Quiscalus major, var. macrurus, Sw.
GREAT-TAILED GRAKLE.
Quiscalus macrourus, Swainson, Anim. in Menag. 2¼ centen. 1838, 299, fig. 51, a.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, pl. lviii.—Ib. Mex. B. II, Birds, 20, pl. xx.—Cassin, Pr. A. N. S. 1867, 410. Chalcophanes macrurus, Cab. Mus. Hein. 1851, 196.
Sp. Char. (The largest species of this genus.) Form lengthened but robust, bill strong, longer than the head; wing long, third quill usually longest; tail long, graduated, outer feathers three to five inches shorter than those in the middle; legs and feet strong.
Adult male. Black; head, neck, back, and entire under parts with a fine bluish-purple lustre; lower part of back and the upper tail-coverts, and also the abdomen and under tail-coverts, frequently with green lustre, though in specimens apparently not fully adult those parts are sometimes bluish-brown, inclining to dark steel-blue. Wings and tail with a slight purplish lustre, smaller coverts with bluish-green, and larger coverts with greenish-bronze lustre. Bill and feet black. Iris yellow. Total length, 17.50 to 20.00; wing, about 8.00; tail, 8.00 to 10.50.
Female. Smaller, and generally resembling that of Q. major, but rather darker colored above. Entire upper parts dark brown, nearly black, and with a green lustre on the back; wings and tail dull brownish-black. Under parts light, dull yellowish-brown; paler on the throat, and with a trace of a narrow dark line from each side of the lower mandible. Tibiæ and under tail-coverts dark brown. Total length about 13.00; wing, 6.00; tail, 6.50. (Cassin.)
Hab. Eastern Texas to Panama and Carthagena. Cordova (Scl. 1856, 300); Guatemala (Scl. Ibis. I, 20, eggs); Honduras (Scl. II, 112); Carthagena, N. 9 (Cass. R. A. S., 1860, 138); Costa Rica (Caban. Journ. IX, 1861, 82; Lawr. IV, 104); Nicaragua (Lawr. N. Y. Lyc. VIII, 181); Rio Grande of Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 493, breeds); Vera Cruz (from hot to alpine regions; resident. Sumichrast, M. B. S. I, 553).
Habits. The Great-tailed or Central American Grakle is an abundant species throughout Mexico and Central America, and probably extends to some distance into South America. In Vera Cruz, Sumichrast states it to be one of the few birds that are found in nearly equal abundance throughout the three regions, hot, temperate, and alpine, into which that department is physically divided. It is abundant everywhere throughout that State, and also nests there. In the neighborhood of Cordova and Orizaba it lives in large communities, a single tree being often loaded with the nests.
On the Rio Grande it extends into Texas, and thus qualifies itself for a place within our fauna. A few specimens were procured at Eagle Pass and elsewhere by the Mexican Boundary Survey party. It is more abundant on the western banks of the Rio Grande, especially at Matamoras. Among the MS. notes left by Dr. Kennerly is a part of the memoranda of the late Dr. Berlandier of that place. Under the name of Pica elegans the latter refers to what is evidently this species. He describes it as found in all parts of the Republic of Mexico, where it is known as Uraca, Pajaro negro, and, in Acapulco, Papate. It is found, he adds, abundantly throughout the State of Tamaulipas. It lives upon grain, especially corn, devouring the planted seeds and destroying the crops. It builds its nest in April, laying its eggs in the same month, and the young birds are hatched out by the beginning of May. The nests are large, the edges high, and the cavity correspondingly deep. They are constructed of dry plants and small bits of cloth, which the birds find about the settlements, and the bottom of the nest is plastered with clay, which gives it great firmness. This is covered with grasses and pieces of dry weeds. The eggs are described as large, of a pale leaden-gray or a rusty color, over which are black marks, stripes, lines, and spots without order or regularity. They are generally four in number. The nests are built on the tops of the highest trees, usually the willows or mesquites.
Mr. G. C. Taylor, in his notes on the birds of Honduras, states that he found this Blackbird common, and always to be met with about the villages. It appeared to be polygamous, the males being generally attended by several females. A fine male bird, with his accompanying females, frequented the court-yard of the Railroad House at Comayagua, where Mr. Taylor was staying. They generally sat on the roof of the house, or among the upper branches of some orange-trees that grew in the yard. They had a very peculiar cry, not unlike the noise produced by the sharpening of a saw, but more prolonged.