134 



MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 



sometimes suggests the sound of a jet of escaping steam. I have written it down 

 cr whcct, dam tliat, but my interpretation may have been influenced Ijy my mental 

 attitude induced by the performance. 



During the period of courtship the male in flight depresses the central feathers 

 of its tail forming a V-shaped keel. I was at first inclined to think that this was 

 of use in flight like a rudder, but I am inclined to think that it is in the nature of 

 courtship display, for this arrangement of tail feathers is not seen when a bird 

 is actively engaged in flight for the purpose of oljtaining food. Under these cir- 

 cumstances the tail is spread in the ordinary manner. 



Although the Bronzed Grackle is an undesirable bird to have about one's 

 house on account of its disagreeable song, harsh cries, and the incessant calls the 

 nestlings make for food, and on account of its habit of driving out other nesting 

 birds and robbing their nests of eggs and young, there are many interesting points 

 about it for study. Since 1906, it has taken to nesting in the vines on my house 

 at Ipswich, and, in general, as stated in Chapter II, it has frequented the neighbor- 

 hood of man in an increasing degree since 1902. Robins' nests in the vines of 

 my house have been despoiled of their eggs and young by this bird, and I have 

 known it to kill adult birds of moderate size. I once found a Grackle holding 

 down the freshly killed body of a Bicknell's Thrush while it picked out the brains. 

 I have seen one with its foot firmly planted on a living male English Sparrow 

 while it pecked repeatedly at the Sparrow's head. The Crackle's value in keeping 

 down the English Sparrow nuisance in our towns and cities is probably con- 

 siderable. 



The early pea-pods in my garden have been systematically slashed and split 

 open by the Crackle's powerful bill and all the peas eaten. Later peas, protected 

 by more foliage and with no room to walk between the rows, have escaped. On 

 the other hand the systematic way in which Crackles destroy grubs in grass-fields 

 in the early spring is to their credit. 



After having put up with Crackles nesting in the vines of my house for sev- 

 eral years and learning that it was a choice between them and Robins and Chip- 

 ping Sparrows, I have naturally chosen the last two. On May 3, 1914, I pulled 

 down a Crackle's nest with its contents of five eggs from a side porch of my 

 house. A week later I found the nest rebuilt and containing one egg. I again 

 pulled it down. On May 17, I again destroyed a nest and one egg in the same 

 place and again on May 24 and on May 31. On the last two dates, the newly 

 built nests contained no eggs. On May 24, I found two other nests of Crackles 

 on my house each containing five eggs and destroyed them. These were not 

 rebuilt, and the first one which had been rebuilt four times, or a total of five 

 nests built by the same pair, was not renewed. 



