196 BEACH GRASS 



den in Boston, but since that date they have 

 nested there commonly. Not until 1907 did they 

 begin to build nests in the vines of my house, and 

 it soon became a matter of choice between the de- 

 lightful robin or the obnoxious grackle as a 

 housemate. I naturally preferred the former. 

 A nest of a grackle over a back porch that I tore 

 down every week-end for five in succession, 

 was rebuilt and an egg generally laid therein by 

 the next week-end. I then found that if the eggs 

 were taken and the nest left, the birds became 

 suspicious and deserted. Possibly they thought 

 the destruction of the nest was due to the ele- 

 ments while the purloining of the eggs was due to 

 an enemy who would return for more ! The last 

 method of inducing the grackles to change their 

 abode was approved of by my neighbors and, by 

 the aid of a boy, thirty-two fresh grackles' eggs 

 were secured from the vines of several houses. 

 They made an excellent omelet. 



In the last chapter of "Sand Dunes and Salt 

 Marshes" I had something to say of the in- 

 teresting habit acquired by these birds of picking 

 a bit of food from the surface of water like a 





