The Great-Tailed Grackle {Megaqmscaius Major 



Macrourus) 

 By W. Leon Dawson 



The Great-tailed Grackle belongs to a family of birds that is "eminently 

 characteristic of the New World, all the species being peculiar to America." It 

 is the family of the blackbird and oriole, of the bobolink and the meadowlark. It 

 is called the Icteridae, from a Greek word ikteros, meaning a yellow bird. The 

 majority of the one hundred and fifty or more species that are grouped in this 

 family make their home in the tropics where their brilliant colors are emphasized 

 by the ever green foliage and the bright sunshine. 



The family is interesting because the species, though closely related, vary so 

 widely in their habits. They "are found living in ground of every nature, from 

 dry plains and wet marshes to the densest forest growth," Here are classed some 

 of the birds which are among- the most beautiful of our songsters. Here, too, are 

 classed some species that never utter a musical sound, and whose voices are 

 harsh and rough. The sexes are usually dissimilar, the female being the smaller 

 and generally much duller in color. 



The Great-tailed Grackle is a native of Eastern Texas, and the country 

 sowthward into Central America. The Crackles are sometimes called Crow 

 Blackbirds. There are five species, all found in the United States. The Bronzed 

 and the Purple Crackles are the most generally distributed and best known. 



The Great-tailed Grackle, as well as the other species, usually builds rude and 

 bulky nests in trees, sometimes at quite a height from the ground. It will also 

 nest in shrubs and it is said that it will occasionally select holes in large trees. 

 The males are an iridescent black in color and the females are brown and much 

 smaller. Both sexes spend most of their time on the ground. Their feet are 

 strong and large, and, when U])on the ground, they walk or run and never hop. 



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