BOAT-TAILED GRACKLE 337 



bathers flew up to the boughs of the willow and cecropia trees on the 

 banks, vigorously shook the water from their plumage, and carefully 

 preened their feathers with their slender bills. 



As the sun sank low and the air grew cooler, the grackles flew up 

 the hill in small flocks, sometimes cackling like a company of purple 

 grackles, to congregate again in the coconut palms. On the way 

 many would settle again in the Conostegia bushes for a dessert of 

 berries before going to roost. From the time of their arrival until 

 it was nearly dark, our hilltop presented a lively scene. The varied 

 calls and squeaks of the males mingled with the constant chatter of 

 the more numerous females. Many of the birds would settle upon 

 the fronds of a single tree, but seemed unable to make themselves 

 comfortable, and so flew out to alight upon another. Often they 

 shifted back and forth a dozen times before at length adjusting them- 

 selves for the night. The fresh breeze that generally blew'up from 

 the valley at about sunset and tossed the great fronds of the coconuts 

 made it more difficult for the birds to settle down. The long tails 

 of the clarineros flagged back and forth as they perched on the leaves, 

 causing them evident inconvenience. It was a delight to watch their 

 graceful maneuvers in the wind, when they hovered, soared, and 

 poised with dangling legs above the treetops, as sea gulls play above 

 a windy shore. 



On some particularly breezy evenings the clarineros engaged in 

 spectacular if inconsequential sparring matches, meeting face to face 

 and rising well above the treetops, until the wind took hold of them 

 and twisted them around, and they were obliged to forget their 

 opponents and devote all their attention to the maintenance of their 

 own equilibrium. There seemed to be no point to these encounters, 

 which were probably entered in a spirit of fun, the more to enjoy the 

 wind by their vigorous exercise in it, as boys engage in sham battles 

 in the water. The sun hung well above the western hills when the 

 grackles began to congregate among the coconut trees; the last red 

 glow was fading from the sky when finally they had all ensconced 

 themselves out of sight among the inner fronds of the palms, and 

 their final sleepy notes gave way to the awakening calls of the pau- 

 raque. But the clarineros, especially at the outset of the breeding 

 season, were light sleepers, and often awoke during the night to 

 shatter the monotonous humming of insects with their shrill calls. 



At first I was happy to have such active, spirited birds as close 

 neighbors, but at length I began to wish them elsewhere; for like 

 their northern relatives, the purple grackles, they ate the eggs of 

 other birds. A number of pairs of tanagers, flycatchers, thrushes, 

 and other small birds built their nests on our hilltop, yet few succeeded 

 in rearing their young. The grackles kept all other large birds so 



