144 GOLDEN -EARED GRAKLE. 



shoulder-covers, there is a strong tinge of blue, 

 glossed with purple. The shoulder-covers, however, 

 are not scale-like, and their colour Mends into the 

 green of the wings. At the top of each of the 

 lesser and greater covers is a large spot of deep 

 velvet-hlack, which thus forms two bands. .Across 

 the middle of the lesser and tertial quills is a broad 

 uninterrupted bar of the same deep black, dividing 

 these quills, as it were, into two parts, that nearest 

 the base being entirely green, while the other is 

 tinged with rich purple : the greater quills are 

 without any band. The base of the tail, in like 

 manner, is crossed for about two-thirds its breadth 

 with a similar band, which is glossed with purple 

 on the lateral feathers, leaving the terminal portion 

 green. The tail-covers are unusually long, extend- 

 ing on the tail more than one inch and a quarter 

 beyond the tip of the wings, another character 

 which distinguishes it from its congeners. Between 

 the bill and the eye is a stripe of velvet black. The 

 feathers on the ears and sides of the head are very 

 small and scale-like, and of a rich purple, but they 

 terminate in a shining spot of a golden copper 

 colour. The under plumage is very different from 

 the upper, for it has no green reflections : the pre- 

 valent hue is of the darkest and most beautiful 

 purple-lilac from the chin to the vent, except in the 

 middle of the body, which is strongly glossed, in all 

 lights, with yellowish copper; not so bright, how- 

 ever, as the spot on the ears : the under tail-covers 

 alone are green : the tail is rounded. Independent 



