PURPLE GRACKLE 383 



flying insect in the air. It forages also in the shrubbery or trees, 

 evidently after insects, but for the most part it finds its food on the 

 ground, picking something off the grass or probing in the earth for 

 grubs or worms. When robins are feeding on the lawn at the same time, 

 the grackles watch them and follow them about; as soon as a robin 

 is seen pulling up a fat worm, the grackle rushes in and seizes the 

 worm, driving away the gentler bird; the robin seems to be unable to 

 defend itself and must yield its prize to the more aggressive robber. 

 I have often seen a grackle, while foraging on my lawn on a warm 

 sunny day in spring, stop and squat close down on the ground, remain- 

 ing there for several minutes with its body pressed close to the warm 

 earth, as if it enjoyed the warmth or perhaps just taking a sunbath. 

 It may have been "anting," as other birds do in order to anoint their 

 plumage with formic acid. 



In this connection, the following observation by Mary Emma Groff 

 and Hervey Brackbill (1946) is of interest: 



The recent discussions of anting and supposedly substitute activities by birds 

 makes it seem worth while to describe the behavior of Purple Grackles (Quiscalus 

 quiscula stonei) in anointing themselves with a juice, apparently an acid, from the 

 hulls of English walnuts (Juglans regia). * * * The walnuts grow in clusters of 

 as many as five or six, at the ends of branches. The grackles would alight upon 

 these clusters — just one bird to each — and begin pecking a hole in the sticky 

 hull of one of the nuts, usually throwing away the pieces of hull they gouged out, 

 occasionally seeming to swallow a piece. When a good-sized hole had been made, 

 the birds would dip their bills into it, undoubtedly wetting them against the 

 pulpy interior, and then thrust their bills over and into their plumage. A great 

 part of the body was thus anointed — the breast, the under and upper surfaces of 

 the wings, the back, and very often apparently the rump at the base of the tail. 

 * * * Particularly birds that were watched worked as long as 10 to 15 minutes 

 at a stretch. Many males sang at intervals, with display, and there was also 

 much noise because of commotion among the birds, two or three of which would 

 often contest for the same cluster of nuts. * * * The indication that it was an 

 acid the birds were using was obtained when one of the English walnut hulls 

 was cut open and litmus paper quickly placed against it; the paper instantly 

 gave a strong acid reaction." 



In the air the purple grackle flies in a direct line, not undulating 

 like redwings, and generally at a considerable height, with strong 

 steady wing beats; its flight is well sustained but not especially rapid. 

 Witmer Stone (1937) says that when they descend from a height to 

 alight in the trees "they sail down on set wings which form a triangu- 

 lar, kite-like outline, with the long tails of the males deeply depressed 

 into the characteristic boat or keel." As fly-catchers the grackles are 

 not experts. Stone saw one "pursuing a flying beetle on the street, 

 an unusual performance; the bird was exceedingly clumsy in turning 

 on the wing and after following its erratic prey for several minutes 

 without result it gave up the chase. On August 31, several Grackles 



