324 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



"The females and immature males differ from the adult males 

 in much the same points as S. ferrugineus except that the "rusty" 

 markings are less prominent and more grayish. The differences 

 generally between the two species are very appreciable. Thus, in 

 S. cyanocephalus, the bill, though of the same length, is much 

 higher and broader at the base, as well as more linear in its upper 

 outline; the point, too, is less decurved. The size is every way 

 larger. The purplish gloss, which in ferrugineus is found on most 

 of the body except the wings and tail, is here confined to the head 

 and neck, the rest of the body being of a richly lustrous and 

 strongly marked green, more distinct than that on the wings and 

 tail of ferrugineus. In one specimen only, from Santa Bosalia, 

 Mexico, is there a trace of purple on some of the wing and tail 

 feathers." (Hist. N. Am. B.) 



This species can scarcely be considered as more than a straggler 

 to Illinois. At least the writer is unable to cite many records of 

 its occurrence, while he has himself seen but a single specimen, a 

 female shot at Mount Carmel in December, 1866, and now in the col- 

 lection of the National Museum, at Washington. 



GENUS QUISCALUS VIEILLOT. 



Quiscalus VIEILLOT, Analyse, 1816, 36. Type Gracula quiscala LINN. 



Megaquiscalus CASS. Proc. Phil. Ac. Sci. March, 1866,409. Type Quiscalus major VIEILL. 



Holoquiscalus CASS. t. c. p. 404. Type Gracula barita LINN. 



"Sp. CHAR. Bill as long as the head, the culmen slightly curved, the gonys alm'ost 

 straight; the edges of the bill inflected and rounded; the commissure quite strongly sin- 

 uated. Outlines of tarsal scutellas well defined on the sides; tail long, boat-shaped, or 

 capable of folding so that the two sides can almost be brought together upward, the 

 feathers conspicuously and decidedly graduated, their inner webs longer than the outer. 

 Color black. 



"The excessive graduation of the long tail, with the perfectly 

 black color, at once distinguishes this genus from any other in the 

 United States. Two types may be distinguished : one, Quiscalus, in 

 which the females are much like the males, although a little smaller 

 and perhaps with rather less lustre ; the other, Megaquiscalus, much 

 larger, with tail more graduated, the females considerably smaller, 

 and of a brown or rusty color. The Quiscali are all from North 

 America or the West Indies (including Trinidad) ; the Megaquisccdi 

 are Mexican and Gulf species entirely; while a third group, the 

 Holoquiscali, is West Indian." (Hist. N. Am. B.) 



