34 



THE BRONZED CRACKLE, 



of other birds. Altho the fault is a grave one, a special investigator 1 does not 

 find that such food bears any sensible proportion to the total amount and con- 

 cludes that the offense is too infrequent to require discipline at our hands. More 

 serious from an economic standpoint is the charge that these birds consume 

 quantities of grain, especially corn. Altho the mischief is offset by the con- 

 sumption of an equal amount of insects, and those largely of injurious sorts, 

 it becomes at times unquestionably necessary for the farmer to discourage the 

 depredations of this bird when the corn is in the milk. 



Before the breeding season is over the males begin to gather in some 

 favorite "roost" to spend the night, and these companies form the nucleus of 

 large flocks, which are augmented by the arrival of females and young as 

 rapidly as the latter are sufficiently matured. One of these "roosts" comes to 

 include the Crackle population for miles around, and often numbers thousands. 

 If quarters are taken up in a village grove or city park, as is not infrequently 

 the case, the noisy congregation affords occasion for comment and conjecture 

 on the part of hundreds of citizens. Lynds Jones 2 has prepared a very interest- 

 ing account of such a roost which has for years occupied a position on the 

 college campus at Oberlin. Similar roosts have become recognized institutions 

 at Elyria, Granville, McConnelsville, and a score of other places already re- 

 ported. Indeed it seems probable that nearly every county will be found to 

 contain in late summer and early fall several divisions, with corresponding 

 camps, of this great Crackle army. 



1 M. F. E. L. Seal. "The Crow Blackbirds and their Food." Year Book United States Department 

 of Agriculture, 1894. 



2 "The Oberlin Crackle Roost." Bulletin No. 15 of the Wilson Ornithological Chapter, July 30, 1897. 



