COMMON CROW-BLACKBIRD. 
(Quiscalus versicolor, Vieill. Audubon, pi. 7. [stealing corn, very 
spirited and natural.] Bonap. Am. Orn. vol. ii. p. 42. pi. 5. fig, 1. 
[female.] Gracula quiscala, Wilson, iii. p. 44. pi. 21. fig. 4. [male.]) 
Sp. Charact. — Glossy -black ; tail wedge-formed, extending far 
beyond the wings (nearly 3 inches) ; bony keel within the bill 
large'; length about ll.J inches; vertical breadth of the bill at 
base nearly J an inch. — Female similar to the male, but some- 
what less brilliant: length 11 inches. 
This very common bird is an occasional or constant 
resident in every part of America, from Hudson’s Bay 
and the northern interior to the Great Antilles, within 
the tropic. In most part of this wide region they also 
breed, at least from Nova Scotia to Louisiana, and proba- 
bly farther south. Into the states north of Virginia they 
begin to migrate from the beginning of March to April, 
leaving those countries again in numerous troops about 
