THE CROW BLACKBIRD. 



53 



THE CROW BLACKBIRD. 1 



( 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 {Quiscahis quiscula) and its two subspecies, the 

 bronzed grackle {Qtoiscalu^'i q. mneus) and the Florida grackle {Quiscalus 

 q. aglmus). The purple grackle is abundant in the region east of the 

 Alleghenies as far north as New York, and is found sparingl}^ in New 



Fig. C— 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 Avestward 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 United States the crow blackbird is 

 only a summer resident, but in the Southern States it is present 

 throughout the year, and in winter its numbers are increased by 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. 



