21G 



NORTH AMEUTCAN BIRDS. 



generally predominates, on the rump the violet; wings nn<l tall Mark, with violet re- 

 flection, more Ithiisli on th«* ltitt»'r; tlu' wing-t-overts fi<'(|ii"ntly tii»|»«'cl will) steel-bhie 

 or violt't. iJill, tarsi, and tors pun- lilaek ; iris siilphm-vi'llow. 



Hau. Atlantic States, north to Nova Scotia, west to the Alleghanies. 



This I'nriii is luoro liiihle to 

 variation than any other, the ar- 

 itiiii^einent of the metallic tints 

 varvin*; with the individual ; there 

 is never, however, an a]H)roaeh 

 to the shar|) definition and syin- 

 nietrieal pattern of eolnration char- 

 acteristic of the western race, 

 var. purpureus. Tijg female is a little less hril- 



liant than the male, and sli<,ditly smaller. The yuimg is entirely uniform 

 slaty-brt)wn, without j^loss. 



An extreme examjde of this race (:i2,5JG, Washington, D. C. ?) is almost 

 wlicdlv of a continuous rich pur[de, interrupte<l only on the interscapulars, 

 ^'.here, anteriorly, the purjde is overlaid l>y bright green, the feathers with 

 te -minal tiansverse bars of bluish. On the lower parts are scattered areas 

 of a more bluish tint. The j)ur|de is richest and of a reddish cast on the 

 neck, passing gradually into a bluish tint toward the bill; on the rump and 

 breast the purple has a somewhat bronzy ajjpearance. 



Habits. The common Crow lilackbird of the eastern United States ex- 

 hibits three well-markeil and permanently varying forms, which we present 

 as races. Yet these variations are so well marked and so constant that they 

 almost claim the right to be treated as si)ecifically distinct. We shall con- 

 sider them by themselves. They are the Purple Grakle, or common Crow 

 Blackbird, Qnmah's purpiurm ; the Bronzed Grakle, Q. cvni'Hn ; and the 

 Florida Grakle, Q. fn/Irrta^. 



The first of these, the well-known Crow Blackbird of the Atlantic States, 

 so far as we are now informed, has an area extendim; from Xorthern Florida 

 on the south to Maine, and from the Atlantic to the Alleghanies. ^Ir. Allen 

 states that the second form is the typical form of New England, but my ob- 

 servations do not confirm his statement. Both the eastern and the western 

 forms occur in Massachusetts, but the purpvreus alone seems to be a summer 

 resident, the aniens occurring only m tnnisitii, and, so far as I am now aware, 

 chiefiy in the fall. 



The Crow Blackbirds visit Massachusetts earlv in March and remain 

 until the latter part of September, those that are summer residents generally 

 departing before October. They are not abundant in the eastern part of the 

 State, and breed in small communities or by solitary pairs. 



In the Central States, especially in Peimsylvania and New Jersey, they are 

 much more abundant, and render themselves conspicuous and dreaded by 

 the farmers through the extent of their depredations on the crops. The evil 



