Notes on the Germantown Crackle Roost 



BY ARTHUR COPE EMLEN 



There is nothing new to any of us in tlie fact that many of 

 our birds which may not be especially sociable during the day 

 congregate in large numbers to pass the night together in some 

 favorite spot. And yet common as this occurrence may be, 

 there are comparatively few accounts of such g.atherings. 



Occasionally we find mention of such a habit in the Grackle, 

 but with the exception of Prof. Lynds Jones' paper on ' ' The 

 Oberlin Grackle Roost," there is no satisfactory account of the 

 roosting. 



Therefore with the hope of being able to throw a little more 

 light upon the life history of the Purple Grackle, I will discuss 

 in some detail a favorably situated roost that it has been my 

 privilege to studj' in the upper part of Germantown, Phila. 



Forty-five years ago the land which is now occupied by the 

 roost was waste pasture land, but not long afterwards many 

 young trees were planted there, and soon the Grackles and 

 Robins began to congregate in the grove in noticeable numbers. 

 At first they did not use the place so much as a roost as a breed- 

 ing ground, the number of young evergreens with their thick 

 shelter seeming to attract them. 



As time went on and the deciduous trees grew larger and the 

 evergreens were thinned out to give them more room, the 

 Grackles began to take to the deciduous trees; but this time 

 more for roosting purposes, until to-day not more than twelve 

 pair of Grackles build on the whole fifty acres, while hundreds 

 come every evening all through the breeding season to roost, 

 and as the summer advances this number increases until by 

 August the whole country-side of Grackles comes regularly to 

 spend the night in the few small patches of beech and maple 

 which occupy the southwestern slope of these grounds. 



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