294 
GREAT CROW BLACKBIRD. 
GREAT CROW BLACKBIRD QUISCALUS MAJOR. 
Plate IV. Fig. I, Male. Fig. 2, Female. 
Quiscalus major, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d'Dist. Nat. xxviii. p. 487. — Gracula quis- 
cala, Ord, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. i. p. 253 Gracula barita, Wilson, 
Am. Orn. vi. Index, p. 8 Gracula quiscala, the purple jackdaw of the sea- 
coast, Bartram, Travels, p. 290 Corvus Mexicanus? Gmel. Syst. i. p. 375, sp. 
42. Lath. Ind. p. 164, sp. 36, male Corvus zanoe ? Gmel. Syst. i. p. 375, 
sp. 44. Lath. Ind. p. 164, sp. 37, female. — Pica Mexicana major ? B7dss. Av. 
ii. p. 43, sp. 4, male Pica Mexicana minor? Briss. Av. ii. p. 44, sp. 5, female. 
— L’Hocizana? Buff. Ois. iii. p. 103, male.' — Le Zanoe? JBuff. Ois. in. p. 106, 
female. — Mexican crow? Lath. Syn. i. p. 396, sp. 34, male. — Lesser Mexican 
crow? Lath. Syn. i. p. 397, sp. 36, female. — Hocitzanatl, sen magnus Sturnus? 
Demand. Hist. An. Nov. Hisp. p. 21, male. — Tzanahoei? Demand. Hist. An. 
Nov. Hist. p. 22, female Hoitzanatl? Ray, Syn. Av. p. 162, male Tzana- 
hoei, seu pica Mexicana Hernandezii? Ray, Syn. Av. p. 162, female. Philadel- 
phia Museum, No. 1582, male ; No. 1583, female. 
QUISCALUS MAJOR.— \iFA-Li.OT. 
Quiscalus major, Bonap. Synop. p. 54. 
No part of natural history has been more confused than that 
relating to North and South American birds of black plumage ; 
which is by no means surprising, when we recollect that they 
are chiefly destitute of coloured markings, and that the greater 
number of admitted species are founded on the short and in- 
exact descriptions of travellers, who have neglected to observe 
their forms, habits, and characters. But little aid has been 
derived from the wretched plates hitherto given, for they seem 
better suited to increase the confusion than to exemplify the 
descriptions to which they are annexed, and every succeeding 
compiler has aggravated, rather than diminished, this compli- 
cation of error. It is, therefore, solely by a studious attention 
to nature, that we can extricate these species from the uncer- 
tainty involving them, and place them in a distinct and cog- 
nizable situation. With these views we now give a faithful 
representation of both sexes of the great crow blackbird, drawm 
