230 
OUISCALUS VERSICOLOR. 
as with pig-eons, to take them in clap nets, multitudes 
of them mig*ht thus be destroyed ; and the products of 
them in market, in some measure, indemnify him for 
their depredations. But they are most numerous and 
most destructive at a time when the various harvests 
of the husbandman demand all his attention, and all his 
hands to cut, cure, and take in ; and so they escape 
with a few sweeps made among- them by some of the 
younger boys with the gun ; and by the gunners from 
the neighbouring towns and villages ; and return from 
their winter quarters, sometimes early in March, to 
renew the like scenes over again. As some consolation, 
however, to the industrious cultivator, I can assure 
him, that were I placed in his situation, I should hesitate 
whether to consider these birds most as friends or 
enemies, as they are particularly destructive to almost 
all the noxious worms, grubs, and caterpillars, that 
infest his fields, which, were they allowed to multipty 
unmolested, w Quid soon consume nine-tenths of all the 
production of his labour, and desolate the country with 
the miseries of famine ! Is not this another striking- 
proof that the Deity has created nothing in vain ; and 
that it is the duty of man, the lord of the creation, to v 
avail himself of their usefulness, and guard against 
their bad effects as securely as possible, without in- 
dulging in the barbarous and even impious wish for 
their utter extermination ? 
The purple grakle is twelve inches long and eighteen 
in extent ; on a slight view 7 ", seems wholly black, but 
placed near, in a good light, the w hole head, neck, and 
breast, appear of a rich glossy steel blue, dark violet, 
and silky green ; the violet prevails most on the head 
and breast, and the green on the hind part of the neck. 
The back, rump, and whole lower parts, the breast 
excepted, reflect a strong coppery gloss ; wdng-coverts, 
secondaries, and coverts of the tail, rich light violet, 
in which the red prevails ,• the rest of the wdngs, and 
rounded tail, are black, glossed with steel blue. All 
the above colours are extremely shining, varying as 
differently exposed to the light ; iris of the eye, silvery ; 
