174 GREAT CROW BLACKBIRD. 



to designate by their Gracula barita ; but after a careful review of the 

 short and unessential indications, respective synonymes, and habitat 

 given by different writers, we feel assured that they have not referred 

 to one and the same species. Thus, the barita of Linnd is a species not 

 found in the United States, but common in the West Indies, called Icte- 

 rus niger by Brisson, and afterwards Oriolus niger by Gmelin and 

 Latham : the barita of Latham, his Boat-tailed Grakle, is evidently the 

 same with the quiscala :* Gmclin's barita is taken partly from that of 

 Linn^, and partly from the Boat-tailed Grakle of Latham, being com- 

 pounded from both species : we shall not be at the trouble of decipher- 

 ing the errors of subsequent compilers. 



Ornithologists are all at variance, as to the classification of these spe- 

 cies. Linn^ and Latham improperly referred them to Gracida ;' Dau- 

 din, with no better reason, placed them under Sturnus ; Temminck 

 considers them as Icteri, Cuvier as Cassici, and Vieillot has formed a 

 new genus for their reception. I have no hesitation in agreeing with 

 the latter author, and adopt his name of Quiscalus ; but I add to the 

 genus, as constituted by him, the G-racula ferruginea^ which he regarded 

 as a Pendulinus, and which other authors have arranged in several 

 different genera, making of it a profusion of nominal species. Wilson 

 judiciously included that species in the same genus with those above 

 mentioned, although other authors had placed it in Tiirdus, Oriolus, &c. 



The genus Quiscalus is peculiar to America, and is composed of four 

 well ascertained species, three of which are found in the United States : 

 these are, Quiscalus maj'or,f versicolor, and ferrugineus ; the fourth, 

 Quiscalus baritus, inhabits the West Indies, and probably South 

 America. 



The species of this genus are gregarious, and omnivorous; their food 

 being composed of insects, corn, and small grains, thus assisting and 

 plundering the agriculturist at the same time. When the first European 

 settlements were formed in North America, the havoc made by these 

 birds and the Troopials in the grain fields, was so great, that a pre- 

 muim was given for their heads. Their destruction was easily effected, 

 as they are not shy, and are more easily approached as their numbers 

 decrease ; but the evil which resulted from exterminating so many of 

 these birds, was as unexpected as irremediable. The corn and pastures 

 were so devoured by worms and insects, that the inhabitants were 

 obliged to spare the birds, in order to avert a scourge which had been 

 previously unknown. As population increases, and a greater quantity 



* It was probably by Latham, that Mr. Ord was led to misapply the names of the 

 two species ; for, perceiving that the bari/a of that author was the qniscala, he 

 inferred, that the quisrala was the barita. 



t We call the present species Quiscalus major, agreeably to Vieillot, who cer- 

 tainly intended this bird, although his description is a mere indication. 



