THE CROW BLACKBIRD. 53 
THE CROW BLACEKBIRD.! 
( Quiscalus quiscula. ) 
Throughout the Eastern States and Mississippi Valley the grackle, 
or crow blackbird, is one of the most familiar and conspicuous birds. 
It appears in spring and early summer about farmhouses and villages, 
where it finds its favorite nesting places. Five different kinds occur 
within our borders, but the present paper is concerned only with the 
common purple grackle (Quéscalus guiscula) and its two subspecies, the 
bronzed grackle (Quéscalus g. eneus) and the Florida grackle (Quzsea/us 
q. agleus). The purple grackle is abundant in the region east of the 
Alleghenies as far north as New York, and is found sparingly in New 
Fie. 6.—Crow Blackbird. 
»» England. The Florida grackle is distributed over the region extend- 
ing from the coast of South Carolina southward into the peninsula of 
Florida and westward to Louisiana. The bronzed grackle occupies 
the Mississippi Valley and Great Plains as far west as the Rocky Moun- 
tains, ranges northward to Great Slave Lake and southern Newfound- 
land, and east to the coast of southern New England. 
In Canada and the Northern Uniied States the crow blackbird is 
only asummer resident, but in the Southern States it is present 
throughout the year, and in winter its numbers are increased hy mil- 
lions of migrants from the North, which find here a congenial winter 
Revised and republished from the Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture for 
1894, pp. 233-248, with the addition of new material. 
