PURPLE GRAKLE. 



o: 



Quiscalus versicolor, Common Purple Boat-tail, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., 



vol. ii. p. 485. 

 Purple Grakle or Common Crow Blackbird, Quiscahts versicolor, Aud. Orn.Biog., 



vol. i. p. 35; vol. v. p. 481. 



Tail long, much rounded, with the 

 feathers flat. Maje with the plumage 

 silky and splendent, the head, neck, 

 and anterior part of the breast black- 

 ish, with vivid reflections of violet, 

 steel-blue, and green; general colour 

 of the body dusky, glossed with pur- 

 ple, green, and blue, these colours 

 arranged in three terminal zones, on 

 each feather; rump violet-purple; 

 wings and tail black, glossed with 

 green and blue. Female considerably 

 smaller, with the body more brown, 

 the reflections much less brilliant. 

 Young brown. 



Male, 13, 19. Female, 11, 16. 



Breeds from Texas to the Fur 

 Countries. Resident in the Southern 

 States. Extremely abundant. 



A male preserved in spirits mea- 

 sures to end of tail 111 inches, to end 

 of wings 8f, to end of claws 10; wing 

 from flexure 6; tail 5; extent of wings 



m. 



The mouth is rather narrow, its 

 width being 6^ twelfths; the palate 

 ascending, with two papillate ridges, 

 the space between which and the 

 margin of the posterior nasal aperture 

 is also papillate. The latter is 6 

 twelfths long, linear, and margined 

 with strong papilla?. There are three 

 ridges on the anterior part of the 

 roof of the mouth, of which the mid- 

 dle is much stronger, at the base 

 large, prominent, and hard, being 

 similar to the knob observed in the 

 Buntings, but much more elongated. 



