FEMALE COMMON CROW BLACKBIRD. 
301 
bird, and tlms receive a distinct idea of the difference between 
the two species, so well manifested in their females. 
The specific name of this bird {quiscala) has been changed, 
in consequence of its having been applied to the genus : we 
have substituted the name given by Vieillot, which is admi- 
rably appropriate. The English name employed by Wilson 
being now rendered inadmissible by the generic change, we 
have thought proper to adopt a local appellation. 
The female common crow blackbird is eleven inches in 
length, and sixteen and a half in extent. The bill is nearly 
an inch and a half long, and, as well as the feet, black ; the 
irides are yellowish white ; the whole head, neck, and upper 
part of the breast, are blackish, with steel blue, green, and 
violet reflections, which are not so vivid as in the male. The 
general colour of the body, wings, and tail, is deep sooty 
brown ; the feathers of the back are margined with coppery 
and purplish ; the rump, tail-coverts, and wing-coverts are 
glossed with purplish ; the lower part of the breast and flanks 
have a coppery reflection ; the inferior tail-coverts are obscure- 
ly glossed with violet. The tail is cuneiform, but slightly con- 
cave in flight, and is five inches long, extending two and a 
half inches beyond the tip of the wings ; the feathers are gloss- 
ed with very obscure greenish. In the male, the tail is also 
cuneiform, and greatly concave, exhibiting a singular boat- 
shaped appearance, as in the preceding species, and even more 
remarkably so, according to Mr Ord, which induced him to 
change the name. 
We shall not attempt to make any additions to the almost 
complete, and very excellent history of this species, given by 
Wilson : but as the fou^ species of Quiscalus are liable to be 
confounded, we shall proceed to give a few comparative obser- 
vations, that the student may be enabled to distinguish them 
from each other. 
Amongst other remarkable traits, the Quiscalus ferrugineus is 
at once known in all its various states, by its even tail, and 
comparatively smaller bill, which somewhat resembles that of 
