288 NOTES ON THE 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Bill stout, quiscaline, the commissure scarcely sinuated; 
shorter than the head and hind toe; the height nearly half the 
length above; wing nearly an inch longer than the tail; the 
second quill longest; first about equal to the third; tail rounded 
and moderately graduated; the lateral feathers about thirty- 
five one-hundredths of an inch shorter; general color of male 
black, with lustrous green reflections everywhere except on 
the head and neck, which are glossed with purplish-violet; 
females much duller, of a light brownish anteriorly; a very 
faint superciliary stripe. 
Length, 10; wing, 5.35; tail, 4.40. 
Habitat, United States, from eastern Kansas and Minnesota. 
to the Pacific; south into Mexico; breeds througout its United 
States range. 
QUISCALUS QUISCULA (L.). (511.) 
PURPLE GRACKLE. 
This very common bird it seems to me has claims upon our 
admiration which have scarcely been acknowledged. Coming 
back to us after the long silence of the winter one of the first, 
and remaining until about the very latest in autumn, essaying 
sometimes to remain all winter, he should awaken our best 
appreciation of him if for nothing more than these reasons, 
but he is a beautiful bird, and has the regal grace in his 
demeanor that shames the strut of the peacock. The flight is 
more than ordinarily graceful, in the shorter ones of which he 
displays a characteristic peculiarity exhibited by no other 
bird I know of, namely folding the tail so as to present a per- 
pendicular rudder-like appearance, still preserving its sym- 
metry perfectly. To do this there must be some specialized 
muscles that depress the central line of the tail while others 
elevate the borders, thus bringing the two halves of the upper 
surface in close contact, and the under surface converted into 
two, looking in opposite directions. 
The coverts preserve their perfect symmetry while they give 
great firmness to the unique aerial rudder of as graceful a 
craft as sails the summer air. They arrive in Minnesota about 
the 25th of March in small flocks or parties and are at once 
domiciled and ‘‘at home” for the season. Their distribution is 
universal and their breeding places only less so. After finding 
their nests ina great variety of places Iam satisfied they choose 
the vicinity of dwellings not already pre-empted by comrades 
or foes, as I find them common in the very heart of the city 
where there is room enough for the colony. 
