214 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



C. MEGAQUISCALUS. (Cassin.) Tail longer thau wings. Sexes very 

 unlike. Female much smaller, and very different in color, being olivaceous- 

 brown, lightest beneath. Male without varying shades of color ; lateral tail- 

 feather about .60 the middle, or less. 



Q. major. Culmen strongly decurved terminally ; bill robust. Female 

 with back, nape, and crown like the wings; abdomen much darker than 

 throat. 



Lustre of the plumage green, passing into violet anteriorly on head and neck. 



1. Length, 15.00 ; wing, 7.50 ; tail, 7.70, its graduation, 2.50 ; culmen, 

 1.60. Female. Wing, 5.10. Hob. South Atlantic and Gulf coast of 

 United States var. major 



Lustre, violet passing into gree)i p)osteriorly. 



2. Length, 14.00 ; wing, 6.75 ; tail, 7.20, its graduation, 2.40 ; culmen, 

 1.57. Female. Wing, 5.30; tail, 5.00. Hah. Western Mexico. (Mazat- 



lan, Colima, etc.) \&\\ palustrisl 



3. Length, 18.00 ; wing, 7.70 ; tail, 9.20, its graduation, 3.50 ; culmen, 

 1.76. Female. Wing, 5.80; tail, 6.30. Hah. From Rio Grande of 

 Texas, south through Eastern Mexico ; Mazatlan (accidental ?). 



var. macrurus 

 Q. tenuirostris.- Culmen scarcely decurved terminally ; bill slender. 

 Female with back, nape, and crown very different in color from the wings ; 

 abdomen as light as throat. 



1. Male. Lustre purplish- violet, inclining to steel-blue on wing and 

 upper tail-coverts. Length, 15.00 ; wing, 7.00 ; tail, 8.00, its gradua- 

 tion, 3.00. Female. Crown, nape, and back castaneous-brown ; rest of 

 upper parts brownish-black. A distinct superciliary stripe, with the 

 whole lower parts as far as flanks and crissum, deep fulvous-ochraceous, 

 lightest, and inclining to ochraceous-white, on throat and lower part 

 of abdomen; flanks and crissum blackish-brown. Wing, 5.10; tail, 

 5.35, its graduation, 1.80 ; culmen, 1.33 ; greatest depth of bill, .36. 

 Hob. Mexico (central?). 



Quiscalus purpureus, Bartr. 



THE CROW BLACKBIRD. 



Sp. Char. Bill above, about as long as the head, more than twice as high ; the com- 

 missure moderately sinuated and considerably decurved at tip. Tail a little shorter than 

 the wing, much graduated, the lateral feathers .90 to 1.50 inches shorter. Third quill 



(Cabinet Cyclopsedia, p. 299, 1838. — Cass. Pr. A. N. S. 1866, 408). Hab. S. Am., Trinidad. 

 (2) Q. mexicamis, Cass. (Pr. A. N. S. 1866, 408). Hab. Mexico. Besides these are the two fol- 

 lowing, whose habitats are unknown : Q. inflexirostris, Swains. (Cab. Cyc. p. 300, 1838), and 

 Q. rectirostris, Cass. (Pr. A. N. S. 1866, 409). 



1 Quiscalus pahcstris (Swains.), Cassin, Pr. A. N. S., Phila., 1866, p. 411. {Scaphidurus 

 pal.. Swains. Phil. Mag. 1827, 437). 



2 Quiscalus tenuirostris, Swains. Cabinet Cyclopseclia, 1838, p. 299. — Cassin, Pr. A. N. S. 

 1866, 411. The Q. assimilis, ScL. Cat. Am. B. 1862, 141, from Bogota, and Q. -pcrxmanvs. 

 Swains. Cab. Cyc. 1838, 354, of Peru, are not in the collection ; they are probably referrible to 

 the TTMJor tj^ie. 



