QyiSCALUS PURPUREUS : CROW BLACKBIRD. 309 



PURPLE GRACKLE; CROW BLACKBIRD. 

 QUISCALUS PURPUREUS (Bartr.) Licht. 



Chars. Male : Entire plumage iridescent black, with various pur- 

 ple-green and steel-blue reflections. Length, 12.00-13.00; extent, 

 about 18.00 ; wing and tail, each, 5.00-6.00, the former rather 

 longer than the latter; bill, 1.25; tarsus, 1.35; tail graduated 

 1.00-1.50. Female: Smaller. Length, about 1 1.50 ; wing, about 

 5.00 ; tail, about 4.50. Blackish-brown in color, with more or 

 less lustre. 



Crow Blackbirds may be seen anywhere in New 

 England during the greater part of the year, being 

 entirely absent only in December and January. A 

 few commonly reach our limits the latter part of Feb- 

 ruary, though they are not common until April, unless 

 it be in the extreme south. They thin out in Octo- 

 ber, and disappear the following month. Being char- 

 acteristic of no faunal area, they breed at large in 

 New England, generally assembling for that purpose 

 in chosen spots, where so many may congregate as 

 make quite a rookery, like some of their corvine allies 

 of Europe. The nest is placed in trees at any height, 

 preferably conifers or other thick-foliaged kinds ; gen- 

 erally on the boughs, but sometimes in a hollow. In 

 some sections it is placed in hollow stubs, in low trees 

 near water, and even in bushes. The nest is loose 

 and bulky, of twigs and other coarse materials, to 

 which mud may be added. The structures are gen- 

 erally completed and the eggs laid by the latter part 

 of May. The courtships of the males seem very 

 ludicrous to a dispassionate observer, being conducted 

 with the most grotesque actions and attitudes, as well 



