C. Bill as long as, or longer than, the head. Feathers of crown with the shafts prolonged into stiffened bristles. Nostrils covered by a scale which stands out more or less horizontally. Sturnella. Tail-feathers acute. Middle toe equal to the tarsus. Trupialis. Tail-feathers rounded. Middle toe shorter than the tarsus. GENUS DOLICHONYX, SWAINSON. _Dolichonyx_, SWAINSON, Zoöl. Journ. III, 1827, 351. (Type, _Emberiza oryzivora_, L.) [Line drawing: _Dolichonyx oryzivorus._ 977] GEN. CHAR. Bill short, stout, conical, little more than half the head; the commissure slightly sinuated; the culmen nearly straight. Middle toe considerably longer than the tarsus (which is about as long as the head); the inner lateral toe longest, but not reaching the base of the middle claw. Wings long, first quill longest. Tail-feathers acuminately pointed at the tip, with the shaft stiffened and rigid, as in the Woodpeckers. The peculiar characteristic of this genus is found in the rigid scansorial tail and the very long middle toe, by means of which it is enabled to grasp the vertical stems of reeds or other slender plants. The color of the single species is black, varied with whitish patches on the upper parts. Dolichonyx oryzivorus, SWAINSON. BOBOLINK; REEDBIRD; RICEBIRD. _Emberiza oryzivora_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 311.—GM. I, 1788, 850.—WILSON, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 48, pl. xii, f. 1, 2. _Passerina oryzivora_, VIEILLOT, Nouv. Dict. XXV, 1817, 3. _Dolichonyx oryzivora_, SWAINSON, Zoöl. Jour. III, 1827, 351.—IB. F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 278.—BON. List, 1838.—IB. Conspectus, 1850, 437.—AUD. Syn. 1839, 139.—IB. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 10, pl. ccxi.—GOSSE, Birds Jam. 1847, 229.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 522.—MAX. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 266.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 255.—SAMUELS, 335. _Icterus agripennis_, BONAP. Obs. Wils. 1824, No. 87. AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 283; V, 1839, 486, pl. liv.—NUTT. Man. I, 1832, 185. _Icterus (Emberizoides) agripennis_, BON. Syn. 1828, 53. _Dolichonyx agripennis_, RICH. List, 1837. _Psarocolius caudacutus_, WAGLER, Syst. Av. 1827, 32. [Illustration: _Dolichonyx oryzivorus._] SP. CHAR. General color of _male_ in spring, black; the nape brownish cream-color; a patch on the side of the breast, the scapulars, and rump, white, shading into light ash on the upper tail-coverts and the back below the interscapular region. The outer primaries sharply margined with yellowish-white; the tertials less abruptly; the tail-feathers margined at the tips with pale brownish-ash. In autumn totally different, resembling the female.