No. V.] 



ZOOLOGY, 



673 



manners, approaching the habitations of men, and attending the hunters, to whom 

 they are troublesome, in taking the baits from their traps. They are named by the na- 

 tives Whiskey- Jonish which has been changed by the English into Whiskey- Jack. 

 The bird is small, in comparison of its congeners, and is without the brilliancy of 

 plumage belonging to other Jays, being particularly plain ; the looseness of its 

 feathers is further injurious to its appearance, 



Oriolus Phaniceus. Red-winged Oriole. 



A common bird in Virginia, and in the contiguous parts of the United States, and 

 well known from the depredations it commits on the crops of Indian corn. These birds 

 migrate into Louisiana, and the southern districts in the winter, and extend their 

 progress northward, in the summer, even to the remote parts of Canada. It was 

 formerly called the Red-winged Starling, and Wilson, from its similarity of manners 

 to the Common Starling, has placed it in the genus Sturnus. The brilliant scarlet 

 patch on the shoulder of the wings of the males, contrasted with the general black 

 of the remainder of its plumage, makes it very remarkable when in flight. The spe- 

 cimen received is that of a male, 



Oriolus Baltimore. Baltimore Oriole. 



A male specimen of this pretty and interesting species was taken. The Orni- 

 thological writers of Europe have described a bird of another species (O. Spurius) as 

 the female, but the error has been corrected by Wilson, whose account of the Balti- 

 more Oriole is excellent. The male is remarkable for the fine black and brilliant 

 orange which diversify its plumage, which, in the female, is less splendid, being yel- 

 low, rather than orange, and having less of black than the male. These birds go 

 southward in the winter, and return to breed in the spring in the more temperate 

 parts of North America, fixing their abodes for that purpose in orchards and gardens, 

 contiguous to houses, where they make themselves acceptable by their agreeable song; 

 their food is principally insects, consequently they are not such troublesome neigh- 

 bours as others of the same genus ; the splendour of the males must be a very orna- 

 mental addition to the beauties of an American garden. 



Icterus Quiscala. Purple Grackle. 



The Purple Grackle, known to the American farmers as the Crow Blackbird, 

 resides during the winter in the southern provinces of the United States, and moves 

 northward in the spring even beyond Canada, for the purposes of breeding. The 

 specimen received, which is that of a male, exhibits beautifully the glossy splendour 

 of its dark plumage. The Purple Grackles are very injurious to the corn crops in the 

 United States ; in company with the Red-winged Orioles they attack the fields of 



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