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PURPLE GRAKLE, OR COMMON CROW-BLACKBIRD. 



QuiSCALUS VERSICOLOR, Vieill. 



PLATE CCXXI Male and Female. 



I could not think of any better mode of representing these birds than that 

 which I have adopted, as it exhibits them in the exercise of their nefarious 

 propensities. Look at them: The male, as if full of delight at the sight of 

 the havoc which he has already committed on the tender, juicy, unripe corn 

 on which he stands, has swelled his throat, and is calling in exultation to his 

 companions to come and assist him in demolishing it. The female has fed 

 herself, and is about to fly off with a well-loaded bill to her hungry and 

 expectant brood, that, from the nest, look on their plundering parents, 

 joyously anticipating the pleasures of which they shall ere long be allowed 

 to participate. See how torn the husk is from the ear, and how nearly 

 devoured the grains of corn already are! This is the tithe our Blackbirds 

 take from our planters and farmers; but it was so appointed, and such is the 

 will of the beneficent Creator. 



These birds are constant residents in Louisiana. I say they are so, because 

 numbers of them, which in some countries would be called immense, are 

 found there at all seasons of the year. No sooner has the cotton or corn 

 planter begun to turn his land into brown furrows, than the Crow-Black- 

 birds are seen sailing down from the skirts of the woods, alighting in the 

 fields, and following his track along the ridges of newly-turned earth, with 

 an elegant and elevated step, which shews them to be as fearless and free as 

 the air through which they wing their way. The genial rays of the sun 

 shine on their silky plumage, and offer to the ploughman's eye such rich and 

 varying tints, that no painter, however gifted, could ever imitate them. The 

 coppery bronze, which in one light shews its rich gloss, is, by the least 

 motion of the bird, changed in a moment to brilliant and deep azure, and 

 again, in the next light, becomes refulgent sapphire or emerald-green. 



The bird stops, spreads its tail, lowers its wings, and, with swelled throat 

 and open bill, sounds a call to those which may chance to be passing near. 

 The stately step is resumed. Its keen eye, busily engaged on either side, is 

 immediately attracted by a grub, hastening to hide itself from the sudden 

 exposure made by the plough. In vain does it hurry, for the Grakle has 

 seen and marked it for its own, and it is snatched up and swallowed in a 

 moment. 



Thus does the Grakle follow the husbandman as he turns one furrow after 



