ANDERSON — THE BIRDS OF IOWA. 307 



Oemis OuiscALUS Vieillot. 



223. (511b). Quisca/us quiscalus cenens (Ricl<^\vay). Bronzed 

 Grackle. 



The Bronzed Grackle is an abundant summer resident in all 

 parts of the state from the early part of March until November, 

 and a few occasionally remaining during the winter. They nest in 

 colonies in groves about farmhouses and sometimes in shade trees 

 in cities, when they are often seen walking slowly upon the lawns, 

 apparently not noticing passers-by. Sometimes several nests are 

 placed in one tree. J. W. Preston describes a vast colon}- which 

 nested in the tops of wild plum trees near Cairo Lake, Hamilton 

 county, in 1881 (Bendire, Life Histories, ii, p. 503). About the 

 first of August the}- begin to gather in flocks and in September 

 and October enormous quantities are sometimes seen, frequently 

 doing considerable damage to the corn crops. 



Charles R. Keyes (The Auk, v, 188S, p. 207) describes immense 

 flocks composed of about equal numbers of Red-winged Black- 

 birds, Rusty Blackbirds, and Bronzed Crackles, which congre- 

 gated in the swamps and woodlands opposite Burlington, Iowa, 

 during September and October, flocks of several thousands pass- 

 ing the day in the cornfields of Iowa, returning to the Illinois 

 side at night. "These flocks are often a quarter of a mile in 

 width and more than an hour in passing. . . . Making liberal 

 deductions for any possibilit}^ of overestimating, the numerical 

 minimum of individuals in a single flock cannot be far from 

 twenty millions." Paul Bartsch, in 1895, states that "the species 

 has decreased in numbers . . . seven or eight years ago, enorm- 

 ous flocks at Burlington" (Iowa Orn., i, 2, 1895, PP- 43-44)- 



Family FRINGILLID^. Finches, Sparrows, etc. 



This is the largest family of birds, both in number of species 

 and of individuals. In North America about one-seventh of all 

 the birds are Fringillidce . Dr. Coues says: "Anyone United 

 States locality of average attractiveness to birds has a bird fauna 

 of over two hundred species, and if it be away from the seacoast, 

 and consequently uninhabited by marine birds, about one-fourth 

 of the species are MnioltUtidce and Fringillidce together, the latter 

 somewhat in excess of the former." All are distinguished by a 



