440 Wayne, South Carolina Bird Notes. [o^t. 



sound found the bird perched upon a tall water oak tree in a large forest. 

 Although the ponds were frozen over this bird was calling as though it was 

 the month of May or June, and it was indeed an anomaly! I collected the 

 bird. The specimen is in fine, unworn plumage and was very fat. Had 

 I not shot this bird it would have undoubtedly wintered. It is now in 

 my collection. 



Quiscalus quiscula seneus. Bronzed Grackle. — I shot on March 

 14, 1918, a superb adult male of this bird near Mount Pleasant. I was 

 following some Florida Grackles through a large dense swamp trying to 

 collect a large male, but the birds were so wild it was difficult to get within 

 range. At last I hid behind a large tree and a large bird came within range 

 which I promptly shot. Upon securing it I was surprised to find that I had 

 at last taken a Bronzed Grackle, which is an addition to the fauna ot the 

 coast. 



The Bronzed Grackle is without doubt a species, as I cannot find any 

 intergradation among specimens taken from South Carolina to Kansas. 



Quiscalus quiscula quiscula. Carolina Grackle. — The type local- 

 ity of this Grackle is stated to be South Carolina founded on The Purple 

 Jack Daw, Monedula purpurea. Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina, I, 1731, 12, 

 pi. 12, in Linnaeus' Syst. Nat., ed. 10, I, 1758, 109. 



An examination of the text of Catesby's book, however, proves con- 

 clusively that the birds to which he refers were in reality the Florida 

 Grackle (Quiscalus q. aglosus). Catesby's birds undoubtedly came from 

 the coast of South Carolina. He says: "They make their Nests on the 

 branches of trees in all parts of the country, but most in remote and un- 

 frequented places; from whence in Autumn, after a vast increase, they 

 assemble together, and come amongst the Inhabitants in such numbers 

 that they sometimes darken the air, and are seen in continued flights for 

 miles together, making great devastation of grain [rice] where they light." 

 The Florida Grackle belongs strictly to the region near or adjacent to the 

 coast, but always avoiding salt water; its nest is invariably built in trees 

 or in low bushes over water, but never in woodpecker holes or in natural 

 cavities of trees. The Florida Grackle therefore becomes the type of the 

 genus with the type locality fixed as the coast of South Carolina, and I 

 suggest the name'of Carolina Grackle for the species. 



This will leave the Purple Grackle without a name, the earliest available 

 one seems to be versicolor Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., XXVIII, 

 1819, 488 (North America). The name of the Purple Grackle will there- 

 fore be Quiscalus quiscula versicolor Vieillot, and the Carolina (i. e. Florida) 

 Grackle, Quiscalus quiscula quiscula Linnaeus. 



Passerculus princeps. Ipswich Sparrow. — I made three trips to 

 Long Island (Isle of Palms) in the autumn and winter of 1917 and each 

 trip represented a walk of fifteen miles over low sand hills. It was not 

 until my last visit on December 28 that I was able to detect even one 

 of these birds which was secured after a long chase. This bird, although 

 a young male of the year, has the superciliary stripe marked somewhat 



