150 QUISCALUS VERSICOLOR. 



not hear the warning cries of the adult birds, followed by the harsh, scolding notes of the 

 Crow Blackbird as he was vigorously attacked on all sides, but he seldom retreated with- 

 out accomplishing his purpose. Such continuous slaughter must greatly thin the ranks of 

 the birds that are thus robbed and it will be safe to say that the Purple Grackles destroy 

 more birds than all the other predatory species combined. The sufferers quickly forget 

 their wrongs, for it is only during the breeding season or when the young are small that 

 they exhibit any enmity toward the Blackbirds, and I have seen the Grackles amicably 

 eating cherries in company with a large number of smaller birds, composed of half a dozen 

 species. 



In Florida, where the Purple Grackles are very tame, they also eat a variety of food. 

 In early Winter large flocks may be seen on the tops of the palmettoes, feeding on the 

 fruit, and they also eat berries in their season. Later small flocks are found on the mar- 

 gin of streams, frequently wading into them in search of little mollusks, crabs, etc., and it 

 is not rare to meet with one or two scattering individuals in the thick hummocks, overturn- 

 ing the leaves in order to find insects or small reptiles Avhich they devour. I once saw 

 one catch a lizard which was crawling over the fan-like frond of a palmetto, and fly with 

 it to the ground. The reptile squirmed all the while in its frantic endeavors to escape, 

 but the Blackbird held it firmly and, after beating it to death, removed the skin as adroitly 

 as if accustomed to the operation, then swallowed the body. 



The harsh, guttural notes of the Purple Grackle can scarcely be called a song but, like 

 all the other Blackbirds, they make great display when uttering them. The performance 

 is given while the birds are perched upon some elevated situation, and I have frequently 

 heard an entire flock, composed of some hundreds of individuals, thus employed. As each 

 evidently tried to surpass the others in emitting the rasping squeal, they succeeded admi- 

 rably in producing much more noise than music. The notes of the local race found in 

 Florida differ from those which occur in the North in being much more disagreeable, if 

 that were possible, for they are somewhat harsher. 



The young leave the nest by the last week in June and become fledged by the middle 

 of July, when they accompany their parents and all gradually gather in flocks, so that by 

 the first of October vast numbers have accumulated. They always select some particular 

 spot, usually a thick swamp, as a roosting place, to which they return regularly every even- 

 ing, coming in small flocks, and continuing to arrive until long after twilight. They are 

 quite watchful even during dark nights, for if a gun be discharged in one of these resorts 

 all of the birds will rise at once and many will fly away to neighboring woods while others 

 will return after a time, but if disturbed very often they will abandon the place entirely. 

 By November when the leaves are falling, they migrate, lingering for a time in Pennsyl- 

 vania, where such quanities accumulate that the vast flocks fairly darken the air. They 

 move in exceedingly compact bodies, flying so closely together that it seems impossible 

 for them to use their wings at all, yet they fly very swiftly, and when one of these living 

 clouds is passing overhead the sound produced by their pinions resembles that of rushing 

 water. The Crow Blackbirds take their final departure for the South before the first of 

 November. 



