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GREAT CROW-BLACKBIRD.  3
by worms and insects, that the inhabitants were obliged to spare
the birds,lin order to avert a scourge which had been previously
unknown. As population increases, and a greater quantity of
grain is cultivated, the ravages of these birds become less percep-
tible, and the injury they cause comparatively trifling.
The Great Crow-Blackbird is more than sixteen inches long,
and twenty-two in extent. The bill, from the angle of the mouth,
is one inch and three quarters, and its colour, like that of the feet,
is black; the roof of the mouth is furnished with a slight osseous
carina; the irides are pale yellow. The general appearance of
the bird is black; the whole head and neck having bluish-purple
reflections; the interscapular region, breast, belly, sides, and smaller
wing coverts, are glossy steel-blue; the back, rump, and middling
wing coverts, are glossed with copper-green; the vent, inferior tail
coverts, and thighs, are plain black. The undescribed parts of the
wings are deep black, slightly glossed with green, as well as the
tail, which is cuneiform, capable of assuming a boat-shaped appear-
ance, and measures nearly eight inches in length from its insertion,
surpassing the tip of the wings by five inches.
The female is considerably shorter, measuring only twelve and
a half inches in length, and seventeen inches and a half in extent.
The bill, from the angle of the mouth, is one inch and a half long,
and, with the feet, is black; the irides are of a still paler yellow
than those of the male. The head and neck above are light brown,
gradually passing into dusky towards the back, which, with the
scapulars and lesser wing coverts, has slight greenish reflections;
a whitish line passes from the nostrils over the eye, to the origin
of the neck. The chin, throat, and breast, are dull whitish; the
anterior part of the breast is slightly tinged with brownish; the
flanks are brownish; the belly brownish-white; and the vent and
inferior tail coverts are blackish-brown, each feather being mar-
gined with pale. The remaining parts are of a dull brownish-
black, slightly glossed with greenish; the secondaries, tail coverts,
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