74 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA 



The oldest extant specimen of quiscula is No. 34, taken 

 Sept. 22, 1887. Its "stomach contained chicken corn, 

 maize and parts of insects." In connection with the food 

 of the bird this note, following the entry of the specimen 

 in the catalog, is of especial interest : "The purple grackle 

 nests here ; it is not so common as it was when the coun- 

 try was first settled; forty-five years ago it was one of 

 the greatest pests which the planter had to encounter ; it 

 pulled up acres of corn as soon as the leaves appeared 

 above the ground. Children were employed to scare the 

 crow blackbirds from the corn fields, and numbers were 

 shot without apparent diminution of the individuals com- 

 posing their ranks. The nest of this bird is a coarse 

 structure of sticks daubed with mud. I saw a small col- 

 ony of purple grackles, in 1876, building their nests in 

 the trees near the Mallory Old Place, Beat 7." 



The stomach of another bird, taken May 7, 1889, and 

 presented to the U. S. National Museum, contained craw- 

 fish. Still another specimen, shot the same day. had 

 eaten insects. A bird collected June 5, 1889, after din- 

 ing upon coleopterous insects, had taken dewberries for 

 dessert. The stomach of another, collected next day, 

 contained dewberry seeds and grasshoppers ; but the cli- 

 max is reached in No. 732 (listed below), whose stomach 

 contained acorns. Thus it will be seen that the purple 

 grackle has a very varied dietary. 



The following note, appended to the entry of No. 162 

 in the Doctor's catalogue, under date of June 6, 1889, evi- 

 dences the fact that he was in no wise free from the usu- 

 al collector's diff"iculties : "Measured this young quis- 

 cula and left it on my table to skin, but the rats carried 

 it off!" 



The following notes are taken verbatim and in chrono- 

 logical order from the Doctor's journals : 



"April 14, 1890. Found nest of Florida grackle (Quis- 

 caluH quiscula aglaeus) ; nest of Dri/obates pubescens ex- 

 cavated in a willow limb about ten feet from ground; 

 nest of blue gray gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) on 

 the horizontal limb of a willow. 



