52 
QUISCALUS MAJOR. 
on the ground, or perched on the branches of trees. 
They seek no concealment, and never enter the woods, 
though they are very careful to construct their nests 
in a safe situation. The troopials eat no fruits, but 
derive their subsistence from insects, worms, grains, 
and small seeds. They leave the temperate climates at 
the approach of winter, and are amongst the first birds 
of passage that return with the spring. 
GENUS V. — Q U IS CAL US MAJOR , Vieillot. 
9. QUISCALUS MAJOR , VIEILLOT. 
GREAT CROW BLACKBIRD, BONAPARTE. 
BONAPARTE, PLATE IV. FIG. I. MALE ; FIG. II. FEMALE. 
EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 
No part of natural history has been more confused 
than that relating to North and South American birds 
of black plumage ; which is by no means surprising, 
when we recollect that they are chiefly destitute of 
coloured markings, and that the greater number of 
admitted species, are founded on the short and inexact 
descriptions of travellers, who have neglected to observe 
their forms, habits, and characters. But little aid has 
been derived from the wretched plates hitherto given, 
for they seem better suited to increase the confusion 
than to exemplify the descriptions to which they are 
annexed, and every succeeding compiler has aggravated, 
rather than diminished this complication of error. It 
is, therefore, solely by a studious attention to nature, 
that we can extricate these species from the uncertainty 
involving them, and place them in a distinct and cog- 
nizable situation. 
Wilson having mentioned this species in his catalogue 
of land birds, evidently intended to describe and figure 
it ; but this he deferred, probably, in expectation of 
obtaining better opportunities of examination, which 
are not so readily presented, as the bird does not inhabit 
this section of the United States. 
It would be difficult to ascertain whether or not 
Limie and Latham have mentioned this bird in any 
