PURPLE GRAKLE. 481 



The trachea is 3^ inches long, much flattened, from 3^ twelfths to 

 2^ twelfths in breadth ; its rings about 70, very thin, with 2 dimidiate 

 rings. The bronchi are wide, of about 12 very slender cartilaginous 

 half rings. The lateral muscles are slender, as are the sterno-tracheal 

 slips ; and there are four pairs of inferior laryngeal muscles. 



The digestive and respiratory organs of this bird do not diifer ma- 

 terially from those of the Crows, Starlings, and Thrushes, but the oeso- 

 phagus having a slight dilatation indicates some affinity to the Coni- 

 rostres. 



PURPLE GRAKLE OR COMMON CROW BLACKBIRD. 



QUISCALUS VERSICOLOR, ViEILLOT. 

 PLATE VII. Vol. I. p. 35. 



According to Dr Richakdson, this species reaches the plains of the 

 Saskatchewan in the beginning of May, in flocks of from twenty to a 

 hundred, the males and females separate ; and, as in Pennsylvania, se- 

 veral pairs nestle on the branches of the same tree. I have found it 

 dispersed over the country from Texas to Nova Scotia, but met with 

 none in Newfoundland or Labrador. It was not observed by Dr Town- 

 send on the Columbia River. 



Dr Bachman, who has seen it building in the hollows of trees, and 

 in abandoned nests of Woodpeckers, has observed it carrying grass and 

 mud for the construction of its nest. It breeds in like situations in 

 Louisiana, without using these materials ; and in the middle and north- 

 ern districts forms a fine, well-finished nest, such as I have described 

 in the article on this species in my first volume. The eggs measure 

 one inch and half an eighth in length, by five and a half eighths in 

 breadth, are of a bluish-white colour, blotched, streaked, and spotted 

 with brown and black. On the Florida Keys I found this species breed- 

 ing in low mangroves, in communities, along with the White-headed 

 Pigeon, Columba leucocephala, and thought that the glossy richness of 

 the plumage far exceeded that of our northern birds ; yet, on close exa- 

 mination, I could observe no other difiference in them. I have also 



VOL. V. H h 



