_Quiscalus_, VIEILLOT, Analyse, 1816 (GRAY). (Type, _Gracula quiscala_, L.) [Line drawing: _Quiscalus purpureus._ 2104] SP. CHAR. Bill as long as the head, the culmen slightly curved, the gonys almost straight; the edges of the bill inflected and rounded; the commissure quite strongly sinuated. Outlines of tarsal scutellæ well defined on the sides; tail long, boat-shaped, or capable of folding so that the two sides can almost be brought together upward, the feathers conspicuously and decidedly graduated, their inner webs longer than the outer. Color black. The excessive graduation of the long tail, with the perfectly black color, at once distinguishes this genus from any other in the United States. Two types may be distinguished: one _Quiscalus_, in which the females are much like the males, although a little smaller and perhaps with rather less lustre; the other, _Megaquiscalus_, much larger, with the tail more graduated, the females considerably smaller, and of a brown or rusty color. The _Quiscali_ are all from North America or the West Indies (including Trinidad); none having been positively determined as South American. The _Megaquiscali_ are Mexican and Gulf species entirely, while a third group, the _Holoquiscali_, is West Indian. Synopsis of Species and Varieties. A. QUISCALUS. Sexes nearly similar in plumage. Color black; each species glossed with different shades of bronze, purple, violet, green, etc. Lateral tail-feathers about .75 the length of central. _Hab._ Eastern United States. Proportion of wing to tail variable. Q. purpureus. _a._ Body uniform brassy-olive without varying tints. Head and neck steel-blue, more violaceous anteriorly. 1. Length, 13.50; wing, 5.50 to 5.65; tail, 5.70 to 5.80, its graduation, 1.50; culmen, 1.35 to 1.40. Vivid blue of the neck all round abruptly defined against the brassy-olive of the body. _Female._ Wing, 5.20; tail, 4.85 to 5.10. _Hab._ Interior portions of North America, from Texas and Louisiana to Saskatchewan and Hudson’s Bay Territory; New England States; Fort Bridger, Wyoming Territory var. _æneus_. _b._ Body variegated with purple, green, and blue tints. Head and neck violaceous-purple, more blue anteriorly. 2. Length, 12.50; wing, 5.60; tail, 5.30, its graduation, 1.20; culmen, 1.32. Dark purple of neck all round passing over the breast, and appearing in patches on the lower parts. Wing and tail purplish; tail-coverts reddish-purple. _Female._ Wing, 5.10; tail, 4.50. _Hab._ Atlantic coast of United States var. _purpureus_.