158 PURPLE GRAKLE. 



corn by the Grow Blackbirds, as they are usually called ; though were 

 the same means used, as with pigeons, to take them in clap-nets, multi- 

 tudes of them might thus be destroyed ; and the products of them in 

 market, in some measure, indemnify him for their depredations. But 

 they are most numerous and most destructive at a time when the various 

 harvests of the husbandman demand all his attention, and all his hands 

 to cut, cure, and take in ; and so they escape with a few sweeps made 

 among theni by some of the younger boys, with the gun ; and by the 

 gunners from the neighboring towns and villages ; and return from 

 their winter quarters, sometimes early in March, to renew the like 

 scenes over again. As some consolation, however, to the industrious 

 cultivator, I can assure him, that were I placed in his situation, I should 

 hesitate whether to consider these birds most as friends or enemies, as 

 they are particularly destructive to almost all the noxious worms, grubs, 

 and caterpillars, that infest his fields, which, were they allowed to mul- 

 tiply unmolested, would soon consume nine-tenths of all the production 

 of his labor, and desolate the country with the miseries of famine ! Is 

 not this another striking proof that the Deity has created nothing in 

 vain ; and that it is the duty of man, the lord of the creation, to avail 

 himself of their usefulness, and o-uard awainst their bad effects as 

 securely as possible, without indulging in the barbarous, and even 

 impious, wish for their utter extermination ? 



The Purple Grakle is twelve inches long, and eighteen in extent; on 

 a slight view seems wholly black, but placed near, in a good light, the 

 whole head, neck, and breast appear of a rich glossy steel- blue, dark 

 violet, and silky green ; the violet prevails most on the head and breast, 

 and the green on the hind part of the neck ; the back, rump, and whole 

 lower parts, the breast excepted, reflect a strong coppery gloss ; wing- 

 coverts, secondaries, and coverts of the tail, rich light violet, in which 

 the red prevails ; the rest of the wings, and cuneiform tail, are black, 

 glossed with steel blue. All the above colors are extremely shining, 

 varying as differently exposed to the light ; iris of the eye silvery ; bill 

 more than an inch long, strong, and furnished on the inside of the upper 

 mandible with a sharp process, like the stump of the broken blade of a 

 penknife, intended to assist the bird in masticating its food ; tongue thin, 

 bifid at the end, and lacerated along the sides. 



The female is rather less ; has the upper part of the head, neck, and 

 the back, of a dark sooty brown; chin, breast, and belly dull pale 

 brown, lightest on the former ; wings, tail, lower parts of the back and 

 vent black, with a few reflections of dark green ; legs, feet, bill, and 

 eyes as in the male. 



The Purple Grakle is easily tamed, and sings in confinement. They 

 have also, in several instances, been taught to articulate some few words 

 pretty distinctly. 



