BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. 
301 
on a fence sometimes looks at you out of bis pale yellow eyes and 
then bristles up and gives a loud shrill whistle. 
Although quick to appreciate the advantages of civilization, 
cyanocephalus is by no means exclusively a dooryard bird, nesting 
principally, indeed, in unsettled districts, in willows in the pine 
belt of Arizona and in sagebrush around the edges of marshes in 
the arid Great Basin country. It nests in much smaller colonies 
than many of the blackbirds, five to ten pairs being the common 
number. 
After the breeding season the birds may be seen as high as tim¬ 
berline on Mt. Shasta, solemnly walking over the rocks around snow 
streams, or as low down as sea-level, at places like Santa Cruz, 
where they run around on the hard sand beach, feeding and bathing 
in the shallows filled with seaweed. 
Their food varies with the season and the locality. On ranches 
they do a great deal of good by following the plough and destroying 
grubs, but after the nesting season they gather in large flocks and 
often do serious harm in the grain fields. 
GENUS QUISCALUS. 
General Characters. — Bill about as long- as head, crow-like, but more 
tapering and acute ; tail graduated and folded laterally ; feet stout; tar¬ 
sus about equal to middle toe and claw. 
KEY TO ADULT MALES. 
1. Body bronzy, size medium. aeneus, p. 301. 
1. Body greenish, size very large. macrourus, p. 302. 
Subgenus Quiscalus 
511b. Quiscalus quiscula seneus ( Ridgw .). Bronzed 
Grackle. 
Adult male. — Whole head and neck purple, dark peacock blue or 
green, in sharp contrast to uni¬ 
form bronze of body ; wings and 
tail plum purple, not metallic. 
Adult female: similar, but smaller 
and duller. Young: from plain 
dark brown to colors of adults. 
Male: length (skins) 10.90-12.50, 
wing 5.38-6.03, bill 1.21-1.32. 
Female : length (skins) 9.25- 
10.60, wing 4.83-5.18, tail 4.16- 
4.46, bill 1.13-1.23. 
Distribution. — From Great 
Slave Lake south to Louisiana 
and western Texas, and from the 
Alleghanies and northern New 
England west to the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains; migrating to the southeastern states except the coast districts. 
Breeds throughout its range, but chiefly north of its winter range. 
/sit 
From Biological Survey, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture. 
Fig. 367. 
