QUISCALUS VERSICOLOR* 



FEMALE COMMON CROW BLACKBIRD. 



[Plate V. Fig. 1.] 



Quiscalus versicolor, Vieill, Nbuv. Diet, d' Hist. Nat. xxviii., p. 488. — Nobis. Ohs. 

 Nom. Wils. Orn. Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. iii., p. 365. — Gracula qiciscala, 

 Linn. Si/st. i., p. 165, Sp. 7. Gmel. Si/st. i., p. 397, Sp. 7. Lath. Ind. p. 191, 

 Sp. 7. — Gracula harita, Gmel. Syst. i., p. 396, Sp. 4» Lath. Ind. p. 191, Sp. 6. 

 Ord, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. i., p. 254 (not of Linn.). — Oriolus ludovi- 

 cianus, Gmel. Syst. i., p. 387, Sp. 31 (pied variety). — Oriolus leucocephalus, 

 Lath. hid. p. 175, Sp. 4 (pied variety). — Pica jamaicensis, Briss. Av. ii., p. 41, 

 Sp. 3. — Monedula prajntrea, the Purple Jackdaw, Catesby, Carolina, i., p. 12, 

 PL 12. — Gracula purpurea, the Lesser Purple Jackdaiv, or Crow Blackbird, 

 Bartr. Trav. 291. — Pie de la Jamaique, Buff. Ois. iii., p. 97. — Cassique de la 

 Louisiane, Buff. Ois. iii., p. 242. PI. Enl. 646 (pied variety). — Purple Grakle, 

 Penn. Arct. Zool. Sp. 153. Lath. Syn. i., Part ii., p. 462, Sp 6. — Boat-tailed 

 Grakle, Penn. Arct. Zool. Sp. 154. Lath, Syn. i., Part ii., p. 460, Sp. 5. — 

 White-headed Oriole, Penn, Arct. Zool. Sp. 147, Lath. Syn. i., Part ii., p. 422, 

 Sp. 4 (pied variety). 



The female Common Crow Blackbird is figured in the annexed plate, 

 that naturalists may have an opportunity of comparing it with the 

 corresponding sex of the Great Crow Blackbird, and thus receive a 

 distinct idea of the difference between the two species, so well manifested 

 in their females. 



The specific name of this bird (quiscala) has been changed, in conse- 

 quence of its having been applied to the genus: we have substituted 

 the name given by Vieillot, which is admirably appropriate. The 

 English name employed by Wilson being now rendered inadmissible 

 by the generic change, we have thought proper to adopt a local appel- 

 lation. 



The female Common Crow Blackbird is eleven inches in length, and 

 sixteen and a half in extent. The bill is nearly an inch and a half 

 long, and, as well as the feet, black ; the irides are yellowish- white ; 

 the whole head, neck, and upper part of the breast, are blackish, with 

 steel blue, green and violet reflections, which are not so vivid as in the 

 male. The general color of the body, wings, and tail, is deep sooty- 

 brown ; the feathers of the back are margined with coppery and purplish; 

 the rump, tail coverts, and wing coverts, arc glossed with purplish ; the 

 lower part of the breast and flanks have a coppery reflection ; the in- 

 ferior tail coverts are obscurely glossed with violet. The tail is 

 cuneiform, but slightly concave in flight, and is five inches long, extend- 

 ing two and a half inches beyond the tip of the wings ; the feathers 

 are glossed with very obscure greenish. In the male the tail is also 



* See Wilson's American Ornithology, i., p. 156, PI. 21, fig. 4, for the Male, and 

 history. 

 Vol, IIL— 12 (177) 



