380 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



5.40 (5.29), tail 4.60-5.20 (4.93), graduation of tail 1.00-1.35 (1.10), 

 exposed eulinen 1.19-1.30 (1.24), tarsus 1.35-1.47 (1.40). Eggs 1.12 

 X .78. Hab. Florida (chiefly southern portion), and west along 

 Gulf coast to Louisiana. 



511a. Q. quiscula aglaeus (Baird). Florida Grackle. 

 V. Plumage of body, above and below, perfectly uniform brassy olive or bronze, 

 never with mixed tints, and always very abruptly defined against the 

 color (steel-blue, violet, purple, or brassy green) of neck ; wing-coverts 

 never with mixed metallic tints ; wings and tail always purplish or 

 violet-purplish, never bluish. 



Length (male) about 12.00-13.50, Aving 5.45-5.95 (5.65), tail 5.25-5.90 

 (5.52), graduation of tail 1.15-1.60 (1.36), exposed culmen 1.12-1.26 

 (1.17), tarsus 1.40-1.46 (1.44). Female: Length about 11.00-11.50, 

 wing 5.00-5.05, tail 4.80-4.90. Eggs 1.18 X -81. Hab. Eastern North 

 America, west of Alleghanies, including w^hole of New England 

 (except coast of Long Island Sound) ; north to Hudson's Bay, west 

 to Eocky Mountains, south to Louisiana (?) and Texas ; occasion- 

 ally east of Alleghanies, from Virginia northward. 



5116. Q. quiscula aeneus (Eidgw.). Bronzed Grackle.^ 

 a^. Tail decidedly longer than wing; adult males without varied metallic tints, the 

 plumage being uniform glossy blue-black, or dark steel-blue, becoming grad- 

 ually more purplish anteriorly, or greenish, changing anteriorly to blue ; 

 adult females exceedingly different from males, being very much smaller, the 

 plumage dusky brownish above, light brownish beneath. Nest a very bulky 

 structure of dried grasses, Spanish moss, etc., usually compacted together 

 with an internal plastering or stiffening of mud, built in low trees, or bushes, 

 in swampy situations. Eggs 3-5, ovate or conic-ovate, pale bluish or green- 

 ish, pale drab, pale olive, dull purplish gray, etc., grotesquely hned Avith 

 black and brown. (Subgenus Megaquiscalus Cassin.) 

 1?. Bill stouter (greatest depth at base of gonys more than .40 in male, .35, or 

 more, in female), the tip decidedl}^ decurved ; adidt females dull dusky 

 browm above, the lower parts similar posteriorly, becoming paler an- 

 teriorly ; no distinct superciliary stripe. 

 c\ Adult male with tail 8.30, or more. 



Adidt male with metallic gloss violet over all anterior portions, 

 including whole back, scapulars, lesser wing-coverts, and all of 

 lower parts except flanks and under tail-coverts ; length 17.00- 

 18.75, wing 7.35-8.00 (7.59), tail 8.30-9.35 (8.80), exposed cul- 

 men 1.47-1.69 (1.60). Adult female : Above dusky brown, with 

 a metallic greenish gloss, becoming more decidedly brown and 

 less glossy on head and neck ; superciliary stripe (sometimes 

 indistinct) and lower parts dull fulvous-brown, becoming more 

 buffy on chin and throat and dusky on flanks and under tail- 



1 AVith scarcely a doubt, a distinct species from Q. quiscula. 



