284 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



much variation in tlie eggs of this species as is found in those of pur- 

 pureus^ of the Atlantic coast. The number laid ranges from four to 

 six, although on the 15th of May, 1888, I found two nests containing 

 seven each. The average size of ten specimens is 1.20X.82. 



512. Quiscalus macrourus Swains. [275.] 



Great-tailed Grackle. 



Hab. Southern Texas, south through eastern Mexico to Central America. 



Called the Fan-tailed Crow Blackbird or Texas Grackle. It is an 

 abundant bird in southern Texas. Concerning its nesting Dr. Merrill 

 says : " Early in April, after several weeks of noisy courtship, they 

 begin to build in irregular colonies, and by the middle of the month 

 have eggs. The nests are perhaps most frequently placed near the top 

 of one of the main upright branches of a young mesquite-tree. They 

 are strongly built of straws, leaves and grasses, mud being used freely. 

 Where Spanish moss is plentiful, the nests are sometimes composed 

 entirely of it ; and I have found them among tule-reeds, where several 

 species of Herons were breeding. I have also found their nests either 

 supported by the lower part of the nest of the Caracara Eagle, or in 

 the same tree." 



The eggs are usually three in number, although Mr.Benners found 

 many sets in Texas of four and five. They vary greatly in appearance ; 

 the ground color is usually a greenish-white or purplish-brown, more or 

 less heavily spotted and dashed with several shades of brown. The 

 markings are apt to be heavier at the smaller end. By this peculiarity 

 they can usually be distinguished from those of Q. major. The average 

 size of forty-five eggs is 1.26 X. 85 ; largest 1.44X.91; smallest i.i6x .82. 



513 Quiscalus major Vieill. [277.] 



Boat-tailed Grackle. 



Hab. South Atlantic and Gulf States, north to Virginia, west to Texas. 



Along the coast of the States that border on the Atlantic and the 

 Gulf of Mexico, from the Carolinas to the Rio Grande, the Boat-tailed 

 Crow Blackbird is an abundant species. It is known as the Jackdaw. 

 Breeds in colonies in reeds and rushes in the midst of swamps, or any- 

 where in trees, often a considerable distance from water, and the nests 

 are also placed in bushes or upon trees at heights varying from twenty 

 to forty feet. It is large and clumsy, made of coarse materials: sticks, 

 dry grasses, weeds, strips of bark, lined with finer stems, fibrous roots, 

 and grasses. The nesting time is in April, May, and in June, according 

 to locality. Three or four eggs are laid, of a brownish-drab ; some 

 tinged with olive, others with green ; they are marked with irregular 

 blotches of brown and black. Ten eggs measure : 1.20X.90; 1.21X.86; 



