COMMON CROW-BLACKBIRD. 



( Quiscalus versicolor, Vieill. Audubon, pi. 7. [stealing corn, very 

 spirited and natural.] Bonap. Am. Orn. vol. ii. p. 42. pi. '5. fig. 1. 

 [female.] Gracula quiscala, Wilson, iii. p.' 44. pi. 21. fig. 4. [male.]) 



Sp. Charact. — Glossy-black; tail wedge-formed, extending far 

 beyond the wings (nearly 3 inches) ; bony keel within the bill 

 large ; length about II.^ inches; vertical breadth of the bill at 

 base nearly ^ an inch. — Female similar to the male, but some- 

 what less brilliant : length 11 inches. 



This very common bird is an occasional or constant 

 resident in every part of America, from Hudson's Bay 

 and the northern interior to the Great Antilles, within 

 the tropic. In most part of this wide region they also 

 breed, at least from Nova Scotia to Louisiana, and proba- 

 bly farther south. Into the states north of Virginia they 

 begin to migrate from the beginning of March to April, 

 leaving those countries again in numerous troops about 



