PURPLE GRAKLE. 
159 
A singular attachment frequently takes place between tliis bird and 
the Fish-Hawk. The nest of this latter is of very large dimensions, 
often from three to four feet in breadth, and from four to five feet high ; 
composed, externally, of large sticks or faggots, among the interstices 
of which sometimes three or four pairs of Crow Blackbirds will con- 
struct their nests, while the Hawk is sitting or hatching above. Here 
each pursues the duties of incubation, and of rearing their young ; 
living in the greatest harmony, and mutually watching and protecting 
each other's property from depredators. 
Note. — The Gracula quiscaJa of the tenth edition of the Systema 
Naturcc was established upon Catesby's Purple Jackdaw. This bird is 
common in Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, where it is still known by 
the name of Jackdaw ; whereas the Purple Grakle of Wilson is called 
Blackbird, or Crow Blackbird. The latter is also common in the states 
south of Virginia ; but the Jackdaw, after rearing its young, retires 
further south on the approach of winter ; whereas the Purple Grakle 
hyemates in the southern section of our Union, and migrates, in the 
spring, to the Middle and Northern States to breed. The female of the 
Crow Blackbird is dark sooty-brown and black ; the female of the Jack- 
daw is " all over broAvn," agreeably to Catesby's description. This 
author states the weight of the Jackdaw to be six ounces ; the weight 
of the Crow Blackbird seldom exceeds four ounces and a half. That 
the two species have been confounded there is no doubt ; and it is not 
easy to disembroil the confusion into which they have been thrown by 
naturalists, who have never had an opportunity of visiting the native 
regions of both. It is evident that Catesby thought there was but one 
species of these birds in Carolina, otherwise he would have discovered 
that those which he observed during the Avinter in great flocks, were dif- 
ferent from his Jackdaws, which is the proper summer resident of that 
State, although it is probaljlc that some of the Crow Blackbirds are also 
indigenous. The true Gracula barita of Linnaaus is not yet satisfac- 
torily ascertained ; the Boat-tailed Grakle of Latham's General Synop- 
sis is unquestionably the Purple Grakle of Wilson. The best figures 
of the Purple Jackdaw which we have seen, are those given in Bona- 
parte's Ornithology, vol. 1, pi. 4. They were drawn by Mr. Alexander 
Rider of Philadelphia, (not by Mr. Audubon, as is stated,) from speci- 
mens brought from East Florida by Mr. Titian Peale and myself. — 
a. Ord. 
