PURPLE GRACKLE 377 



collecting boys. We found another safe nesting site in a cedar swamp 

 on Cape Cod. The swamp had been flooded as a reservoir and the 

 white cedars (Chamaecyparis thyoides) were standing in water from 

 4 to 5 feet deep; it was a very large colony and there were evidently 

 many nests in the cedars, but we did not care to make any accurate 

 count of the nests, nor could we even estimate the number of the 

 birds that were flying about over the swamp. 



Bendire (1895) gives the following description of the nests: "The 

 nests are rather loosely constructed and bulky. The materials used 

 vary greatly according to locality; the outer walls are usually com- 

 posed of coarse grass, weed stalks, eelgrass or seaweed, sometimes 

 with a foundation of mud, and again without it. The inner cup of 

 the nest is composed of similar but finer materials, and is generally 

 lined with dry grass, among which occasionally a few feathers, bits 

 of paper, strings, and rags may be scattered; in fact anything suitable 

 and readily obtained is liable to be utilized. Exteriorly the nests 

 vary from 5 to 8 inches in height, and from 7 to 9 inches in diameter, 

 according to location. They are ordinarily about 3 inches deep by 

 4 inches wide inside." After describing nesting sites, similar to those 

 mentioned above, he adds: 



Sometimes natural cavities in trees or hollow stubs, as well as the excavations 

 of the larger Woodpeckers, are also used, and along the seashore, where the 

 Fishhawk is common, they often place their nests in the interstices of these bulky 

 structures, notably so on Plum Island, New York. Speaking of this locality, the 

 late Dr. Charles S. Allen [1892] says: "In every Fishhawk's nest, except those on 

 the ground, I always found from two to eight or ten nests of the Purple Grackle. 

 They were situated in crevices among the sticks under the edges of the nest, or 

 even beneath the nest itself, so as to secure protection from rain and bad weather. 

 They were very bold in collecting fragments from the table of their powerful 

 neighbors." 



Mr. J. H. Pleasant, Jr., of Baltimore, Maryland, writes as follows: "On May 19, 

 1888, I discovered a colony of Purple Grackles nesting under the eaves and rafters 

 of a hay barn. In some instances the entrance to the nest was so small that it 

 was extremely difficult to obtain the eggs. The crevices in which the nests were 

 built were very much of the same character as those frequently chosen by the 

 English Sparrow, and were situated at an average height of 25 feet from the 

 ground; over a dozen nests were observed." 



T. E. McMullen has sent me the data for 20 New Jersey nests: 9 

 of these were in grapevines or ivy vines climbing over various deciduous 

 trees; 9 others were in red cedars; one was 20 feet up in a gum tree, 

 the highest one was 45 feet from the ground in a large pine, and the 

 lowest nests were 6 or 8 feet up in vines. 



Eggs. — The purple grackle lays ordinarily four or five eggs to a 

 set, very rarely seven; sets of six are not especially rare; the only set 

 of seven that I have found contained two eggs that were quite different 



