BRONZED GRACKLE. 
and magenta-crimson intermingled, the feathers show- 
ing a defined iridescent barring ; wings and tail metal- 
lic violet and blue-black ; lower parts like the back, but 
lacking lustre. Female similarly marked but the colors 
much duller. Nest, a compact mass of mud and coarse 
grasses lined with finer grasses; generally in colonies 
in coniferous trees, about twenty to thirty feet above 
ground. Rarely in thick bushes. Egg, a varying pale 
blue-green marked with specks and scrawls of cinna- 
mon-brown or sepia. The range of the bird is, as stated 
above, east of the Alleghanies, and westward only in the 
lower Mississippi Valley. 
The Purple Grackle is a songless bird, and his conver- 
sational notes are not altogether musical; they lack the 
rhythm and ‘‘ chink” of the Red-winged Blackbira’s 
o-ka-lee, and the ringing quality of the Blue Jay’s ge- 
rul-lup. But he gives us a good octave and sometimes a 
sixth, in a resonant metallic whistle, though most of his 
notes sound like the twanging of piano wires, and his 
harsh er-r-r-r-rrr like the click of a watchman’s rattle. 
Comparing this species with the Bronzed Grackle, Ridge- 
way says that the song of the western bird is ‘‘ very 
much louder and more musical or metallic” than that 
of its eastern relative. 
In the Mississippi Valley the Purple Grackle is abun- 
dant; farther east in New England, it is decidedly local, 
though frequently seen in the period of migration. Af- 
ter July it becomes rare by reason of its collecting in 
large flocks and retiring to some place where there is 
an abundance of food; but again in the fall it reappears 
in large numbers preparatory to the southern flight. 
Bronzed This large and handsome Blackbird dif- 
Grackle fers from his near relative the Purple 
Crow Grackle in the color of his back, which is 
Blackbird 1 mo 
Quiscalus a lustrous bronze. 
quiscula The head, neck, throat, and upper breast 
aéneus are brilliant steel-blue, violet, and green- 
L. 12.00 inches 
blue intermingled ; wings and tail metallic 
March 15th 
violet and blue-black ; under parts similar 
to the back but lacking the lustre. Female without the 
71 
