PURPLE GllAELE. 



47 



over again. As some consolation however to the industrious culti- 

 vator^ I can assure him, that were I placed in his situation, I should 

 hesitate whether to consider these birds most as friends or enemies, 

 as they are particularly destructive to almost all the noxious worms, 

 grubs, and caterpillars that infest his fields, which, were they al- 

 lowed to multiply unmolested, would soon consume nine-tenths of 

 all the production of his labour, and desolate the country with the 

 miseries of famine ! Is not this another striking proof that the 

 Deity has created nothing in vain ; and that it is the duty of man, 

 the lord of the creation, to avail himself of their usefulness, and 

 guard against their bad effects as securely as possible, without in- 

 dulging in the barbarous and even impious wish for their utter ex- 

 termination. 



The Purple Grakle is twelve inches long and eighteen in ex- 

 tent; on a slight view seems wholly black, but placed near, in a 

 good light, the whole head, neck, and breast appear of a rich glossy 

 steel blue, dark violet and silky green ; the violet prevails most on 

 the head and breast, and the green on the hind part of the neck. 

 The back, rump, and whole lower parts, the breast excepted, re- 

 flect a strong coppery gloss ; wing coverts, secondaries, and co- 

 verts of the tail, rich light violet, in which the red prevails ; the 

 rest of the wings and rounded tail are black, glossed with steel 

 blue. All the above colors are extremely shining, varying as dif- 

 ferently exposed to the light; iris of the eye silvery; bill more than 

 an inch long, strong, and furnished on the inside of the upper man- 

 dible with a sharp process, like the stump of the broken blade of a 

 penknife, intended to assist the bird in macerating its food ; tongue 

 thin, bifid at the end, and lacerated along the sides. 



The female is rather less, has the upper part of the head, 

 neck and the back of a dark sooty brown ; chin, breast and belly 

 dull pale brown, lightest on the former; wings, tail, lower parts of 

 the back and vent, black, w ith a few reflexions of dark green ; legs, 

 feet, bill and eyes as in the male. 



