ICTERIDJ3 — THE ORIOLES. 221 



Var. aglseus, Baird. 



FLORIDA GKAKLE. 



Quiscahis harihis, Baiud, Birds N. Am. 1858, .'iSti, pi. xxxii (not of LinnJ. QuUcuhix 

 aglcvm, Baikd, Am. Jour. Sci. 1866, 84. — Cassin, Pi-. A. N. S. 1806, 44. — liim;- 

 WAY, Pr. A. N. S. 1869, 135. Q. purpureits, Allen, B.' E. Fla. 291. 



Sp. Char. Length, 10.60; wing, .5.20 ; tail, .5.12; culmen, L40 ; tarsus, L40. Second 

 and tliii-d quills equal and longest ; first shorter 

 than fourth ; projection of primaries beyond 

 .secondaries, 1.12 ; graduation of tail, 1.00. 



Bill very slender and elongated, the tip of 

 upper mandible abruptly deourved; commis- 

 sure very regular. 



Metallic tints very dark. Head and neck 

 all round well defined riolaceous steel-blue, 

 the head most bluish, the neck more purplish 

 and with a bronzy cast in front; body uniform v^r. agkrus. 



soft, dull, bronzy greenish-black, scarcely lustrous ; wings, upper tail-coverts, and tail 

 blackish steel-blue, the wing-coverts tipped with vivid violet-bronze ; belly and crissum 

 g!o.<ised with blue. 



Hab. South Florida. 



This race is quite well marked, though it grades insensihly into tlie var. 

 pinyurmis. It differs from both that and ccncus in much smaller size, witli 

 more slender and more decurved bill. 



The arrangement of the colors is much as in the larger western species, 

 while the tints are most like those of the eastern. All the colors are, liow- 

 ever, darker, but at tlie same time softer than in either of the others. 



In form this species approaches nearest tlie western, agreeing with it in 

 the primaries, slender bill, and more graduated tail, and, indeed, its relations 

 in every respect appear to be with this rather than the eastern. 



Tliis race was first described from specimens collected at Key Biscayne 

 by Mr. Wurdemann, in April, 18.57, and in 1858, and is the smallest of the 

 genus within our limits. The wing and tail each are about an inch shorter 

 than in the other varieties of purpureus. The bill, however, is much longer 

 and more slender, and the tip considerably more produced and decurved. 

 The feet are stouter and much coarser, the pads of the toes very scabrous, 

 as if to assist in holding slippery substances, a feature scarcely seen in 

 purpiireus} 



1 A series of twenty-nine specimens of Q. purpureus from Florida, has been kindly furnislied 

 for examination by Mr. C. J. Maynard, chiefly from the northern and middle portions of the 

 State, and consequently intennediate between the varieties aglceus and pairpurcus. In color, 

 however, they are nearly all essentially, most of them typically, like the former ; but in size 

 and proportions they scarcely difl'er from more northern specimens of the latter. Their common 

 and nearly constant features of coloration are, uniform soft dark greenish body, with blue tinge 

 on belly, and bluish-green tail-coverts and tail, violet head, more blue anteriorly and more bronzy 



