41 



RUSTY GRAKLE. 

 GEACULA FEliliUGINEA, 

 [Plate XXL— Fig. 3.] 



Black Oriole, Arct. Zool. p. 259. No. 144. — Rusty Oriole, Ibid. p. 260, A'o. 146. — jYew 

 York Thrush, Ibid. p. 339. JVo. 205. — Hiidsonian Thrush, Ibid. No, ^'^Ai, female. — Labra- 

 dor Thrush, Ibid. p. 340, Ab. 206.— Pe ale's Museum, No. 5514. 



HERE is a single species described by one of the most judicious 

 naturalists of Great Britain no less than five different times! The 

 greater part of these descriptions is copied by succeeding natu- 

 ralists, whose synonyms it is unnecessary to repeat. So great is 

 the uncertainty in judging, from a mere examination of their dried 

 or stuffed skins, of the particular tribes of birds, many of which, 

 for several years, are constantly varying in the colors of their 

 plumage, and at different seasons, or different ages, assuming new 

 and very different appearances. Even the size is by no means a 

 safe criterion, the difference in this respect between the male and 

 female of the same species (as in the one now before us) being some- 

 times very considerable. 



This bird arrives in Pennsylvania, from the north, early in 

 October; associates with the Red-wings, and Cow-pen Buntings, 

 frequents corn fields, and places where grasshoppers are plenty; 

 but Indian corn, at that season, seems to be its principal food. It 

 is a very silent bird, having only now^ and then a single note, or 

 chuck. We see them occasionally until about the middle of No- 

 vember, when they move off to the south. On the twelfth of Janu- 

 ary I overtook great numbers of these birds in the woods near Pe- 

 tersburgh, Virginia, and continued to see occasional parties of them 

 almost every day as I advanced southerly, particularly in South 



VOL. III. L 



