A COLONY OF GRAKLES. Ill 



ern states, I am informed, still damage the ripened and 

 ripening ears, as has been described. Audubon figures 

 this bird as tearing away the husks that the ear might 

 be exposed and the juicy kernels pecked off. This was 

 true of the grakles about here, but is true no longer. 

 We have as many acres of corn as formerly. It matures 

 at the same time as in early colonial days, but the gra- 

 kles still prefer animal food, and through August and 

 September are still hunting for and feasting upon ani- 

 mal life in the meadows. I have seen a flock of fully a 

 thousand, early in October, chasing the untold millions 

 of grasshoppers over the meadows, and feeding upon 

 them until they were actually surfeited. 



The old Swedish settlers told Kalm, " this part of 

 America^ formerly called Wew Sweden^ still contained 

 as many maize-thieves as it did formerly. The cause of 

 this they derive from the maize, which is now sown in 

 much greater quantity than formerly ; and they think 

 that the birds can get their food with more ease at 

 present." 



Here, I think, is an error, for it is not certain that the 

 Swedes had more acres in corn than did the Indians, 

 when in the height of their prosperity. I quote here 

 Lucien Carr's elaborate memoir on " The Indian as an 

 Agriculturist," from volume ii. of the "Memoirs of 

 the Kentucky Geological Survey." Speaking of the 

 Delaware Indians, the writer says : " They occupied both 

 banks of the Delaware, or ' South,' River, lived in forts, 

 and raised corn and beans, which they sold to the Swed- 

 ish and German settlers. Later, about the year 1682, 

 William Penn found the Delawares and Shawnees still 



