BRONZED GRACKLE 395 



QUISCALUS QUISCULA VERSICOLOR Vieillott 



Bronzed Grackle 



Plate 24 



Contributed by Alfred Otto Gross 



HABITS 



The bronzed grackle is a bird that has well adapted itself to radical 

 changes in environment brought about by civilization. More and 

 more of them have come to accept conditions existing about our farms 

 and many have even invaded our populous cities and towns to nest 

 and to roost near human habitations. They have accepted eveiy 

 advantage thus afforded and have thrived on the food provided by 

 man in the waste of his door and farmyards, and especially on his 

 bountiful crops. These birds through their extreme resourcefulness 

 have been eminently successful as a species in maintaining and in- 

 creasing their numbers in spite of persecution. 



The almost universal common name applied to the grackles as a 

 group is crow blackbird. The name is well chosen, for many of its 

 traits, as well as its dark coloration, suggest the crow; and it is a con- 

 venience to have a common name that applies to the purple and the 

 Florida as well as to the bronzed grackle. 



These three birds are difficult for the layman to differentiate in 

 the field, and even the ornithologist has his troubles when it comes to 

 identifying individuals in immature plumages. Most of the details 

 given in this account of behavior and habits, the song, food, nesting, 

 molts, immature plumages, etc., can be applied equally to either of 

 the other two races. The bronzed grackle intergrades with the 

 purple, the northernmost of the two southern forms where the ranges 

 come in contact, nevertheless it is an exceptionally stable form and 

 shows no geographic variation in color throughout its extensive range. 



Spring. — A considerable number of bronzed grackles spend the 

 winter in favorable places throughout southern New England. The 

 first flocks, many of which are made up of a hundred or more indi- 

 viduals, appear during the first week of March to mark the beginning 

 of the spring migration. They do not arrive in Maine until the 

 middle of the month; at this time the snow is still on the ground and 

 in the dense interiors of the coniferous forests it is still several feet 

 deep. Usually the first arrivals I see at Brunswick are the individ- 

 uals of a noisy, querulous band that land in my backyard to gobble 

 up the food provided for the evening grosbeaks, tree sparrows, and 

 other winter birds which are still enjoying the hospitality of my 



