288 NOTES ON THE 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Bill stout, quiscaline, the commissure scarcely sinuated; 

 shorter than the head and hind toe; the height nearly half the 

 length above; wing nearly an inch longer than the tail; the 

 second quill longest; first about equal to the third; tail rounded 

 and moderately graduated; the lateral feathers about thirty- 

 five one-hundredths of an inch shorter; general color of male 

 black, with lustrous green reflections everywhere except on 

 the head and neck, which are glossed with purplish violet; 

 females much duller, of a light brownish anteriorly; a very 

 faint superciliary stripe. 



Length, 10; wing, 5.35; tail, 4.40. 



Habitat, United States, from eastern Kansas and Minnesota 

 to the Pacific; south into Mexico; breeds througout its United 

 States range. 



QUISCALUS QVISCULA (L.). (511.) 

 PURPLE GRACKLE. 



This very common bird it seems to me has claims upon our 

 admiration which have scarcely been acknowledged.* Coming 

 back to us after the long silence of the winter one of the first, 

 and remaining until about the very latest in autumn, essaying 

 sometimes to remain all winter, he .should awaken our best 

 appreciation of him if for nothing more than these reasons, 

 but he is a beautiful bird, and has the regal grace in his 

 demeanor that shames the strut of the peacock. The flight is 

 more than ordinarily graceful, in the shorter ones of which he 

 displays a characteristic peculiarity exhibited by no other 

 bird I know of, namely folding the tail so as to present a per- 

 pendicular rudder-like appearance, still preserving its sym- 

 metry perfectly. To do this there must be some specialized 

 muscles that depress the central line of the tail while others 

 elevate the borders, thus bringing the two halves of the upper 

 surface in close contact, and the under surface converted into 

 two, looking in opposite directions. 



The coverts preserve their perfect symmetry while they give 

 great firmness to the unique aerial rudder of as graceful a 

 craft as sails the summer air. They arrive in Minnesota about 

 the 25th of March in small flocks or parties and are at once 

 domiciled and "at home" for the season. Their distribution is 

 universal and their breeding places only less so. After finding 

 their nests in a great variety of places I am satisfied they choose 

 the vicinity of dwellings not already pre-empted by comrades 

 or foes, as I find them common in the very heart of the city 

 where there is room enough for the colony. 



