216 NOUTIl AMKIUUAN BIRDS. 



gonernlly predominates, on tlie rump the violet ; wings imd lull lilaek, with violet re- 

 llectioii, more lihiish on the lutler; llie wiiiji-coverls IVec|nent!y tipped with Kteei-bhie 

 or violet, liill, tarsi, and Iocs pnre lilaci< ; iris sidpiiin-yclli)w. 



Hab. Atlantic Stales, norlii to Nova Scotia, west to tlie .Vilef^lianies. 



This t'orni is nioro liaMo to 

 variation than any otiicr, tho ar- 

 nmyenicnt oi' tlin mi'tallic tinta 

 varyino; with tin; indivichial ; thi;ro 

 is never, however, an a])i>roach 

 to the sharp definition and sym- 

 metrical pattern of coh nation char- 

 acteristic of the western race, 

 var. purp„r,us. ^hc female is a little less bril- 



liant than the male, and .slightly smaller. Tlie young is entirely uniloim 

 slaty-brown, without gloss. 



An e.Ktremo example of this race {'2'2,')'2C), Washington, D. C. ?) is almost 

 wholly of a continuous rich pur[)le, interrupted only on tiie inter.scapulars, 

 where, anteriorly, the purple is overlaid l)y bright green, the featliers with 

 terminal transverse bars of bluish. On the lower parts are scattered areas 

 of a more bluish tint. The ])urple 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 somewliat bronzy appearance. 



H.VBiTs. The common Cow BL jkbird of the eastern United States e\- 

 liibits three well-marked ami permanently varying ibrms, wiiicli we present 

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

 almost claim the right to be treated as specifically distinct. We shall con- 

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

 Blackbird, Quiiicaliin piirj)itirm ; the Bronzed Grakle, Q. ccnciai ; and the 

 Florida Grakle, (J. fi(//rnin. 



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

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

 on the .south to Maine, and from the Atlantic to the AUeghauies. ^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 Massachu.setts, but the purpurcus alone seems to be a summer 

 resident, the cvncus occurring only in transitu, and, so far as I am now aware, 

 chiefly in tiie fall. 



The Crow Blackbirds visit Massachusetts early in March and remain 

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

 departing Ijefore October. Tlu^y 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 Pennsylvania 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 



