ICTERID^ — THE ORIOLES. 219 



to burnished golden olivaceous-bronze, becoming gradually uniform metallic purplish or 

 reddish violet on wings and tail, the last more purplish ; primaries violet-black ; bill, tarsi, 

 and toes pure black ; iris sulphur-yellow. 



Hab. Mississippi region of United States, east to Alleghany Mountains, west to Fort 

 Bridger ; Saskatchewan Region, Hudson's Bay Territory ; Labrador ? and Maine (52,382, 

 Calais, Me., Gr. A. Boardman). More or less abundant in all eastern States north of New 

 Jersey. 



This species may be readily distinguished from the Q. pnrpureus by the 

 color alone, independently of the differences of proportions. 



The impression received from a casual notice of a specimen of the Q. ])ur- 

 pureus is that of a uniformly glossy black bird, the metallic tints being much 

 broken or irregularly distributed, being frequently, or generally, arranged in 

 successive bands on the feathers over the whole body, producing a peculiar 

 iridescent effect. In the Q. ceneus nothing of this character is seen ; for, 

 among a very large series of western specimens, not one has the body other 

 than continuous bronze, the head and neck alone being green or blue, and 

 this sharply and abruptly defined against tlie very different tint of the other 

 portions. These colors, of course, have their extremes of variation, but the 

 change is only in the shade of the metallic tints, the precise pattern being 

 strictly retained. In the present species the colors are more vivid and silky 

 than in the eastern, and the bird is, in fact, a much handsomer one. 

 (Eidgway.) 



Just after moulting, the plumage is unusually brilliant, the metallic tints 

 being much more vivid. 



Habits. The Bronzed Blackbird has been so recently separated from the 

 purpureus that we cannot give, with exactness or certainty, the area over 

 which it is distributed. It is supposed to occupy the country west of the 

 Alleghanies as far to the southwest as the Eio Grande and Fort Bridger, ex- 

 tending to the Missouri plains on the northwest, to the Saskatchewan in the 

 north, and to Maine and Nova Scotia on the northeast. Subsequent explo- 

 rations may somewhat modify this supposed area of distribution. It is at 

 least known that this form occurs in Texas, in all the States immediately 

 west of the Alleghanies, and in the New England States, as well as the 

 vicinity of New York City. 



In regard to its habits, as differing from those of pitrpureus, we are with- 

 out any observations sufficiently distinctive to be of value. It reaches 

 Calais about the first of April, and is a common summer visitant. 



In the fall of 1869, about the 10th of October, several weeks after the 

 Quiscali which had been spending the summer with us had disappeared, an 

 unusually large number of these birds, in the bronzed plumage, made their ap- 

 pearance in the place ; they seemed to come all together, but kept in smaller 

 companies. One of these flocks spent the day, which was lowering and 

 unpleasant, liut not rainy, in my orchard. They kept closely to tlie ground, 

 and seemed to be busily engaged in searching for insects. They had a single 



