The kind of winged creature featured in the animated series known as Heckle and Dr. Jekyll are labeled as magpies by some, grackles by others. Edgar Allan Poe wrote a poem about such a flier, known to him as THE RAVEN. But perhaps the most common name for these corn thieves is crows. This episode has a segment called VAIN CROW. Even though G. Stein famously observed "A crow is a crow is a crow," would this picture stand up under any other name? A vain grackle might sound like a bird with a mouth full of gravel, which would hardly constitute an improvement. Vain Raven appears to denote a wind direction devise belonging atop someone's barn. Furthermore, Vain Magpie smacks of a sort of oxymoron: Who would not be extremely self-conscious, with a moniker such as "magpie"?
The Bullwinkle Show: The Space Rat or Of Mice and Menace/The Shot Heard Round the World or First National Bang
(1960)
There are lots of names for black birds.
Season 2, Episode 23
2 February 2024