BIRDS OF NEW YORK 245 



Quiscalus quiscula quiscula (Linnaeus) 

 Purple Grackle 



Plate 74 



Gracula quiscula Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. 10. 1 758. 1 : 109 

 Quiscalus versicolor DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 136. (part) 

 Quiscalus quiscula quiscula A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 239. 



No. 511 



quiscalus, quiscula, forms of the same word, of uncertain origin; perhaps from the 

 Spanish, a worthless fellow (quisquilla) ; perhaps like the common name grackle, an 

 onomatopoeon 



Description. Tail long and rounded; whole plumage appears black 

 in the distance but on a close inspection the head, neck and upper breast a 

 rich, purplish blue, with metallic green reflection; back, rump and a portion 

 of the under parts rich purple with bronzy and bluish iridescence, each 

 feather of the back showing rainbows of peacock blue, purplish and bronze; 

 the wings and tail bluish purple with green and brassy iridescence. The 

 female smaller and much duller, especially below, the lower breast and belly 

 being greenish brown with purplish and bronzy reflections. 



Length 9 12 inches; c? 12.50-13.50; extent 17-18; wing 5.6-5.8; tail 

 5.2-5.4; bill 1. 2-1. 35; tarsus 1.45. 



Distribution. The Purple grackle inhabits the Atlantic coastal region 

 from Connecticut, Long Island and the lower Hudson valley to the high- 

 lands of Georgia and Alabama and winters in the southern states; not 

 found west of the Alleghanies except in the south. The range of this 

 subspecies in New York overlaps the range of the Bronzed grackle, and, 

 as one would expect, on the border line there are many intermediate forms 

 which can scarcely be assigned with certainty either to the Purple grackle 

 or Bronzed grackle but must be labeled intermediate specimens. Almost 

 all the specimens from Long Island except in migration time are typical 

 of the Purple grackle, but sometimes of " phase 3 " as Chapman calls it 

 in his review of the species. In the Hudson valley as far north as Ossining, 

 at least, the residents are fairly typical of the subspecies; further north 

 intermediates become more common. Phase no. 3 is sometimes found 

 as far north as Troy but intermediates and the second or first phase of the 

 Bronzed grackle are more common in the upper Hudson valley, the birds. 



