BOAT-TAILED GRACKLE 343 



faith a sanate would begin a new nest in the top of the palm as soon 

 as the expansion of a fresh frond had prepared another of these decep- 

 tive sites. 



The sanates which, from necessity rather than by preference, 

 placed their nests on the broad bases of the mature fronds, fared 

 somewhat better; yet even with them the loss of eggs and nestlings 

 was enormous. This was largely because the birds continued to 

 roost in the same trees where they nested — an extremely unsatisfactory 

 arrangement. As the clarineros and the sanates not actually engaged 

 in incubation — they were always in the majority — settled in the 

 palms for the night, the excitement and disorder which prevailed 

 there was so great that I wondered whether the incubating females 

 managed to remain on their eggs. The angry cries which at this time 

 emanated from birds unseen in the crown of the tree were doubtless 

 from sanates trying to protect their nests from intrusion. As the nest- 

 ing season advanced, the number of grackles which went to roost 

 in the orange and grapefruit trees growing beside the coconut palms 

 increased, possibly as a result of the protests made by the females 

 nesting in the palms. Not only was the safety of the nests jeopardized 

 by the disorder so prevalent each evening, but they and their immedi- 

 ate surroundings were defiled by the droppings of the roosting birds. 

 Some queer things happened as a result of the grackles' disorderly 

 habits. In one of the tallest of the palms was a nest which sheltered 

 two nestlings. When they were nearly ready to take wing, one was 

 found dead among the leaf bases in the vicinity of its nest, while the 

 other in some mysterious manner made its way to a neighboring nest, 

 where there was a single nestling 2 days younger than itself. 



With the boat-tailed grackle the habit of colonial nesting is imper- 

 fectly developed, perhaps of comparatively recent origin; for condi- 

 tions such as existed in the colony at "Alsacia" are a tremendous 

 handicap to the reproduction of the species and therefore not likely to 

 survive a long period of evolution. Oropendolas and caciques, birds 

 of the same family which like the boat-tailed grackles nest in colonies 

 that contain more females than males, arrange the matter much better. 

 At nightfall, all the males, and all the females who do not remain in 

 their nests, retire to roost at a considerable distance, leaving the in- 

 cubating females to pass the night free from unnecessary disturbances. 

 After witnessing the disadvantages with which the sanates must con- 

 tend while attempting to rear a family in a crowded colony, one under- 

 stands better why so many kinds of birds select a nesting territory 

 which they zealously defend from the intrusion of all others of their 

 own species. 



Only rarely, in nests with two eggs, did both hatch on the same day. 

 More often, one egg hatched each day, so that in sets of three the 



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