ICTERII)^ — TIIK ORIOLES. 



221 



Tar. agliii^ugi Daihd. 



FLOBIDA OBAKLE. 



Qiiiseahm hfirilim, B.vilin, ninls N. Am. IS.I.s, .'i.'id, pi. xxxii (not of Liw.K Qiiitrnlii.i 

 (ill/till/!, liAiitn, Am. Jour. Sii. lS{i(i, 81. — C'as.sin, I'r. A. N. S. lS()(i, 14. - IJinn- 

 WAY, I'r. A. \. S. KSdO, 135. Q. imrpui-ius, Ai.i.kn, 1!. K. l-'Ia. 291. 



F>p. CiiAn. Lfii}:ili, KUIO; win':, 'i.'iO ; tail, .'j.12; culinen, 1.40 ; Uusu.s 1.40. Second 

 iiiiil lliird .|uills tMiiiiil and loinjc.^t ; Ihvt .shorter 

 tliaii loiirth ; projeelion of |iriniarie.s licyond 

 sceondaries, 1.12; jrraduation of tail, 1.00. 



liill very .^lender and I'loiijrated, the lip of 

 iipjier iiiandiliie abruptly deeiirvod; eomiuis- 

 sure VL-ry ref;tdar. 



^[('tallic tints very ilark. Head .ind nock 

 .ill lound Avell denned violucoous .stc'cl-bluo, 

 the head nui.st hhiisli, the neek more purplish 

 and with a bronzy ca!.;l in front; body miiform ^'"'■- n^'a-iw. 



soft, dull, bronzy greeni.sh-blaek. .scarcely lustrous ; wings, npper tail-covert.s, and tail 

 blackish steel-blue, the wing-covcrls tipped with vivid violet-bronze; bell}' and cri.ssuni 

 glossed with blue. 



TIab. South Florida. 



Tlii.s race is (Hiito. well nmrked, though it grades insensibly into tlie vav. 

 pttrimrciifi. Tt (lifters from both tliat and ameus in mutdi smaller size, with 

 nutre slender and more decurved bill. 



The arraiinement of the colors is much as in tlie larger western species, 

 wliile the tints are most like those of the eastern. All the colors are, how- 

 ever, darker, but at the same time softer thivn in either of the others. 



Tn form this sjtecies approaches nearest the western, agreeing with it in 

 the primaries, slender bill, and more graduated tiul, and, indeed, its relations 

 in every respect aj)pear to be with this rather than the eastern. 



This race was lirst described from specimens collected at Key Biscayne 

 by Mr. Wurdemann, in April, 18')?, iind in ISo.S, and is the smallest of the 

 gemis witiiin onr limits. The wing and ttiil eac.ii are about an inch shorter 

 than ill the other varieties of pnrpiireva. The bill, however, is much longer 

 and more slender, and tlie ti]) considerably more produced and decurved. 

 The feet are stouter and much coarser, tlie ])iids of the toes very scabrous, 

 as if to assist in holding slippery substances, a feature scarcely seen in 

 purpnirus} 



1 A series of twenty-nine .siiociinens of Q. ^nirpureux from Florida, has hei'ii kindly furnished 

 for examination by Mr. C. J. Maynard, chiefly from tlm northern and middle portions of the 

 State, and consequently intermediate between the varieties lUjlitun and purpiiiviM. In color, 

 however, they are nearly all es.sentially, most of them typically, like the former ; but vi size 

 and proportions they .scarcely dill'er from more northern specimens of the latt<T. Their common 

 and nearly constr.nt foatiu'cs of coloration are, uniform Hoft dark greenish body, with blue tinge 

 on belly, and bluiah-grecn tail-coverts and tail, violet head, more blue anteriorly and more bronzy 



