250 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Crow blackbirds found them suitable for nesting sites, numerous pairs 

 of these sleek grackles built in the dooryard. At first the owner thought 

 all was going well, but he noticed that the robins, sparrows and other 

 birds were not on friendly terms with the grackles, and when I came to 

 investigate the case, about the 20th of June, when the Grackles' young 

 were nearly ready to leave the nests, I found that of 12 pairs of robins 

 which ordinarily would be raising their second brood at that time, only 

 one pair had been able to bring the young to a size able to leave the nest. 

 This pair had built under the edge of the veranda roof and thus had 

 escaped the attacks of the Grackle. All the other pairs of robins up to 

 that time had been unable to accomplish anything and I was also unable 

 to find any nests with young or any old birds caring for their young of 

 more than 2 or 3 of the other species named. I did find numerous nests 

 of warblers, sparrows and flycatchers which had been rifled and showed 

 clearly from their general appearance that they had been visited by grackles 

 or some other nest robbers and the young or eggs destroyed. As soon as 

 the grackles led their young away, however, and the yard was once more 

 in peace, the robins which had been attempting all this time to raise their 

 broods, proceeded to bring up their nestlings unmolested, and the other 

 small birds likewise brought off their broods successfully; but in this 

 instance it meant only one brood instead of two for all those species which 

 raise two broods and undoubtedly a weakened brood for all the others. 

 On the day of my arrival I witnessed the destruction of a Robin's brood 

 which was the only one remaining besides the one mentioned, under the 

 eaves of the veranda. The young were just ready to leave the nest. 

 I heard the battle cry of the robins and came upon the scene just in time 

 to see the grackles attacking the young birds. The robins had already 

 become large enough to flutter their wings, and one of the two remaining 

 young started to fly, succeeded in reaching the garden about three rods 

 distant, but at the moment it landed upon the ground the Grackle was 

 upon him and with one blow demolished the base of his skull. Many 

 naturalists have suggested that some grackles are worse than others in 



