458 rURPLE GRAKLE* 



Grakle, and when young, is easily taught to speak. 

 If kept in the poultry-yard, it spontaneously 

 mimics the cries of all the domestic animals, hens, 

 cocks, geese, dogs, sheep, &c. and this chattering 

 is accompanied by many singular gesticulations. 



PURPLE GRAKLE. 



Gracula Quiscula, G. nigro-purpurea nitida, iridihus subar" 



genteis, cauda rotundata. 

 Purple-black glossy Grakle, with subargenteous irides, and 



rounded tail. 



Gracula Quiscula. G. nigro-molacea, cauda rotundata. Lin. 

 Syst. Nat. 



Purple Jackdaw. Catesb. Cufvl. 1. pi. 12. 

 Barbadoes Blackbird. Brown Jam. p. AjQ. 

 ha Pie de la Jamaique. Buf. ois. 

 Purple Grakle. Lath, syn^ Penn. Arct. Zool. 



This species, which is a native of North- America, 

 is known in the United States by the title of Purple 

 Jackdaw, or Purple Maize-Thief. Its size is that 

 of a Blackbird, and its colour on all parts black, 

 richly glossed with purple, particularly on the 

 head and neck; the rest of the plumage being ac- 

 companied by green and copper-coloured reflex- 

 ions: the female differs in being entirely of a dusky 

 black, without any lustre : the irides in both sexes 

 are of a silvery grey, and the bill and legs black. 



These birds, according to Mr. Pennant, " in- 

 habit the same countries with the Red-Winged 

 Orioles, and generally mingle with them: they 

 sometimes keep separate, but usually combine in 



