308 ICTERID^E : AMERICAN STARLINGS. 



see what a handsome glossy bird the male is when 

 full dressed, with a sheen to the plumage scarcely 

 inferior to that of the Purple Grackle itself, although 

 less variable. According to Mr. E. A. Samuels, who 

 examined breeding places of the bird on the Magal- 

 loway River, in Maine, the nests are large structures, 

 easily seen at a distance of some rods through the 

 foliage of the low alders, overhanging the water, on 

 which bushes they are built. The nest proper is con- 

 structed on a layer of twigs and briar-stalks, being 

 composed of grasses mixed with mud, moulded into a 

 firm circular structure, and lined with fine grasses and 

 rootlets. 



The eggs of Grackles of this genus are quite differ- 

 ent from those of Agelceus, Quiscalus, and Icteridce 

 generally, being flecked and clouded, but with little 

 or no line-tracery. The ground color is pale dull 

 greenish, varying to bluish or grayish, and this is 

 plentifully marked with dark brown. They vary too 

 much in the character of the spotting to be very con- 

 cisely described. The size is about 1.05X0.75, but 

 very variable. They are not satisfactorily distinguish- 

 able from those of the other species Scolccophag'us 

 cyanocephalus, though quite different from those of any 

 other of our Icterida. I am however informed by Mr. 

 Purdie that two sets of eggs, one from Upton, Maine, 

 the other from Nova Scotia, do not closely resemble 

 those of the Western species, being quite sparingly 

 marked, and answering more to the eggs described 

 by Dr. Brewer, from Calais, Maine, (Hist. N. A. 

 Birds, ii. p. 206). The number is presumably four 

 to six, though no one of thirteen sets examined from 

 Arctic America contained more than four. 



