3 jo February 1749. 



purple colour, and their tips are round ; thofc 

 on the outiide are the fhorteft, and the middle 

 extremely long. When the tail is fpread, it looks 

 round towards the extremity. The throat is 

 blueifh green, and fhining; the breaft is like- 

 wife black or fhining green, according as you 

 turn it to the light ; the belly is blackifh, and 

 the vent feathers are obfcurely purple-coloured ; 

 the parts of the breaft and belly which are cover- 

 ed by the wings, are purple-coloured ; the wings 

 are black below, or rather footy ; and the thighs 

 have blackifti feathers ; the legs (tibia) ', and 

 the toes are of a mining black. It has four 

 toes, as moft birds have. The claws are black, 

 and that on the back toe is longer than the reft. 

 Dr. Linnaeus calls this bird Gracula qidfcula. 



A FEW of thefe birds are faid to winter in 

 fwamps, which are quite overgrown with thick 

 woods ; and they only appear in mild weather, 

 But the greateft number go to the fouth at ths 

 approach of winter. To-day I faw them, for 

 the firft time this year. They flew in great 

 flocks already. Their chief and moft agreeable 

 food is maize. They come in great fwarms in 

 fpring, foon after the maize is put under ground. 

 They fcratch up the grains of maize, and eat 

 them. As foon as the leaf comes out, they take 

 hold of it with their bills, and pluck it up, to- 

 gether with the corn or grain ; and thus they 

 give a great deal of trouble to the country people, 

 even fo early in Ipring. To leffen their greedi- 

 nefs of maize, fome people dip the grains of that 

 plant in a decodl. of the root of the veratrum al- 

 bum, or white hellebore, (of which I fhall fpeak 



in 



