FLORIDA GRACKLE 393 



low bushes, from 2 to 7 feet above the water in cypress swamps; others 

 were found in orange trees and small pines, at no great distance from 

 the ground. One nest, containing four eggs, in which incubation was 

 about one-fourth advanced, taken by him March 30, had been placed 

 directly under an occupied nest of the Green Heron, with an interval 

 of about 6 inches between them. * * *" 

 He says, that the nests vary somewhat in composition: 



Some are made of coarse grass, leaves, etc., taken from the ground in swamps, 

 pressed firmly together, and thickly covered on the outside with Spanish moss, 

 with which a few pieces of grass, twigs, etc., are mixed, and they are lined with 

 finer dry grass. In other nests the outer walls are mainly composed of coarse 

 grass, weeds, and but little Spanish moss; these materials are cemented together 

 with cow manure and mud, and the nests are lined with wire grass (Aristida) ; 

 again flags, wet sphagnum moss, pine needles, and small twigs are used to a con- 

 siderable extent in these structures. * * * 



A nest now before me, built in an orange tree, about 8 feet from the ground, 

 measures 5J£ inches in height and 8 inches in outer diameter. The inner cup of 

 the nest is 3% inches deep by 4% inches in diameter. 



Howell (1932) says that the nests of the Florida grackle are some- 

 times found "in bunches of pendant Spanish moss, and not infre- 

 quently in hollow trees or broken-off stubs. 



Pigeon Key, near Key Largo, is typical of many small Keys bordering 

 the Bay of Florida; the dry, or nearly dry, land in the center supports 

 a growth of fair-sized black mangroves, while a dense fringe of red 

 mangroves forms an almost impassable barrier around its shores. 

 Here on May 8, 1903, we found a small breeding colony of Florida 

 grackles nesting in the black mangroves. I shot two of the birds for 

 identification and collected a set of two fresh eggs from a nest about 10 

 feet up in a black mangrove sapling; this bulky nest, which I still have, 

 seems to have been loosely constructed with a mass of seaweed, very 

 coarse weed stems, small dead twigs, with a lot of moss and other 

 rubbish in the foundation and sides ; the cup is built up with somewhat 

 finer weeds and grasses and lined with still finer grass, but it is far from 

 being a neat structure. There were a number of other nests higher 

 up in the larger trees; those that we examined contained young birds. 



Earle R. Greene (1946) mentions two nesting sites at Key West: 

 "A 'sandbox' tree, standing in the courtyard of the Key West postoffice 

 has long been a favorite nesting place and a number of nests are 

 annually built among its branches. The custodian of the building is 

 kept busy during the season looking after young that fall to the 

 ground, to the great concern of their parents. A 'Spanish laurel' tree 

 on Simonton Street is another preferred nesting site; this tree is one 

 of the finest of its kind in the area." 



Eggs. — The four or five eggs usually laid by the Florida grackle 

 are practically indistinguishable from those of the purple grackle. 



