Rusty Blackbird

Euphagus carolinus (Statius Müller, PL, 1776)

Photo © Unknown

STATUS

North America. Polytypic.

OVERVIEW

Species not admitted nationally (BOU 1971).

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NOT PROVEN

0). 1881 East Glamorgan Near Cardiff, shot, 4th October, now at National Museum of Wales, Cardiff (NMW.Z.1893.035).

(H. Seebohm, Zoologist 1882: 109; D. S. W. Nicholl, Zoologist 1889: 169).

[BOU, 1883; BOU, 1915; BOURC, Ibis 155: 205].

History Henry Seebohm of London (1882) in The Zoologist, 3rd series, Vol. VI. p. 109, says: 'At a meeting of the Zoological Society held on the 13th of December last, I exhibited a specimen of the Rusty Grackle, Scolecophagus ferrugineus, which was shot on the 4th of October last by a workman engaged as a wheelwright. It was killed within a mile of Cardiff, on the grassy flats between the sea and the mountains which are known there as "moors", and was brought, a few hours afterwards, to Mr. Robert Drane, by the man who shot it, and who was in the habit of bringing to that gentleman any rare bird that he happened to meet with. It was shot on the wing, and the plumage was in such a perfect condition that the idea of its having escaped from a cage seems untenable. Mr. Drane has known the man some time as an intelligent, though uninformed, workman, fond of birds, and believes perfectly in his bona fides. This species has never before been recorded as British. It appears to breed in the Arctic regions of the American continent up to the limit of forest-growth from Labrador to Alaska. The example obtained at Cardiff appears to be an adult male in autumn plumage.'

D. S. W. Nicholl of Cowbridge (1889) in The Zoologist, 3rd series, Vol. XIII. p. 169, says: 'The Rusty Grackle, Scolecophagus ferrugineus, a North American species, was shot on the East Moors, near Cardiff, on October 4th, 1881. My informant, Mr. R. Drane, of Cardiff, tells me that its plumage was in a perfect state, showing, in his opinion, that it was not an escaped cage-bird; this, however, is by no means conclusive....Mr. Howard Saunders, writing to me...says: "No doubt it was an escaped bird from some Bristol-bound vessel".'

Not admitted nationally in their first List of British Birds (BOU 1883: 65).

0). 1938 Greater London St James's Park, July to August.

(Snow & Perrins, 1998).

[Not in BOU, 1971].

History Snow & Perrins (1998) state that one in St James's Park, London, during July and August 1938, was in all probability an escape.