THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 69 



ish white, slightly mottled on the sides; long wing feath- 

 ers and tail, dusky. Sexes alike. 



Its breeding location is in the north ; it appears in New 

 Jersey shortly after the first of October; large numbers 

 continue on their flight further south, generally passing 

 over the interior part of the state ; considerable numbers, 

 however, remain all winter, not leaving until the latter 

 part of April. Their food while here is composed princi- 

 pally of sea cabbage and the roots of sedge. 



Goose, Greater Snow. Size the same as the Canada 

 Goose; plumage everywhere pure white; except the long 

 wing feathers, which are black; bill and feet, red. Young 

 birds are more or less mottled with gray, especially on the 

 upper parts. There is often a rusty stain on the feathers 

 of the head. It is very seldom seen in New Jersey pass- 

 ing over the state at times in the annual migration from 

 Greenland to the south and return. 



Greenback. See Golden Plover. 



Grackle^ Bronzed, or Croiv Blackbird. This bird 

 is seen in New Jersey only in migrations, and is very 

 closely related to the following, in the description of which 

 the distinguishing points are given. 



Grackle, Purple, or Crow Blackbird. Length, 

 twelve inches; extent, eighteen inches; bill, one and one- 

 fifth inches. When seen at a distance this bird appears 

 plain black, but at reasonably close range its plumage is 

 at once seen to be resplendent with metallic hues of green, 

 blue and purple. There is great individual variation in 

 color and one style grades gradually into another. 



The head, neck and breast are generally uniform, either 

 metallic, green, blue or red-purple, while the back and 

 lower breast are generally mottled with all three tints; 

 the rump is bronze and the wings and tail purplish. The 

 Bronzed Grackle, a very closely related bird, has the 



