Iconography
in an extended sense, the description of any figures found in paintings and sculpture, as well as monumental records of ancient date; but in its restricted signification this word is confined to descriptions and drawings of any sculptured images or paintings of the human form, animals, and inanimate objects, that are found in buildings and appurtenances, and furniture devoted to ecclesiastical purposes. ICTERIA (ik-ter'ē-ä), a genus of birds placed by Swainson under his sub-family Brachypodiæ (short-footed thrushes). I. virens, or viridis (I. polyglotta of Wilson) the yellow-breasted chat, is found in the United States. It has great powers of imitating the sounds which it hears.
ICTERIDE (ik-ter'ē-dē), a name for orioles; a family of Passeres, insessorial birds. The bill has the commissure angulated, with no notch; the primaries nine; the legs stout; the plumage usually brilliant; the notes sharp, often melodious, in other cases harsh. Subfamilies three, Agelainæ, Icterinæ, and Quiscalinæ. About 20 genera and 100 species are known, all American. The Baltimore oriole or hang-nest is the Icterus galbula. It is a favorite bird in the eastern part of North America and is a migratory bird, arriving in late spring and leaving again in midsummer or up to early fall. Its plumage is black and orange.