NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF TENNESSEE WETMORE 231 



versicolor versicolor if the belief is held that it is conspecific with 

 the eastern and southern grackles of this group. 



QUISCALUS QUISCULA STONEI Chapman: Purple Crackle 



The subspecific names applied herein to this grackle and its relative 

 ^^ridgtvayi''^ are used in accordance with the treatment of Dr. Frank M. 

 Chapman in his detailed studies of these interesting birds.^^ In the 

 identification of the specimens available from Tennessee I have had the 

 benefit of Dr. Chapman's advice from his personal examination of th© 

 material. 



In my opinion the nomenclatural status of these grackles is subject to 

 some adjustment from the currently accepted view as expressed at 

 present in the A. O. U. Check-list of one species divided into several 

 subspecies. As knowledge of the ranges of the phases in which these 

 birds occur has grown, it has appeared to me that we have here two 

 specific groups, one of bronzed grackles (not divided into subspecies) 

 and the other of purple grackles (with two geographic races, the 

 Florida grackle and the purple grackle), with hybrids {ridgioayi) 

 occurring in abundance when the ranges of the two overlap. If this 

 view is accepted, the case would then be like that of the red-shafted and 

 the yellow-shafted flickers. 



Four birds assigned to the purple grackle now known as Quiscalus q. 

 stonei were secured by W. H. Fox near Rockwood, Tenn., on March 26 

 and 30 and April 11 and 16, 1885. These show the purplish to greenish 

 head, the bronzy purplish blue back and sides, and the more or less 

 concealed iridescent bars on the back, especially on the rump, that 

 mark the race here under discussion. The April specimens are pre- 

 sumably breeding birds. Those collected in March may liave been 

 migrants, or they may have been taken on their breeding grounds. 



QUISCALUS QUISCULA RIDGWAYI Oberholser: Ridgway's Grackle 



As used by Dr. Chapman, birds to which this name may be applied 

 have the back and sides brassy green, and the rump bronze without 

 evident or concealed iridescent bars. The group to which this name 

 is applied is one that is definitely variable, and as indicated above 

 it seems probable that it represents a series of hybrids between birds 

 of the purple grackle complex and the bronzed grackle. Among 

 specimens taken by W. H. Fox at Rockwood is a male, secured on 

 March 26, 1885, that is entirely typical of this supposed form. The 

 back is brassy green with evident iridescent bluish bars and the rump 

 plain bronze, without markings. A female secured on April 11, 1885, 



M Auk, 1935, pp. 21-29 ; 1936, pp. 405-416. 



