Beneath, from the base of the mandible to the abdomen, pale reddish, running into olive on the flanks, and with many of the feathers on the throat and breast having longitudinal stripes of light cinereous olive; under tail coverts brown. A distinct ring around the eye, and spot on the nares, whitish cinereous. Bill and feet, dark brownish black. Iris, white. Female. Similar to the male, but with the colours rather less vivid. Hab. California. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada. Obs. We consider this bird as decidedly related to the Wrens, and as forming a well characterized genus, of which it is, as yet, the only known species. It is frequently brought in collections from Western America. The plant represented in the plate is the _Eschscholtzia Californica_, a native of California. The figure in our plate is about three-fourths of the natural size. ICTERUS CUCULLATUS.—(Swainson.) The Hooded Oriole. PLATE VIII.—Male and Female. Some of the most beautiful of the American Orioles are inhabitants of Mexico. Of these, we present, in the plate now before the reader, one of the smallest of the species, which, though it cannot compete with many others of its more richly coloured relatives, is still entitled to make considerable claims. The various shades of the richest yellow colours are almost exhausted in the splendid species of these birds which are found in Mexico, and in South America, and as an accompaniment to the luxuriant vegetation of those countries, they form, necessarily, a most agreeable and interesting feature. The birds of this family represented in the northern portion of this continent, by the Baltimore Oriole, are remarkable for their skill in constructing elaborately formed and pendent nests, frequently of large size. Several of the South American species make them of grasses, intricately and substantially woven, and shaped like a purse or bag, with the entrance sometimes from the top, but more frequently ingeniously inserted in the side, near the lower end. They are usually suspended from the pendent branches of trees, and often near the habitations of men. The Baltimore Oriole builds a nest sufficiently similar to afford an idea of the general character of the nests of these birds, but those of several of the southern species are much more artfully and elaborately constructed. The handsome little bird at present before us, was first described from Mexican specimens, by Mr. Swainson, in the Philosophical Magazine, 1827, p. 436, (London.) It is an inhabitant, also, of Texas, where it was repeatedly observed by our friends Col. McCall and Capt. McCown, the latter of which gentlemen has most kindly communicated the following with other valuable notices: [Illustration: Plate 8 The Hooded Oriole Icterus cucullatus (_Swainson_)]