GREAT CROW BLACKBIRD. 
297 
Sturms ; Temminck considers them as Icteri^ Cuvier as Cas- 
5^c^5 and Vieillot has formed a new genus for their reception. 
I have no hesitation in agreeing with the latter author, and 
adopt his name of Quiscalus ; but I add to the genus, as con- 
stituted by him, the Gracula ferruginea^ which he regarded as 
a Pendulinus, and which other authors have arranged in several 
different genera, making of it a profusion of nominal species. 
Wilson judiciously in eluded that species in the same genus with 
those above mentioned, although other authors had placed it in 
Turdus, Oriolus^ ^c. 
The genus Quiscalus is peculiar to America, and is com- 
posed of four well ascertained species, three of which are found 
in the United States ; these are Quiscalus major versicolor, 
and ferrugineus ; the fourth, Quiscalus haritus, inhabits the 
West Indies, and probably South America. 
The species of this genus are gregarious, and omnivorous ; 
their food being composed of insects, corn, and small grains, 
thus assisting and plundering the agriculturist at the same time. 
When the first European settlements were formed in North 
America, the havoc made by these birds and the troopials in 
the grain fields, was so great, that a premium was given for 
their heads. Their destruction was easily effected, as they are 
not shy, and are more easily approached as their numbers de- 
crease ; but the evil which resulted from exterminating so many 
of these birds, was as unexpected as irremediable. The corn 
and pastures were so devoured by worms and insects, that the 
inhabitants were obliged to spare the birds, in order to avert 
a scourge which had been previously unknown. As popula- 
tion increases, and a greater quantity of grain is cultivated, 
the ravages of these birds become less perceptible, and the in- 
jury they cause comparatively trifling. 
The great crow blackbird is more than sixteen inches long, 
and twenty-two in extent. The bill, from the angle of the 
* We call the present species Quiscalus major, agreeably to Vieillot, who cer- 
tainly intended this bird, although his description is a mere indication. 
