216 EEPOET OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



Nest large and well built of grass and mud ; usually associated in colonies 

 in evergreen trees or orchards close to farm houses; eggs, three to five, bluish- 

 green, irregularly spotted and scrawled with brown or black, 1.10 x .80. 



Abundant summer resident. Arrives February 22d (March 14th), 

 departs November 10th. Occasional in winter. Cape May (Spaeth), 1 

 Princeton (Babson), 2 Montclair, Passaic and Moorestown. 3 



The Grackle is our first migrant, arriving almost invariably about 

 the middle or end of February. The flock soon takes possession of the 

 trees in which their last year's nests were built, and their harsh ex- 

 plosive cries, attended by a curious contortion of the body, form one of 

 the familiar sounds of spring. 



Later the whole colony is a scene of great activity as the parents pass 

 to and fro carrying in food and removing excreta from the nests. 

 Then all depart and flock about the woodland, retiring at night to the 

 roosts which are occupied year after year. The commotion and noise 

 about these roosts,, as the thousands of birds come in at dusk, is almost 

 deafening and at a distance resembles the escape of steam from some 

 giant engine. 



As to the food of the Grackles the record of Professor Beal shows 

 twenty-seven per cent, insects and seventy per cent, vegetable matter. 

 Of the insects nearly half are grasshoppers and caterpillars. Of the 

 vegetable diet over one-half consists of corn. Curiously enough, how- 

 ever, less complaint has been made of this bird than of the Eed-wing, 

 the reason being that a large part of the grain eaten is scattered 

 kernels. Where the birds do most damage is where they are over- 

 crowded in a limited area, and measures must then be taken to lessen 

 their numbers, but such instances in the East are rare, and the same 

 methods for crop protection suggested in the case of the Red-wing 

 will usually prove satisfactory. 



511b Quiscalus quiscula seneus (Ridgway). 

 Bronzed Grackle. 



Differs from the last in having the back, rump and abdomen plain metallic 

 bronze without iridescent edges to the feathers. 



Mr. Chapman states that it is a transient in the vicinity of New 

 York, and I shot a single specimen west of Medford, February 8th, 

 1898. 



1 Cassinia, 1904, p. 68. 



2 Birds of Princeton, p. 60. 



3 Bird Lore, Christmas Lists, 1902, 1903, 1904. 



