212 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



few on Vancouver Island in the yards wliere cattle were fed, and a small 

 nunilicr IVeciucntcd tin* mule-cani}) nn the Sunias ])rairie. East of the 

 Cascades lie met none except at Cnlville, wliere a small ilock had wintered 

 in a settler's cowyartl. TIk'V aj>])eared to have a great liking for the pres- 

 ence of those animals, arising from their finding more food and insects 

 there than elsewhere, walking between their legs, and even perching upon 

 their hacks. 



Cajttain lilakiston found this sjiecies breeding on the forks of the Sas- 

 katchewan, June *>, 1838, where he obtained its eggs. 



Genus QUISCALUS, Vieillot. 



QuiscalKs, Vieillot, Analyse, 1816 (Guay). (Type, Grucula quiscala, L.) 



Sp. Char. Bill as loner as the head, the culmen sliijhtly curved, the j^onys almost 

 straight ; the edges of the bill iullectcd and rounded ; the commissure quite strongly 



Qithm/iis I'ltrpnrens. 



sinuatod. Outlines of tarsal soutellse 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 lilack color, 

 at once distincruishes this genus from any other in the United States. Two 

 types may l)e distinguished: one Qviscfdus, in which the females are much 

 like the males, although a little smaller and perhaps with rather less lustre ; 

 the otiier, Mr/ptfjiriscnhLs, much larger, with the tail more graduated, the 

 females considerably smaller, and of a brown or rusty color. The Qin'srali 

 are all from North America or the West Indies (including Trinidad) ; none 

 having been positively determined as South American. The Mcfiaquiscali 

 are ^lexican and Gulf species entirely, while a third group, the Holoqiiiscab', 

 is West Indian. 



