32 THE BRONZED GRACKLE. 
No. 13. 
BRONZED GRACKLE. 
A. O. U. No. 511b. Quiscaius quiscula zneus (Ridgw.). 
Synonyms.—Crow BLACKBIRD. 
Description.—dAdult male: Lustrous black, exhibiting strongly three sorts 
of iridescence ; on the head, hind-neck and breast purple, peacock blue, or greenish ; 
on the remaining under parts and back brassy; on the wings and tail a curious 
combination of the two resulting in a shimmering violet- or purplish-blacis. 
ft-emale, somewhat similar, but a warm brown rather than black; subdued irides- 
cence shown chiefly on head and breast. Length 12.00-13.50 (304.8-342.9) ; av. 
of five Columbus males: wing 5.62 (142.8) ; tail 5.48 (139.2); bill 1.15 (29.2). 
Female smaller. 
Recognition Marks.—Little Hawk size; glossy black or brown plumage; 
tail long and rounded. 
Nest, a bulky but compact structure of sticks and stalks, plastered inside 
with mud, and lined with fine grasses; placed fifteen to thirty feet high in ever- 
green trees or in the orchard. Eggs, 4-6, sometimes 7, light blue or greenish 
blue, irregularly spotted, blotched, or “pen-marked” in zigzags and flourishes 
with purple or sepia. Av. size, 1.20 x .82 (30.5 x 20.8). 
General Range.—E astern United States from the Allegheny Mountains west 
to the Rocky Mountains, north from southern New England to Newfoundland 
and Great Slave Lake. . In migrations it invades the southeastern states, except 
Florida and the Atlantic sea coast south of Virginia. 
Range in Ohio.—A commonly distributed summer resident. Stragglers and 
occasional small companies winter in the state. 
AESOP tells of a Crow which, appropriating some cast-off feathers of a 
Peacock, succeeded in cutting quite a swath among his plain-hued friends. 
until a clever rival disclosed the sham and brought him into deserved contempt. 
The Crow Blackbird has improved upon the trick. Without trying to parade 
feathers manifestly too big for him, he has borrowed the Peacock’s sheen, and 
he struts about, in a manner accommodated to his surroundings, with all the 
Peacock’s pride. He is a handsome fellow. See him as in the full sunlight 
he submits a wing to the critical gaze of his coveted Juliet! Burnished brass, 
brass over steel, resplendent as a coat of mail! She approves, altho she will 
not say so. But, La! how insolent he is! She likes that too and snickers softly 
as he shouts down to you, “Jup, jwp—What are you doing here in my or- 
chard?” If one is taken unawares he is apt to stammer out, ““Why-why, I 
thought it was my orchard until you spoke.” 
For all he is so vain, no one ever accused the Grackle of being graceful. 
He is capable of bold, vigorous flight, but in the spring he chooses to exhibit 
the dimensions of his rudder-like tail, and sometimes he lets it swing him 
around in a small circle as though it were a weight from which he was strug- 
