GREAT CROW BLACKBIRD. 
55 
and small grains, thus assisting and plundering the 
agriculturist at the same time. When the first European 
settlements were formed in North America, the havoc 
made by these birds and the troopials in the grain fields, 
was so great, that a premium was given for their heads. 
Their destruction was easily effected, as they are not 
shy, and are more easily approached as their numbers 
decrease ; but the evil which resulted from extermi- 
nating so many of these birds, was as unexpected as 
irremediable. The corn and pastures were so devoured 
by worms and insects, that the inhabitants were obliged 
to spare the birds, in order to avert a scourge which 
had been previously unknown. As population increases, 
and a greater quantity of grain is cultivated, the ravages 
of these birds become less perceptible, and the injury 
they cause comparatively trifling. 
The great crow blackbird is more than sixteen inches 
long, and twenty-two in extent. The bill, from the 
angle of the mouth, is one inch and three quarters, and 
its colour, like that of the feet, is black ; the roof of 
the mouth is furnished with a slight osseous carina ; 
the irides are pale yellow. The general appearance of 
the bird is black ; the whole head and neck having 
bluish purple reflections; the interscapular region, 
breast, belly, sides, and smaller wing-coverts, are glossy 
steel blue; the back, rump, and middling wing-coverts, 
are glossed with copper green ; the vent, inferior tail- 
coverts, and thighs, are plain black. The undescribed 
parts of the wings are deep black, slightly glossed with 
green, as well as the tail, which is cuneiform, capable 
of assuming a boat-shaped appearance, and measures 
nearly eight inches in length from its insertion, sur- 
passing the tip of the wings by five inches. 
The female is considerably shorter, measuring only 
twelve and a half inches in length, and seventeen inches 
and a half in extent. The bill, from the angle of the 
mouth, is one inch and a half long, and, with the feet, 
is black ; the irides are of a still paler yellow than those 
of the male. The head and neck above are light brown, 
gradually passing into dusky towards the back, which, 
