File:The genera of birds (19179931731).jpg

Order II. PASSERES.
Tribe IV. Conirostres.
Family III. Sturnidje.
The sixth Subfamily,
ICTERINiE, or Hangnests,
have the Bill more or less lengthened, with both mandibles straight or slightly curved towards the tips,
which are acute and entire ; the Wings lengthened and pointed ; the Tail long and generally wedge-
shaped ; the Tarsi as long as, or shorter than, the middle toe, and broadly scaled ; and the Toes moderate,
and formed for grasping.
Cacicus Cuv*
Bill conic, longer than the head, with the culmen straight, broad, rather rounded and depressed,
especially at the base, where it advances in a crescent on the forehead, and separates the frontal plumes,
and acute at the tip ; the sides compressed, and the lateral margins straight, but rather angulated at the
base ; the nostrils basal, lateral, naked, oval, and pierced in the substance of the bill. Wings lengthened
and pointed, with the third and fourth quills longest. Tail lengthened and graduated. Tarsi shorter
than the middle toe, and strongly scaled. Toes moderate, strong, with the lateral ones equal; the hind
toe as long as the middle ; and all strongly scaled, and armed with moderate curved claws.
The birds which form this division are peculiar to the tropical parts of America, residing on the trees in the vast
forests, or near the habitations of man, in troops of considerable numbers. In such places they are frecpiently seen
actively engaged in seeking their food, which consists of different kinds of fruits, berries, insects, and caterpillars that
infest the trees. The nest is most ingeniously woven by the mutual labour of both sexes. It is composed of fibres
and dry grasses, &c, in the form of a cylinder, sometimes of the length of three feet ; the lower part is hemispherical,
and it is suspended from the ends of the slender branches of lofty trees, many of them hanging from one tree.
1. C. cristatus (Grael.) Daud. PI. enl. 344., Swains. Orn. Draw.
32. — Xanthomus maximus Pull., Azara No. 57.
2. C. viridis (Bodd.) PI. enl. 328. — Oriolus cristatus var. Lath. ;
O. rufirostris Shaw ; Cassicus angustifrons Spix, Av. Bras. t. 62. ;
Xanthornus virens, Naturf. 18. s. 1. 1. 1.
3. C atrovirens (D'Orb. & Lafr.) Voy. dans l'Amer. Me'r. Ois. t.
51. f. 2.
4. C. Yuracares (D'Orb. & Lafr.) Voy. dans l'Amer. Mer. Ois.
t. 51. f. 1.
5. C. bifasciatus (Spix), Spix Av. Bras. t. 6l.
6. C. Montezuma (Less.) Less. Cent. Zoo), t. 7.
7. C. latirostris (Swains.) Two Cent, and a Quarter, p. 358. —
Cassicus popayanus Waterh. Proc. Z. S. 1840. 183. ; Type of Ocy-
alus Waterh. (1840.)
8. C. Wagleri G. R. Gray.
9. C. hamorrhous (Linn.) Daud. PI. enl. 482., Swains. Orn.
Draw. 1. — Cassicus affinis Swains. Orn. Draw. 2. ; Cassicus ruber
Briss.
10. C. solitarius (Vieill.) — Cassicus nigerrimus Spix, Av. Bras,
t. 63. f. 1., Swains. Orn. Draw. 4.; Amblyramphus Prevostii Less.
Cent. Zool. t. 54., Azara No. 58.
11. C. chrysonotus (D'Orb. & Lafr.) Voy. dans l'Amer. Me'r.
Ois. t. 52. f. 1 .
12. C. persicus (Linn.) Daud. PI. enl. 184. — Oriolus Cassicus
Shavi ; Cassicus icteronotus Vieill. Swains. Orn. Draw. 3. ; C. luteus
Briss.
13. C. albirostris (Vieill.) Nouv. Diet. H. N. v. p. 364., Azara
No. 59- — Xanthornus chrysopterus Vigors, Zool. Journ. iii. p. 190.
pi. 9. suppl.
14. C. melanicterus (Pr. Bonap.) Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad.,
Jard. & Selby's 111. Orn. pi. 45. — Cassiculus coronatus Swains.;
Type of Cassiculus Swains. (1827); Icterus diadematus Temm.
PI. col. 482.
15. ? C. leucurus (Pr. Max.) Pr. Max. Beitr. zur Naturgesch.
p. 1245.

• This division was proposed by Cuvier (Anatomie Comparee) between 1799 and 1800. It is the first section of Psarocolius of AVagler
  

(1827). In 1816, Vieillot used the name of Cassicus. Cassiculus of Mr. Swainson (1827) and Ocyalus (1840) of Mr. Waterhouse form