PURPLE GRAKLE. 
231 
bill more than an inch long', strong-, and furnished on 
the inside of the upper mandible with a sharp process, 
like the stump of the broken blade of a penknife, in- 
tended to assist the bird in macerating* its food ; tongue, 
thin, bifid at the end, and lacerated along the sides. 
The female is rather less, has the upper part of the 
head, neck, and the back, of a dark sooty brown; chin, 
breast, and belly, dull pale brown, lightest on the 
former ; wings, tail, lower parts of the back and vent, 
black, with a few reflections of dark green ; legs, feet, 
bill, and eyes, as in the male. 
The purple grakle is easily tamed, and sings in con- 
finement. They have also in several instances been 
taught to articulate some few words pretty distinctly. 
A singular attachment frequently takes place between 
this bird and the fish hawk. The nest of this latter 
is of very large dimensions, often from three to four 
feet in breadth, and from four to five feet high ; com- 
posed, externally, of large sticks, or fagots, among the 
interstices of which sometimes three or four pair of 
crow blackbirds will construct their nests, while the 
hawk is sitting or hatching above. Here each pursues 
the duties of incubation and of rearing their young; 
living in the greatest harmony, and mutually watching 
and protecting each other’s property from depredators. 
GENUS XI . — CORVUS, Linnjeus. 
SUBGENUS I. CORVUS , BRISS. 
58 . CORVUS CORAX. ~ — -RAVEN. 
WILSON, PLATE LXXV. FIG. III. 
A knowledge of this celebrated bird has been 
handed down to us from the earliest ages ; and its 
history is almost coeval with that of man. In the best 
and most ancient of all books, we learn, that at the 
end of forty days, after the great hood had covered the 
