214 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Oolarat/o/ 1. ^B\sLcMsh, with glossy sheen of various strongly con- 

 trasted metallic hues of green, blue, violet, purple, and bronze; the 

 female smaller and less brilliant in color than the male. 



Hange.— Eastern North America. (Monotypici)' 



KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES OF QUISCALUS. 



a. Plumage of back, scapulars, rump, and under parts of body varied with several 



metallic hues, dark bronzy green or purplish bronze prevailing; lesser and 



middle wing-coverts violet or purple, tipped with metallic blue, green, or bronze. 



b. Larger, except bill and feet; wing of adult male averaging 143.8, tail 135.6; 



adult female averaging, wing 127.8, tail 112; individual variation in plumage 



very great. (Atlantic coast district of United States, from eastern end of 



Long Island Sound to South Carolina; eastern Tennessee; occasional in lower 



Mississippi Valley ?) ttniscalus quiscula quiscula (p. 215) 



bb. Smaller, except bill and feet; adult male averaging, wing 133.1, tail 121.1; 

 adult female averaging, wing 119, tail 106.2; individual variation in plum- 

 age very slight. (Peninsula of Florida and along Gulf coast to Louisiana.) 



Qniscalns quiscxila aglseua (p. 217) 

 au. Plumage of back, scapulars, rump, and under parts of body perfectly uniform 

 bronze or brassy olive; lesser and middle wing-coverts entirely bronzy purple 

 or purplish bronze. (Whole interior of North America and whole of New 

 England (except coast of Long Island Sound) and northward; south to Texas, 

 west to Rocky Mountains; occasional during migration along Atlantic coast.) 



Quiscalus qniscala' eenens (p. 219) 



When the real distinctive characters of Q. q. quiscula and Q. q. 

 ceneus are kept in mind there should not be the slightest difficulty in 

 recognizing them as very distinct forms. In the first place, it is impor- 

 tant to know that the color of the head, neck, and chest is not of the 

 slightest value as a distinctive character, since it varies equally in both 

 forms, from golden green to reddish purple. In Q. q. quiscula, how- 

 ever, the brilliant color of the head, neck, and chest, while often very 

 sharply defined posteriorly, gives way to a color which varies from 

 dark bronzy green to violet-purple, but always more or less broken by 

 other metallic colors, largely in the form of bars of diflferent hues upon 

 the individual feathers, while the lesser and middle wing-coverts are 

 tipped with a metallic color (blue passing through green into bronze 

 or golden terminally) conspicuously different from the violet-purple 

 of the basal portion. In-^. q. mneus, on the other hand, the brilliant 

 color of the head, neck, and chest (whether it be violet, blue, green, 

 or brassy) gives way at once to a golden bronze or brassy hue, which 

 extends, absolutely unbroken by other hues, over the entire back, 

 scapulars, rump, and under parts of the body (except chest), while the 

 smaller wing-coverts are either wholly reddish purple or else tipped 

 with golden bronze, never with blue nor green. 



Q. q. aglcBus is not distinguishable as to coloration from many exam- 

 ples of Q. q. quiscula, the differences consisting in its smaller size with 



'If Q. smeus be considered a subspecies of Q. quiscula, then the genus is monotypic; 

 otherwise it consists of two species. 



