GRALLJE 379 



orange and the legs yello'w, but the bird's most characteristic feature 

 is afforded by the curious caruncles of bright yellow, which, begin- 

 ning behind the eyes, run backward in form of a lappet on each 

 side, and then return in a narrow stripe to the top of the head. 

 Beneath each eye also is a bare patch of the same coloui\ This 

 species is common in southern India, and is represented further to 

 the north, in Ceylon, Burma and some of the Malay Islands by 

 cognate forms. They are all frugivorous, and, being easily tamed 

 and learning to pronounce words very distinctly, are favourite 

 cage-birds. In Africa they are perhaps represented by a somewhat 

 similar genus, which authors generally continue to call Dilophus, 



Creatophora carunculata. (After Swainson.) 



though that name has long been preoccupied.^ There is but one 

 species, the Creatophm-a carunculata of Lesson {Descr. Mammif. et Ois. 

 p. 308), the common Logust-bird of South Africa. 



In the New World the name Grackle has been applied to 

 several species of the genera Scolecophagns and Quiscalns, though 

 these are more commonly called in Canada and the United States 

 "Blackbirds," or Maize-birds, and some of them "Boat-tails." 

 They all belong to the Family Icteridx. The best known of these 

 are the Rusty Grackle, S. ferrugineus, which pervades almost the 

 whole of North America, and Q. purjmreus, the Purple Grackle or 

 Crow-Blackbird, of more limited range, for though al)undant 

 enough in most parts to the east of the Rocky Mountains, it seems 

 not to appear on the Pacific side. There is also Brewer's or the 

 Blue-headed Grackle, S. cyanocepJialus, which has a more western 

 range, not occurring to the eastward of Kansas and Minnesota, 

 while a fourth species, Q. major, is found to inhabit the Atlantic 

 States as far as North Carolina. All these birds are of exceedingly 

 omnivorous habit, and though undoul^tedly destroying large num- 

 bers of pernicious insects are in many places held in bad repute 

 from the mischief they do to the corn-crops (see Icterus). 



GRALL/E, the fourth Order of Birds in the Linnaean system, 

 composed of the genera Phcenicopterns (Flamingo), Platalea (Spoon- 

 bill), Palamedea (Screamer), Mi/cteria (Jabiru), Tantalus (Ibis), 

 Ardea (Heron), Becurvirostra (Avoset), Scolopax (Woodcock), 



1 Dilophus was used foi- a genus of Diptera in 1803 by Meigen [Mag. f. 

 Insektenk. ii. p. 264). The bird was originally described by Walch in 1777 

 {A^attirf. xi. p. 9) as a Tringa ! It is the Cockscomb Stare of Latham {Synops. 

 ii. p. 8). 



