ICTERID J5 — THE ORIOLES. 221 



Var. aglaeus, Baird. 



FLORIDA GRAKLE. 



Quiscalus baritus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 556, pi. xxxii (not of Linn.). Quiscalus 

 aglmus, Baird, Am. Jour. Sci. 1866, 84. — Cassin, Pr. A. N. S. 1866, 44. — Ridg- 

 WAY, Pr. A. N. S. 1869, 135. Q. purpureiis, Allen, B. E. Fla. 291. 



Sp. Char. Length, 10.60; wing, 5.20 ; tail, 5.12; culnnen, 1.40; tarsus, 1.40. Second 

 and third quills equal and longest ; first shorter 

 than fourth ; projection of primaries beyond 

 secondaries, 1.12; graduation of tail, 1.00. 



Bill very slender and elongated, the tip of 

 upper mandible abruptly decurved ; commis- 

 sure very regular. 



Metallic tints very dark. Head and neck 

 all round well defined violaceous steel-blue, 

 the head most bluish, the neck more purplish 

 and with a bronzy cast in front; body uniform Var. agiaus. 



soft, dull, bronzy greenish-black, scarcely lustrous ; wings, upper tail-coverts, and tail 

 blackish steel-blue, the wing-coverts tipped with vivid violet-bronze; belly and crissum 

 glossed with blue. 



Hab. South Florida. 



This race is quite well marked, though it grades insensibly into the var. 

 purpureus. It differs from both that and ccneus in much smaller size, with 

 more slender and more decurved bill. 



The arrangement of the colors is much as in the larger western species, 

 while the tints are most like those of the eastern. All the colors are, how- 

 ever, darker, but at the same time softer than in either of the others. 



In form this species approaches nearest the western, agreeing with it in 

 the primaries, slender bill, and more graduated tail, and, indeed, its relations 

 in every respect appear to be with this rather than the eastern. 



This race was first described from specimens collected at Key Biscayne 

 by Mr. Wurdemann, in April, 1857, and in 1(858, and is the smallest of the 

 genus within our limits. The wing and tail each are al)out an inch shorter 

 than in the 'other varieties of puiyiircus. The bill, however, is much longer 

 and more slender, and the tip considerably more produced aud decurved. 

 The feet are stouter and much coarser, the pads of the toes very scabrous, 

 as if to assist in holding slippery substances, a feature scarcely seen in 

 purpureus} 



1 A series of twenty-nine specimens of Q. purpureus from Florida, has been kindly furnished 

 for examination by Mr. C. J. Maynard, chiefly from the northern and middle portions of the 

 State, and consequently intermediate between the varieties aglceus and purpureus. In color, 

 however, they are nearly all essentially, most of them typically, like the former ; but in size 

 and proportions they scarcely differ from more northern specimens of the latter. Their common 

 and nearly constant features of coloration are, uniform soft dark greenish body, with blue tinge 

 on belly, and bluish-green tail-coverts and tail, violet head, more blue anteriorly and more bronzy 



