74 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



The grackles are early in their nidification, beginning 

 about the middle of April. In 1882 I observed a pair of 

 birds working on a nest on the 9th of April. This was 

 exceptionally early, however. The grackles are very 

 leisurely in their work, the female assuming the lion's 

 share of the undertaking, while the male carries a few 

 burdens and assists his better half by his presence and 

 noise, and jealously guards the premises against the passing 

 robins and other intruders. 



The nests in the osage grove above mentioned were 

 made entirely of coarse dried grass, lined with a finer 

 quality of the same material. In the bottom lands the 

 walls of the structure are frequently formed of damp, 

 muddy grasses, giving the nest the appearance of having 

 mud walls, and sometimes the sides contain a large 

 amount of mud. Where the material can be obtained, the 

 grackles work small bunches of wool into the walls, 

 especially when there is mud used in the habitation. All 

 sorts of trash are used in the nest, such as stalks of hay, 

 bunches of string, and rags, the foundation of the nest 

 being generally coarse pieces of muddy hay stems, and the 

 lining soft dried grass. 



The site of the nest is variable, and may be a horizontal 

 branch, or a fork in an upright branch, or between up- 

 right stems, with no support except the friction between 

 its sides and the surrounding limbs. The nests are found 

 in low and high situations, varying from six to thirty 

 feet from the ground, the majority of them being about 

 fifteen feet from the surface. Davie says that the eggs are 

 light greenish or smoky blue, with irregular lines, dots, 

 blotches, and scrawls distributed over tlie surface. The 

 average complements vary from four to five eggs, though 

 sometimes six eggs are found in one nest. The eggs of 

 the grackle average 1.20 by .82. In 1895 I found a set 

 of five eggs of the grackle which were singular in their 

 coloration. They were so closely marked with rusty 

 blotches that the entire ground color was obscured, and 

 the eggs were of a color resembling faded stains of blood, 

 mottled with varying intensity. I have frequently seen 

 single eggs of the grackle thus colored, but I have never 

 seen another set so uniformly and so oddly marked. 



