SP. CHAR. Bill above, about as long as the head, more than twice as high; the commissure moderately sinuated and considerably decurved at tip. Tail a little shorter than the wing, much graduated, the lateral feathers .90 to 1.50 inches shorter. Third quill longest; first between fourth and fifth. Color black, variously glossed with metallic reflections of bronze, purple, violet, blue, and green. _Female_ similar, but smaller and duller, with perhaps more green on the head. Length, 13.00; wing, 6.00; bill above, 1.25. _Hab._ From Atlantic to the high Central Plains. Of the Crow Blackbird of the United States, three well-marked races are now distinguished in the species: one, the common form of the Atlantic States; another occurring in the Mississippi Valley, the British Possessions, and the New England States, and a third on the Peninsula of Florida. The comparative diagnoses of the three will be found on page 809. Var. purpureus, BARTRAM. PURPLE GRAKLE. _Gracula quiscala_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, (ed. 10,) 1758, 109 (_Monedula purpurea_, Cal.); I, (ed. 12,) 1766, 165.—GMELIN, I, 1788, 397.—LATHAM, Ind. I, 1790, 191.—WILSON, Am. Orn. III, 1811, 44, pl. xxi, f. 4. _Chalcophanes quiscalus_, WAGLER, Syst. Av. 1827 (_Gracula_).—CAB. Mus. Hein. 1851, 196. _? ? Oriolus ludovicianus_, GMELIN, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 387; albino var. _? ? Oriolus niger_, GMELIN, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 393. _? Gracula purpurea_, BARTRAM, Travels, 1791, 290. _Quiscalus versicolor_, VIEILLOT, Analyse? 1816.—IB. Nouv. Dict. XXVIII, 1819, 488.—IB. Gal. Ois. I, 171, pl. cviii.—BON. Obs. Wils. 1824, No. 45.—IB. Am. Orn. I, 1825, 45, pl. v.—IB. List, 1838.—IB. Conspectus, 1840, 424.—SW. F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 485.—NUTTALL, Man. I, 1832, 194.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 35; V, 1838, 481 (not the pl. vii.).—IB. Syn. 1839, 146.—IB. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 58 (not the pl. ccxxi.).—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 575. _Gracula barita_, ORD., J. A. N. Sc. I, 1818, 253. “_Quiscalus purpureus_, LICHT.”—CASSIN, Pr. A. N. Sc., 1866, 403.—RIDGWAY, Pr. A. N. S. 1869, 133.—ALLEN, B. E. Fla. 291 (in part). _Quiscalus nitens_, LICHT. Verz. 1823, No. 164. _Quiscalus purpuratus_, SWAINSON, Anim. in Menag. 1838, No. 55. _Purple Grakle_, PENNANT, Arctic Zoöl. II.