ICTERID/K — THE 0RI0LE8. 023 



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Adult female. Smallor. Upper parts dark brown, lighter on the head and neck hchind ; 

 darker and nearly a dull lilack on llic Iowlm- [lart of the ljauk*uid upper tail-coverts ; inide 

 parts lighter, dull yellowish-brown ; tibia; and under tail-eoverts darker; win;j;s and tail 

 (hill bniwnish-blaek ; upper parts rre(|uently with a sliglii jireeuish lustre. Total lenirlh, 

 about 12.0(1; wing, iJ.oO to (i.OO; tail, o.')!!. (Cassin.) 



Hah. Coast region of South Atlantic and Gulf States of North America. Galveston 

 anil Houston, Te.\as (Dkesseu, Ibis, IStio, 4'J-.1:). 



Haiuts. The Bnat-tailed flrakle, or Jackdaw, of the Southern States, is 

 fotiiid in all the maritinie ])()rtiuns of the States that l)order both on the 

 Atlantic and tiie Gulf of Mexico, from Ncn'th Carolina to liio (irande. In 

 Western Te.xas it does not seem to be aljundant. Lieuteniint Conch met 

 with only a single si»ecimen at I'rownsville, in company with (J. macrwrns. 

 j\Ir. ])re8.ser, when at Houston and at Galveston in INIay and June, 18G4, no- 

 ticed several of these birds. Mr. Salvin mentions finding them as far sontli 

 as i\w. Keys of the Belize coast. 



We learn from the ob,servations of Mr. Audubon that this species is more 

 particularly attached to the maritime jiortions of the country. It rarely 

 goes fartlier inland than forty or fifty mile's, following the marshy banks of 

 the larger streams. It occurs in great abundance in the lower portions of 

 Louisiana, tiiough not found so high up the Mississippi as Natchez. It also 

 abounds in the Sea Islands on the coast of the Carolina.s, and in the low- 

 lands of South Carolina, Cieorgia, and Florida. 



Dr. Cones states that this species hardly occurs in any abundance north of 

 the Carolinas, and that it is restricted to a narrow belt along the coast of the 

 occcan and gulf, from North Caridina throughout our entire shore to Mexico. 

 He supposed it to stop there, and to be replaced by tiie macrnrus. Though 

 the larger projjortion of these liirds pass beyond our southern bouiularies to 

 spend the winter, a few, chielly old males, are resident in North Carolina 

 throughout the year. In the spring the I'emales are the fir.st to a])pcar. Just 

 before the mating has taken place, the Hocks of the.se birds are said to exe- 

 (Uite sudden and unaccountal)le evolutions, as if guided by some su'.gle com- 

 manding sjiirit; now hovering uncertain, then dashing impidsivc, now veering 

 in an instant, and at last taking a long, steady (light towards some distant 

 point. During this jieriod, Dr. Cones fiu'ther infori:;s us, their voices crack, 

 and they utter a curious medley of notes from baas to falsetto, a jingling, 

 unnuisical jargon that is indescribable. * 



The laying-sea-son is said to be at its height during the latter part of 

 April. Ho found in no instance more than six eggs in a nest, nor less 

 than three. He thinks that they have two, and perhaps three, broods in 

 a season, as he found it not uncommon to meet with newly fledged birds 

 in Se])tember. 



These birds are eminently gregarious at all seasons of the year, and at 

 certain seasons assemltle in large flocks. They are omnivorous, eating both 

 insects and grain, and are alternately benefactors and plunderers of the 



