BRONZED CRACKLE 95 



In five years, therefore, from 1902 to 

 1906, there was a rapid increase of grackles 

 breeding within the Garden, and such a 

 check as occurred in 1907 was doubtless 

 desirable. 



The earliest arrival of the species was on 

 March n, 1906, when two birds Appeared; 

 but this earliness of date was offset by their 

 disappearance after six days, owing to a 

 week of wintry weather, in which the mer- 

 cury dropped to 1 1 and two snowfalls oc- 

 curred, depositing fifteen inches of snow. 

 There was a reappearance of these two 

 birds, or other two, on March 25, followed 

 by successive additions until the number 

 of nesting birds reached sixty-four. The 

 next earliest arrival was in 1908, when three 

 birds appeared on March 12. The latest 

 date of arrival of the species within the 

 Garden was March 24, in 1904. The usual 

 time of coming has been between March 16 

 and I8. 1 , 



1 A male Bronzed Crackle, which had returned to the 

 Garden for the season of 1909, was seen by me on Feb- 

 ruary 26 in a purple beech which retained on one of its 



