PUliPLK CRACKLE. 



4i7 



HAIUTS. 



It is (lifficuU to find a section of conntry north of tlie Floriila Keys, cast of tlie Miss- 

 issippi River, where the harsh chirp of the Crow Blackl)ir(ls is not to be heard, at least 

 throughovit the summer. They are so versatile in tlieir habits that they find nearly all 

 localities suitable fir their homes. Thus I found their nests fastened to the waving grass 

 of the Everglades, and they build in immense numbers on the reedy margin of the upper 

 St. John's. In Pennsylvania they select low bushes along the river bottoms, and in Mass- 

 achusetts where the country is quite thickly populated, experience has taught them the 

 necessity of choosing the highest pine trees as summer homes. I know of three rookeries 

 similarly situated, all within the radius of a mile from my place. At Ipswich, where they 

 are seldom disturbed, they often breed in orchards near houses or in small trees on the is- 

 lands of the marshes, and the nests are sometimes placed so low that they can be reached 

 from the ground. They also exhibit a propensity to nest inside deserted buildings and I 

 once knew a pair that placed their domicile in the mouth of a partly covered well. On a 

 few occasions I have taken the nests from holes in trees at Ipswich but they most always 

 build in holes of old stubs that stand in the shallow water of Lake Umbagog. The mate- 

 rial used and the form of the structure are also variable. Thus in the Everglades I found 

 that the nests were firm, compact and deep with a contracted entrance. Those placed in 

 high trees in Massachusetts are composed partly of mud and are rather flat being formed 

 nearly like those of the Robin, while on the coast the birds generally use the bleached eel 

 grass, therefore the nests are much lighter. Those which I have taken from holes in trees 

 were largely composed of mud mixed with coarse grass and weeds. Although so variable 

 in breeding habits the time of depositing the eggs does not differ much in the wind-spread 

 section of which I have spoken, when we consider the extremes in climate. In Florida the 

 eggs are laid about the first of JNIay and I have found them at Ipswich a few days later, 

 while the birds lay liy the middle of the month at Lake Unil)agog, and possibly but a lit- 

 tle later much farther north. 



I have mentioned that these birds built in rookeries, and I have always found them 

 nesting in communities of fifty and upwards. In fact they are gregariously inclined at all 

 seasons, assembling in large flocks in the autumn and winter, often in company with the 

 Boat-tailed Grackle, for the two seemed to be on excellent terms. In matter of diet the 

 Crow Blackbirds are perfectly omnivorous, now visiting the newly sown fields in order to 

 feed on the grain, or pulling up the farmer's corn just as it has appeared above the ground 

 that they may eat the swollen kernel at the root. Then in autumn vast swarms settle 

 on the fields of ripening corn and eagerly strip the ears; thus they are constantly in mis- 

 chief, liut by far the worst charge that can be laid \\\w\\ them is their trait of robbing the 

 nests of other birds. 



They will visit the homes of those species which build in accessible situations and 

 deliberately remove the eggs or, what is more to be deplored, the helpless young and de- 

 vour them in spite of the cries of the distracted parents who are powerless to prevent the 

 outrage, as the aggressors are both strong and agile. So frequently were these depreda- 

 tions committed upon the homes of the Robins and other birds, that built about my place 

 this season, that thei'e was scarcely an hour in the ihiy durinu' early sumTuer when T coul I 



