Gracklo SONG—BIRDS.
Eggs .- Indescribable, different sets wholly unlike ; the average groundwork soiled blue or green, waved, streaked, and clouded
with brown. Range : Atlantic States from Florida. to Long Island.
The most familiar of the Blackbirds as well as the most persecuted. Hated by the farmer for the alleged destruc- tion of corn-fields while even at the harvest season, they rid the soil of noxious insects and grubs and all the rest of the year are either harmless gleaners or beneficial scaven- gers, their gravest fault being that they sometimes destroy and eat the eggs of other birds.
The Grackles begin their upward migration early in March, and some gray morning an immense flock will ap- pear festooning the bare tree, in which they settle with scintillating black, uttering at the same time a series of unique and discordant cries which would put the wildest banshee to shame. Hereabout they always choose an old stumpy orchard as their nesting-place though many author. ities consider that they nest preferably in conifers,—Dr. Abbot among others, giving a detailed account of their preference, during a particular season, for pines, ignoring the great beeches where they had previously colonized.
In May of last year I had the pleasure of watching a fine male Grackle sing his ludicrous love—song. Ludicrous from my point of view, though doubtless from a Grackle’s standpoint it was exceedingly thrilling, and the lady to whom it was addressed so considered it.
It was the 15th of May, and the Grackle perched in my blighted old ash tree, displaying his glistening coat to the best advantage in the afternoon sun. The female was coyly hidden in the dogwood below him. Suddenly he spread his wings and tail, ruffed his breast, at the same time rising on tiptce, like a melodramatic tenor, and uttered a high squeak expressive of his deep emotion. I expected that the female would fly away in disgust, but no, at each outburst she crept nearer and nearer and finally ventured upon the same branch that held the frantic singer.
The flocking of the Grackles in early September is one ' 176
