506 LIFE HISTOEIES OF JSTOETH AMEEICAN BIRDS. 



The ground color is usually pale greenish blue, and is often more or less 

 clouded over with purple vinaceous and smoky pale umber tints, which are 

 usually heaviest and most pronounced about the smaller end of the egg. The 

 markings consist mainly of coarse, irregularly shaped lines and tracings of dif- 

 ferent shades of dark brown, black, and smoky gray, and less-defined tints of 

 plumbeous. In rare instances an egg is found which is only faintly marked 

 with a few indistinct lines of lavender gray about the small end, the rest of the 

 shell being immaculate. They are mostly elongate ovate in shape; a few are 

 blunt ovate, while others approach a cylindrical ovate. 



The average measurement of ninety -three specimens in the United States 

 National Museum collection is 32.18 by 21.75 millimetres, or about 1.27 by 0.86 

 inches. The largest egg in the series measures 36.58 by 22.61 millimetres, or 

 1.44 by 0.89 inches; the smallest, 28.19 by 20.57 millimetres, or 1.11 by 0.81 

 inches. 



The type specimen, No. 20290 (PI. 7, Fig. 28), from a set of three eggs, 

 was taken by Dr. James C. Merrill, United States Army, near Fort Brown, 

 Texas, on May 17, 1877, and represents a small-sized and dark-colored egg 

 of this species. No. 25626 (PI. 7, Fig. 29), also from a set of three, Ralph 

 collection, was taken near Brownsville, Texas, on May 21, 1891, and shows a 

 well-marked and average-sized egg. 



197. Quiscalus major Vieillot. 



BOAT-TAILED ORACKLE. 



Quiscalus major Vieillot, Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Xaturelle, XXVIII, 1819, 487. 

 (B 420, C 224, B 277, C 334, U 513.) 



Geographical range : South Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, from 

 Maryland southward; west to southeastern Texas. Casual in southern Xew Jersey. 



The Boat-tailed Grackle, also locally known as the "Thrush Blackbird," 

 "Boat-tailed Blackbird," and "Jackdaw," is an abundant resident in the southern 

 portions of its range, along the coast and on the islands of South Carolina, 

 Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana. In the northern parts of its range, 

 which extends well into Maryland (Kent County), on the shores of Chesapeake 

 Bay, it is only a summer visitor, but some of these birds winter in suitable locali- 

 ties in Virginia and North Carolina. It has also been observed in the vicinity of 

 Cape May, New Jersey, in the summer, and possibly it breeds there in small num- 

 bers. It is known to breed at Pomona, Maryland, the most northern record I am 

 aware of. It is not uncommon on several islands off the coast of Virginia, and 

 a large colony was observed nesting on one of the small islands in Chesapeake 

 Bay by Mr. Theodore W. Richards. Mr. H. Nehrling found it breeding in the 

 vicinity of Houston, Texas, which marks about the western limit of its range; 

 here it overlaps the eastern range of the preceding species. 



Like the rest of the Grackles, they are gregarious and sociable in their 

 habits, breeding together in colonies in suitable localities, and roving about 



