380 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



5.40 (5.29), tail 4.60-5.20 (4.93), graduation of tail 1.00-1.35 (1.10), 

 exposed culmcn 1.19-1.30 (1.24), tarsus 1.35-1.47 (1.40). Eggs 1.12 

 X -78. Hab. Florida (chiefly southern portion), and west along 

 Gulf coast to Louisiana. 



511a. Q. quiscula aglaeus (BAIRD). Florida Grackle. 



6 7 . Plumage of body, above and below, perfectly uniform brassy olive or bronze, 

 never with mixed tints, and always very abruptly defined against the 

 color (steel-blue, violet, purple, or brassy green) of neck ; wing-coverts 

 never with mixed metallic tints ; wings and tail always purplish or 

 violet-purplish, never bluish. 



Length (male) about 12.00-13.50, wing 5.45-5.95 (5.65), tail 5.25-5.90 

 (5.52), graduation of tail 1.15-1.60 (1.36), exposed culmen 1.12-1.26 

 (1.17), tarsus 1.40-1.46 (1.44). Female: Length about 11.00-11.50, 

 wing 5.00-5.05, tail 4.80-4.90. Eggs 1.18 X .81. Hab. Eastern North 

 America, west of Alleghanies, including whole of New England 

 (except coast of Long Island Sound) ; north to Hudson's Bay, west 

 to Eocky Mountains, south to Louisiana (?) and Texas ; occasion- 

 ally east of Alleghanies, from Virginia northward. 



5116. Q. quiscula seneus (EiDow.). Bronzed Grackle. 1 



a 2 . Tail decidedly longer than wing; adult males without varied metallic tints, the 

 plumage being uniform glossy blue-black, or dark steel-blue, becoming grad- 

 ually more purplish anteriorly, or greenish, changing anteriorly to blue; 

 adult females exceedingly different from males, being very much smaller, the 

 plumage dusky brownish above, light brownish beneath. Nest a very bulky 

 structure of dried grasses, Spanish moss, etc., usually compacted together 

 with an internal plastering or stiffening of mud, built in low trees, or bushes, 

 in swampy situations. -Eggs 3-5, ovate or conic-ovate, pale bluish or green- 

 ish, pale drab, pale olive, dull purplish gray, etc., grotesquely lined with 

 black and brown. (Subgenus Megaquiscalus CASSIN.) 



b l . Bill stouter (greatest depth at base of gonys more than .40 in male, .35, or 

 more, in female), the tip decidedly decurved ; adult females dull dusky 

 brown above, the lower parts similar posteriorly, becoming paler an- 

 teriorly ; no distinct superciliary stripe. 

 c 1 . Adult male with tail 8.30, or more. 



Adult male with metallic gloss violet over all anterior portions, 

 including whole back, scapulars, lesser wing-coverts, and all of 

 lower parts except flanks and under tail-coverts ; length 17.00- 

 18.75, wing 7.35-8.00 (7.59), tail 8.30-9.35 (8.80), exposed cul- 

 men 1.47-1.69 (1.60). Adult female : Above dusky brown, with 

 a metallic greenish gloss, becoming more decidedly brown and 

 less glossy on head and neck ; superciliary stripe (sometimes 

 indistinct) and lower parts dull fulvous-brown, becoming more 

 buffy on chin and throat and dusky on flanks and under tail- 



1 With scarcely a doubt, a distinct species from Q. quiscula. 



