl. 88, is the adult. _Add Or. agripennis, Bonap. (Enlb. aryzivora, of others) our common Reed Bzrd . .B.m. Ed. (5) Gmel. cites fig. 606, 1, of the Pl. Enl., as Oriolus minor; it is. a mistake. VoL. I.-2 0 |