PURPLE GRAKLE. ^ 263 



VIII. GRAKLE. Gen. Birds, XV. 



Tequixqniacatzanatl *, Fertiaudtz M(x. 2!. ^., Purple, 



La Pie de la Jamaique, Briffbn, ii. 41. — De Buffon, iii. 97. -~W. Enl. 538. 



MeropsNigeriridefub-argentea, J?rflwaVy«»7a;fa, 476. 



Purple Jackdaw, Catejby, i. 12. — Latham, i. 462. 



Black Bird, Laiv/on, fp. 2d, \iq.— Shane Jamaica, ii. 299. 



Gracula Quifcula, I/a. 5y/. 165.— Bl. Mus.— Lev. Mus, 



GWith a black bill : filvery irides : head and neck black, 

 . gloffed over with a m'oft refplendent blue, variable as 

 oppofed to the light : back and belly, with green and copper-color, 

 growing more dufky towards the vent : tail long, and cuneiform : 

 legs black : wings and tail rich purple. Female entirely dulky ; 

 darkeft on the back, wings, and tail. 



Length of the male thirteen inches and a half: the Weight about Size. 

 fix ounces. Length of the female eleven inches and a half. 



Thefe birds inhabit the fame countries as the Red-wing Orioles, 

 and generally mingle with them. They fometimes keep feparate j 

 but ufually combine in their ravages among the plantations of maize. 

 After that grain is carried in, they feed on the feeds of the Water 

 Tare Graft, or Zizania aquatica. Their good qualities, in clearing the 

 country from noxious infedls, have been recited before, in page 

 mixed with the hiftory of their congenial companions* ; 



They appear in New Tork and Philadelphia in February, or the be- Place. 



ginning of March j and fit perched on trees near the farms, and give 

 a tolerably agreeable note. They alfo build in trees, ufually in re- 

 tired places, making their nefts externally with coarfe ftalks, inter- Nest. 



• i. e. The Salt Starling, becaufe ia Mexico it frequents the fait lakes. 



3 nally 



