BOAT-TAILED GRAKLE. 507 



excellence of these birds as articles of food, swim gently towards the nest 

 and suddenly thrasliing the reeds with their tails, jerk out the poor nest- 

 lings and immediately devour them. One or two such attacks so frighten 

 the parent Grakles, that, as if of common accord, they utter a chuck, when 

 the young scramble away among the reeds towards the shore, and gene- 

 rally escape from their powerful enemies. Tliis species, the Red-winged 

 Starling and the Crow Blackbird, ascend and descend the reeds with 

 much celerity and ease, holding on by their feet. In that portion of 

 East Florida called the " Ever Glades," the Boat-tailed Grakles frequent- 

 ly breed in company with the Little Bittern (Ardea exilis), the Scolo- 

 paceous Curlew, and the Common Gallinule; and when on trees, along 

 with the Green Heron. 



The flight of this bird exhibits long and decided undulation, repeated 

 at intervals of about forty yards, it being performed at a considerable 

 elevation, and protracted to a great distance. It flies in loose flocks, 

 when it never ceases to utter its peculiar cry of kirrick, crick, crick. In 

 autumn, or as soon as the females and their broods associate with the 

 males, their movements are regular from south to north, while returning 

 towards their roosting places, and the reverse next morning when going 

 out to look for food. They seldom rise from the rushes in compact 

 bodies, unless they should happen to be surprised. At the report of a 

 gun they fly to a great distance, and are alway extremely shy and wary. 

 The female does not cany her tail so deeply incurved as the male. Du- 

 ring the breeding season they return to their stand, after a chase, with a 

 quivering motion of the wings, and the tail is more deeply incurved than 

 at any other season. 



The notes of these birds are harsh, resembling loud shrill whistles, 

 frequently accompanied with their ordinary cry of crick, crick, cree. In 

 the love season they are more pleasing, being changed into sounds resem- 

 bling tirit, tirit, titiri, titiri, titiree, rising from low to high with great re- 

 gularity and emphasis. The young when first able to fly emit a note not 

 unlike the whistling cry of some of our frogs. 



Some of these Grakles migrate from the Carolinas and Georgia, al- 

 though fully a third remain during the winter. At that season they fre- 

 quently associate with the Fish Crow, and alight on stakes in the mud 

 flats close to the cities, where they remain for a considerable time emit- 

 ting their cry. They are fond of the company of cattle, walking among 

 them in the manner of the European Starling and our own Cow Bunt- 



