556 
U. S. P. E. E. EXP. AND SUEVEYS ZOOLOGY — GENEEAL EEPOET. 
varied reflections of bronze, golden, green, copper, and purple, the latter most conspicuous on the tail, the tail coverts, and 
wings. The edges of primaries and of tail greenish. Female similar, but smaller and duller, with, perhaps, more green on the 
head. 
Length, 13 inches ; wings, 6 ; tail, 5.80 ; bill above, 1.25. 
Hah. — From Atlantic to the High Central Plains. 
In No. 2104, as in other Pennsylvania specimens, there is a strong shade of violet just above 
the steel blue on the feathers of the neck. Specimens from the west have a more brassy shade 
on the blue of the neck, and the back is of a nearly uniform shade of greenish bronze. These 
differences appear to be nearly constant with the two localities. One specimen from Carlisle 
has the steel blue on the head replaced, in a great measure, by purple and violet, owing to the 
extension of this latter color to the tips of the leathers. It is probably to a specimen of this 
variety that Swainson applied the name of Quiscalus purpuratus. 
In a series of about thirty specimens there are two males, the bills of which are much shorter 
than in the majority, measuring barely over an inch, and shorter than the head, (Nos. 6558, 
4763.) I find a somewhat similar condition in a specimen from Carlisle, (833,) and as the 
difference is unaccompanied by any other tangible character, I see no ground for specific 
distinction. 
The young of the year are throughout of a dull brown. 
List of specimens. 
dual. 
No. 
.Sex. 
Locality. 
When col- 
lected. 
Whence obtained. 
Orig'l 
No. 
Collected by— 
Length. 
Stretch 
nl'wings. 
Wing. 
21114 
3 
April 12, 1845 
13.00 
18.00 
6.00 
1363 
3 
April 16, 1844 
12.75 
18.00 
5.65 
136-1 
9 
833 
Oct. 24, 1842 
11.40 
16.00 
5.00 
7581 
443-2 
Quasquiton, Iowa 
4761 
"s 
April 23, 1856 
April 25, 1856 
12.75 
18.12 
5.75 
4762 
8 
Q 
3 
3 
Bald Island, Missouri river . . . 
39 
do 
12.50 
17.12 
4766 
11.12 
16.00 
5.25 
4758 
12.25 
17.25 
4760 
36 
4767 
April — , 1856 
11.50 
16.50 
4513 
8312 
8 
Independence 
May 27, 1857 
29 
12.50 
18.00 
5.75 
6558 
5666 
5665 
8 
July 4, 1846 
July 2, 1856 
68 
Q 
QUISCALUS BARITUS, Vieillot. 
Gracula barita, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 17GG, 165, (based on Icterus niger, Br )— Gmelin, I, 1788, 396.— Lath. Ind. I, 
1790, 191. 
Quiscalus barilus, Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. XXVIII, 1819, 487.— D'Orb. De la Sagra Cuba, Aves, 95. 
Chalcophanes baritus, Wagler, Systema Avium, 1827, Gracula Expos. No. 4.— Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 197. 
? Quiscalus crassirostris, Swainson, Anim. in Menag. 1838, 355. — Gosse, Birds Jamaica, 1847, 217. 
S P . Ch. — Bill about three times as long as high, much longer than the head or the tarsus ; the commissure scarcely sinuated ; 
the tip lengthened and decurved. Tail about as long as the wing, considerably graduated ; the lateral feathers about .85 of an 
inch shorter. The second quill longest ; first shorter than the fourth. The head steel blue, passing on the neck into decided 
purplish ; the body, wings, and tail bronze green, with a purplish violet shade on the tertials and rump. 
Length, 10.60 ; wing, 5 ; tail, 5 ; bill above, 1.40 ; tarsus, 1.40. 
Hah. — Florida coast and West Indies. 
