Purple Grackle (Quiscalus Quiscula) Blackbird Family
Called also: CROW BLACKBIRD; MAIZE THIEF; KEEL-TAILED GRACKLE; [COMMON GRACKLE, AOU 1998]

Length -- 12 to 13 inches. About one-fourth as large again as the robin. Male -- Iridescent black, in which metallic violet, blue, copper, and green tints predominate. The plumage of this grackle has iridescent bars. Iris of eye bright yellow and conspicuous. Tail longer than wings. Female -- Less brilliant black than male, and smaller. Range -- Gulf of Mexico to 57th parallel north latitude. Migrations -- Permanent resident in Southern States. Few are permanent throughout range. Migrates in immense flocks in March and September.

This "refined crow" (which is really no crow at all except in appearance) has scarcely more friends than a thief is entitled to; for, although in many sections of the country it has given up its old habit of stealing Indian corn and substituted ravages upon the grasshoppers instead, it still indulges a crow-like instinct for pillaging nests and eating young birds.

Travelling in immense flocks of its own kind, a gregarious bird of the first order, it nevertheless is not the social fellow that its cousin, the red-winged blackbird, is. It especially holds aloof from mankind, and mankind reciprocates its suspicion.