BOAT-TAILED GRACKLE
Megaquiscalus major major
The male is a long-tailed, glossy blue-black bird. (L. 16.) The female is much smaller (L. 12), blackish brown above, buff below.
Range. Florida north on the Atlantic coast to Virginia; west to Texas.
This giant Grackle frequents lakes, lagoons and bays, where it feeds along the shore or among aquatic plants. The male, a poseur among birds, strikes strange attitudes with bill pointing skyward, and with apparent effort forces out hoarse whistles. The female is quiet and unassuming. They nest in colonies, building in bushes and laying in April 3-5 bluish white eggs, strikingly blotched and scrawled with blackish.
FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. FAMILY FRINGILLIDÆ
EVENING GROSBEAK
Hesperiphona vespertina vespertina
A large, thick-set, heavy-billed, black and yellow Finch. The male with the forehead and most of the body yellow, the crown, wings and tail black; the inner wing-quills white. The female is brownish gray, more or less tinged with yellow, the wings and tail black with white markings. L. 8.
Range. Western North America, wintering regularly eastward to Minnesota and irregularly to the North Atlantic States.
Glen Ellyn, one record, Dec. 11, 1889. SE. Minn., common W.V., Oct. 17-May 19.