384 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



were observed darting up into the air from the tree tops in pursuit of 

 flying ants in which activity they also proved very clumsy." 



In its relations with other species the grackle not only indulges in 

 the well-known habit of stealing eggs or young birds from the nests 

 of its neighbors, but sometimes attacks and kills other birds in open 

 places. In the National Zoological Park, in Washington, Malcolm 

 Davis (1944) saw a purple grackle kill an English sparrow, which it 

 had been stalking in almost catlike manner. * * * The sparrow was 

 not long out of the nest, but was able to fly and take care of itself. 

 A few days later I walked along the same area, and saw the kill. The 

 grackle approached the sparrow and as the smaller bird flew away, 

 the attacker seized its prey in its beak and gave it several hard shakes, 

 with the body of the sparrow hitting the hard concrete pavement. 

 At this moment passersby frightened the grackle away, but later the 

 bird returned to eat the viscera of the sparrow." 



Frank B. Foster (1927) reports: "At my Game Farm on the Pick- 

 ering Creek, in Chester County, Pa., we lost in the Pheasant field, 

 almost three hundred little Pheasants (Phasianus), a few days old, 

 which were destroyed by Purple Grackles (Quiscalus q. quiscala [sic]). 

 The male Grackles were the ones that did the damage. They came 

 into the enclosure and simply took the heads off the little birds, leaving 

 the bodies." 



The purple grackle is highly gregarious at all seasons; even during 

 the nesting season the birds often breed in sizable communities; and 

 those that are not incubating resort to communal roosts at night. In 

 the larger roosts they are often associated with starlings, redwings, or 

 cowbirds. 



Several roosts in eastern Pennsylvania have been studied, of which 

 the Overbrook roost, described by C. J. Peck (1905), is typical: "The 

 Overbrook Grackle Eoost is situated upon the property of Mr. David 

 L. Hess at the corner of Sixty-third street and Lansdowne avenue, 

 Philadelphia. The estate comprises about ten acres, is rolling and 

 wooded and has an artificial lake of about an acre in extent. The 

 trees are deciduous with a goodly sprinkling of conifers and are of 

 fair size. The roost has been in constant use for more than twenty 

 years — how much more I have been unable to ascertain." This 

 roost was used by varying numbers of birds during every month in 

 the year, the smallest numbers being found in December and January. 

 He gives a short account month by month showing the fluctuations 

 in the population of the roost. In January, fewer birds use the 

 roost than at any other time of the year. "On a few very severe nights 

 the roost may be deserted, but such nights are rare and usually four or 

 five hundred birds remain throughout the month." Conditions are 



