BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 233 



head and neck dark grayish brown (without distinct paler superciliary 

 stripe), fading on chin and throat into brownish gray or grayish hair 

 brown, and on the back and other upper parts deepening into dark sooty 

 brown; general color of under parts deep hair brown, becoming more 

 dusky on flanks and under tail-cov^erts; length (skin), 235; wing, 104.1; 

 tail, 88.9; culmen, from base, 30.2; depth of bill at base, 9.9; tarsus, 

 29.2; middle toe, 22.9.' 



Island of Grenada, and Grenadines, Lesser Antilles. 



Qmscalus luminosus Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci., i, July, 1878, 162 (Gre- 

 nada, Lesser Antilles; coll. U. S. Nat. Mus.); Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., i, 1879, 

 270, 278, 487 (Grenada; Grenadines; habits, etc.); ix, 1886, 615 (Grenada; 

 habits; descr. nest and eggs). — Ober, Camps in the Caribbees, 1880, 247. — 

 ScLATER, Ibis, 1884, 161 (monogr.); Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xi, 1886, 402 (Gre- 

 nada; Grenadines).- — Cory, Auk, iii, 1886, 225 (synonymy and descr.); Birds 

 W. I., 1889, 111 (do.); Cat. W. I. Birds, 1892, 15. 



l^Quiscalus] luminosus Cory, List Birds W. I., 1885, 14. 



Holoquiscalus luminosus Ridgway, Proc. Wash. Ac. Sci., iii, Apr. 15, 1901, 151. 



Quiscalus inflexirostris (not of Swainson) Cory, Cat. W. I. Birds, 1892, 111, 146, 

 part (Grenada). 



HOLOQUISCALUS RECTIROSTRIS (Cassin). 

 STRAIGHT-BULED GRACKLE. 



Adult male. — Similar to the adult males of the West Indian forms, 

 but with the bill very slender and almost perfectly straight (maxilla 

 slightly decurved only at extreme tip), relativel}^ shorter tail, and pur- 

 plish black wings; color uniform black, glossed with violet, becoming 

 more purplish on head and neck and changing to greenish on edges of 

 primaries; length (skin), about Hi. 3; wing, 114.3; tail, 102.9; exposed 

 culmen, 27.4; tarsus, 32. ^ 



Habitat unknown. 



Quiscalus rectirostris Cassin, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., xviii, Dec, 1866, 409 



(locality unknown; coll. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila.). 

 IQuiscalus} rectirostris Gray, Hand-list, ii, 1870, 38, no. 6531. 

 Holoquiscalus rectirostris Ridgway, Proc. Wash. Ac. Sci., iii, Apr. 15, 1901, 151. 



Genus MEGAQUISCALUS Cassin. 



Megaquiscalus Cassin, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., xviii, Dec, 1866, 409. (Type, 

 Quiscalus major Vieillot. ) 



Large or medium-sized semiterrestrial Icteridas, with bill about as 

 long as or slightly longer than head, narrow, more or less strongly 

 decurved at tip; tail nearly or quite equal to, sometimes longer than, 



' One specimen. 



- For these measurements I am indebted to Mr. Witmer Stone, Conservator of the 

 Ornithological Section, Academy of Natural Sciences. Mr. Stone has carefully com- 

 pared the type, in the collection under his charge, with examples of other species of 

 the genus and pronounces it very distinct. 



