204 Bird -Lore 



The Migration of North American Birds 



SECOND SERIES 



XIX. BOAT-TAILED GRACKLES 



Compiled by Harry C. Oberholser, Chiefly from Data in the Biological Survey 



Of the five or six geographic races of the Boat-tailed Grackle (M egaquiscalus 

 major) only two occur in the United States. Neither are strictly migratory, 

 but they wander more or less during the winter season, influenced doubtless 

 largely by the food-supply. 



The Boat-tailed Grackle {M egaquiscalus major major) is resident and 

 breeds in the south Atlantic and Gulf States, north to southeastern Virginia, 

 west to southeastern Texas, and south to southern Florida. 



The Great-tailed Grackle (M egaquiscalus major macrourus) is resident and 

 breeds chiefly in eastern and southern Mexico and in Central America, but 

 also north to central Texas and southeast to Colombia. 



Notes on the Plumage of North American Birds 



SIXTY-FOURTH PAPER 



By FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



(See Frontispiece) 



The Boat-tailed Grackle (M egaquiscalus macrourus). The difference 

 between the sexes is more pronounced in the Boat-tailed than in the Purple 

 Grackle, the female of the former being a generally brownish bird with small 

 trace of the glossy plumage of her mate. Furthermore, she has a much shorter 

 tail. Young birds of both sexes resemble their mother. The post-juvenal 

 molt is complete. The female acquires a plumage essentially like that of the 

 adult, but that of the male is much duller than that of the mature bird. There 

 is no spring molt and the shining fully adult plumage is not donned until the 

 first post-nuptial, that is, second fall molt, after which there is no further 

 change in color. 



The more northern of our two races of this species, the true Boat-tailed 

 Grackle (M egaquiscalus major major), differs from the more southern race 

 (M.m. macrourus) in being smaller with a shorter tail (particularly in the male); 

 in the male the violet of the crown does not, as a rule, extend behind the 

 nape, instead of spreading over the foreback, and the female averages paler. 



