488 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Crotophaga ani, Linn. 



THE ANI; THE SAVANNA BLACKBIRD. 



Crotophaga ani, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 154. — Burmeister, Tli. Bras. (Vogel.) 1856, 

 254. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 72, pi. Ixxxiv, f. 2. — Cabanis, Mus. Hein. iv, 

 100. Crotophaga minor, Less. Traite Orn. 1831, 130. Crotophaga Icevirostra, Swain- 

 son, An. in Menag. 2^ Cent. 1838, 321. Crotophaga rugirostra, Swainson, 2^ Cent. 

 1838, 321, fig. 65, bill. — BuRM. Th. Bras. II, 1856, 235. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 

 1858, 71, pi. Ixxxiv, f. 1. 



Sp. Char. Bill at the nostrils nearly twice as high as broad ; the nostrils elliptical, a 

 little oblique, situated in the middle of the lower half of the upper mandible. Gonys 



nearly straight. Indications of 

 faint transverse wrinkles along the 

 upper portion of the bill, nearly 

 perpendicular to the culmen. Legs 

 stout; tarsus longer than middle 

 toe, with seven broad scutellae 

 anteriorly extending round to the 

 middle of each side ; the remain- 

 ing or posterior portion of each 

 side with a series of quadrangular 

 plates, corresponding nearly to the 

 anterior ones, the series meeting 

 behind in a sharp ridge. The 

 wings reach over the basal third 

 of the tail. The primary quills are 

 broad and acute, the fourth longest ; the first about equal to the tertials. The tail is 

 graduated, the outer about an inch and a half shorter than the middle ones. 



The color generally is black, with steel-blue reflections above, changing sometimes into 

 violet; duller beneath. The pointed feathers of the head, neck, and breast, with a bronzy 

 metallic border, appearing also to some extent on the wing-coverts and upper part of 

 back. Iris brown. Length, 13.20; wing, 6.00; tail, 8.30; tarsus, 1.48. 



Hab. West Indies ; South Florida. Accidental near Philadelphia. Localities : Sta. 

 Cruz (Newton, Ibis, I, 148). 



As already remarked, we do not find reason to admit more than one 

 species of Crotophaga in the United States and the West Indies, as in the 

 great variation in size, and to some extent in shape of bill, there is nothing 

 constant. The species can hardly be considered more than a straggler in 

 the United States, although a considerable number of specimens have been 

 seen or taken within its limits. That in the Smithsonian collection was 

 killed on the Tortugas ; but there is one in the collection of the Philadelphia 

 Academy, killed near Philadelphia by Mr. John Krider, and presented by 

 him. Mr. Audubon also possessed a pair said to have been killed near New 

 Orleans. 



Habits. This species, the common Savanna Blackbird of the West India 

 Islands, is probably only an accidental visitant of the United States, and 

 may not strictly belong to the avi-fauna of North America. 



Crotophaga ani. 



