PURPLE GEAKLE. 
63 
Quiscalus versicolor, Common Purple Boat-tail, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. 
Amer., vol. ii. p. 485. 
Purple Grakls or Common Crow Blackbird, Quiscalus versicolor , Aud. Orn. 
Biog., vol. i, p. 35 ; vol. v. p. 481. 
Tail long, much rounded, with the 
feathers flat. Male with the plumage 
silky and splendent, the head, neck, 
and anterior part of the breast black- 
ish, with vivid reflections of violet, 
steel-blue, and green ; general colour 
of the body dusky, glossed with pur- 
ple, green, and blue, these colours 
arranged in three terminal zones, on 
each feather ; rump violet-purple ; 
wings and tail black, glossed with 
green and blue. Female considerably 
smaller, with the body more brown, 
the reflections much less brilliant. 
Young brown. 
Male, 13, 19. Female, 11, 16. 
Breeds from Texas to the Fur 
Countries. Resident in the Southern 
States. Extremely abundant. 
A male preserved in spirits mea- 
sures to end of tail Hi inches, to end 
of wings 81, to end of claws 10 ; 
wing from flexure 6 ; tail 5 ; extent 
of wings 1T|. 
The mouth is rather narrow, its 
width being 6i twelfths ; the palate 
ascending, with two papillate ridges, 
the space between which and the 
margin of the posterior nasal aperture 
is also papillate. The latter is 6 
twelfths long, linear, and margined 
with strong papillae. There are three 
ridges on the anterior part of the 
roof of the mouth, of which the mid- 
dle is much stronger, at the base 
large, prominent, and hard, being 
similar to the knob observed in the 
Buntings, but much more elongated 
