NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 403 



A second study of the ICTERID-E. 

 BY JOHN CASSIN. 



2. Sub-family Quiscalin^e. 



I. Genus QUISCALUS, Vieillot, 



(Genus Quiscalus, Vieill., Analyse, p. 36.) 



1. Qteiscalus. 



1. Quiscalus purpureus, (Bartrara). 



" Gracula purpurea, Bartram," Wilson Am. Orn. iii. p. 44. 



Gracula purpurea, Bartram, Trav. Florida, p. 289 (1791). 



Monedula purpurea, Catesby, Carolina, i. p. 12, pi. 12. 



Gracula quiscula, Linn. Syst. Nat., i. p. 109 (1758). 



Oriolus ludovicianus, Gm. Syst. Nat., i. p. 387 (1788) ? 



Quiscalus versicolor, Vieill. Nouv. Diet., xxviii. p. 488 (1819). 



Quiscala nitens, Licht. Verz., p. 18 (1823). 



Quiscalus purpuratus, Sw. Cab. Cy., p. 298 (1838). 

 Catesby Carolina, i. pi. 12. Vieill. Gal. i. pi. 108. Wils. Am. Orn. iii. pi. 

 21. Aud. B. of Am. pi. 7 ; oct. ed. iv. pi. 221. Bonap. Am. Orn. i. pi. 5. 



One of the most abundant of the larger insessorial birds of Eastern North 

 America, retaining its place in the most highly cultivated districts, associated 

 in societies at all seasons, and in the migrating periods, especially in autumn, 

 appearing in immense flocks in the Middle and Southern States. Numerous 

 colonies remain during the summer, and rear their young within the corporate 

 limits of Philadelphia, and resort constantly to the. public squares (or parks) in 

 the most densely populated parts of the city, for the purpose of feeding on the 

 larvae of insects, especially of species of Lepidoptera, which infest the trees. In 

 some instances small parties have built nests and reared young in the public 

 squares of this city, but this bird evidently prefers the suburbs and open 

 country. 



Bill about the length of the head, thick at base, curved at the end, edge of 

 upper mandible generally sinuated, commissure nearly straight, but curved 

 downwards distinctly at the point; wing moderate, with the third quill usually 

 slightly longest, but frequently about equal to the second and fourth ; tail 

 rather long, graduated ; legs and feet rather strong ; claws strong and sharp. 

 Total length 11 J to 13 inches ; wing 5 to 5 J ; tail 5^ to 6 inches. 



Adult male. Entirely black, head, neck and breast with a fine steel-blue, 

 greenish-blue or violet-blue lustre, abruptly terminated on the neck behind, 

 extending on the breast in front, but abruptly terminated and giving place to 

 the fine golden and bronzed violet-blue, purple and green of the abdomen, 

 which are very nearly the same on the back and other upper parts of the body. 

 Coverts of the wing and shorter quills with fine bronze and bluish-purple lus- 

 tre, primaries narrowly edged with purple or bluish. Tail usually with a fine 

 blue lustre, but frequently changing to green ; bill and feet black. 



The lustres of the plumage in this species (and in the next succeeding) 

 change in a considerable degree in different lights, and have an almost un- 

 limited variation in different ages and seasons, and even in individual speci- 

 mens of the same age apparently, and are difficult to describe. Frequently the 

 blue of the head and throat presents a green mixture or dominant lustre of that 

 color ; there is occasionally a well defined band on the back of the neck of a 

 fine golden and green lustre, and also frequently a large mixture of blue in the 

 lustres of the abdomen ; and lastly, the plumage of the back and abdomen 

 presents all these lustres with the feathers edged or tipped with fine golden, 

 green or violet, forming a singular iridescent character. 



Adult female. Smaller than the male, with the lustres of the plumage 



1866.] 



