Catesby, Mark. Vol.I, Tab. 12, The Purple Jack-Daw

Mark Catesby (1638 - 1749)Etching with hand color, paper dimensions: approximately 14 x 19 inchesFrom Volume I, Part 1 of Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida & the Bahama IslandsLondon: 1729 - 1771 Currently known as the common grackle, Quisscalus quiscula*, Catesby described this subject as follows: MONDELA PURPUREA. The Purple Jack-Daw. This is not so big by one third part as the common Jack-Daw, weighing six ounces: the Bill black; the Eyes gray; the Tail long, the Middle-feathers longest, the rest gradually shorter. At a distance they seem all black, but at a nearer view, they appear purple, particularly the Head and Neck has most lustre: The Hen is all over brown, the Wing, Back and Tail being darkest. They make their Nest on the branches of trees in all parts of the country, but most in remote and unfrequented places; from whence in Autumn, after a vast increase, they assemble together, and come amongst the Inhabitants in such numbers that they sometimes darken the