500 LIFE IIISTOBIES OF jTOETH AMEEIOAN BIEDS. 



194. Quiscalus quiscula aglaeus (Baird). 



FLORIDA GRACKLE. 



Quiscalus aglceus Baird, American Journal of Science and Arts, 1S6G, 84. 

 Quiscalus quiscula aglceus Stejneger, Auk, II, Jan., 1885, 43, footnote. 

 (B 422, C — , E 278a, C 33G, TJ 511a.) 



Geographical range : From southern South Carolina (Charleston) south through 

 the Florida peninsula; west through southern Georgia and the Gulf coast of Florida to 

 southeastern Louisiana (New Orleans). 



The Florida Grackle, or Florida Crow Blackbird, a slightly smaller race 

 than the preceding, is generally resident and breeds wherever found. Its gen- 

 eral habits are similar to those of the Purple Grackle in nearly every respect. 

 It breeds both in swamps and on higher grounds, in pine woods and orange 

 groves, etc. ; the nesting season begins sometimes in the latter part of March, but 

 usually about the first week in April, and occasionally as late as May. 



Dr. William L. Ralph finds this subspecies common in Putnam County, 

 Florida, and the United States National Museum is indebted to him for nearly 

 all the eggs of this race in the collection, as well as for the nests and skins. 

 The nests vary somewhat in composition; some are made of coarse grass, leaves, 

 etc., taken from the ground in swamps, pressed firmly together, and thickly cov- 

 ered on the outside with Spanish moss, with which a few pieces of grass, twigs, 

 etc., are mixed, and they are lined with finer dry grass. In other nests the outer 

 walls are mainly composed of coarse grass, weeds, and but little Spanish moss; 

 these materials are cemented together with cow manure and mud, and the nests 

 are lined with wire grass (Aristidd) ; again flags, wet sphagnum moss, pine nee- 

 dles, and small twigs are used to a considerable extent in the"se structures. Such 

 substances as are most readily obtained near the nesting site are generally 

 utilized, and this accounts for the variable nature of the materials used. 



A nest now before me, built in an orange tree, about 8 feet from the ground, 

 measures 5 J inches in height and 8 inches in outer diameter. The inner cup of 

 the nest is 3| inches deep by 4 \ inches in diameter. Most of the nests found 

 by Dr. Ralph were placed in low bushes, from 2 to 7 feet above the water in 

 cypress swamps; others were found in orange trees and small pines, at no great 

 distance from the ground. One nest, containing four eggs, in which incubation 

 was about one-fourth advanced, taken by him March 30, had been placed 

 directly under an occupied nest of the Green Heron, with an interval of about 6 

 inches between them. It was in a bush in a cypress swamp, about 5 feet from 

 the ground. 



The number of eggs to a set varies from three to five, and these show about 

 the same variations in color and markings as those of the Purple Grackle, and 

 can not be distinguished from them, excepting that they are somewhat larger. 



The average measurement of twenty-three eggs, all from Florida, is 30.48 

 by 20.97 millimetres, or 1.20 by 0.82 inches. The largest egg measures 36.32 by 



