eggs the ground may be dirty ^vhite or yellowish brown, with or without markings, or simply plain 

 blue. The average of twenty-five specimens is 1.13x.83; the largest, 1.20 x. 89; the smallest, 1.08 x. 79. 



DIFFERENTIAL POmTS : 



A typical nest should be recognized at once from the above description, but structures may be 

 met Avith Avhich will require careful examination to distinguish them from the Avork of the Robin. 

 For detailed differences, see Turdus migratorius. The eggs may be knoAvn from those of the Redwing 

 by their larger size. 



REMAEKS : 



A colony of these Grackles have for years built in a grove of thorn trees, in a piece of wet grass 

 land not far from Columbus, Ohio. Here, as early as the fifteenth of March nests may be found, and 

 by the last of April every tree is occupied; some small ones containing as many as three nests. 



The nest illustrated was taken from this locality on the fourth of May, 1877. The foundation 

 and superstructure consist of coarse grasses and the stalks of small weeds, those on the inside of the 

 su]3erstructure being Avell smeared Avith mud before they Avere placed in f)Osition : the plaster of mud 

 extends to the rim, and is entirely covered by the lining of round grasses. The inside diameter is 

 four inches; the inside depth three inches. The eggs figured are colored from freshly bloAvn specimens, 

 and represent the sizes and colors most frequently met Avith. 



Ornitholoi'"ical Avriters seem to ao:ree that the CroAV Blackbird is a coAvardh' thief, and a habitual 

 plunderer of the nests of other birds. Mr. Minot, in "Land and Game Birds of New England," speaking 

 of the habits of Qitiscaliis j)urpnreus, says: "They do great injury by their depredations on grain fields, 

 and their fondness for the eggs and young of other birds. Disagreeable as it is to Avitness the destruc- 

 tion of any feathered creature, I should not hesitate to sign a death-Avarrant in the case of these 

 robbei's." An experienced ornithologist assures me that variety jEnevs is equally devoid of all sense of 

 right. Such observations can not be doubted, and must remain a blot upon an otherAvise good character. 

 I have, howevei', never seen anything in their conduct to lead me to suspect any such wickedness, and 

 must here say a good Avord — a negative, it is true — in behalf of the bird. 



Wherever I have met them in the country, they have ahvays seemed to be upon the best of terms 

 ->vith other species. I have repeatedly seen their nests Avithm a few yards of an unmolested Dove's, 

 and once discovered an old stump, Avhich, besides the nest of the Bronzed Grackle, contained a Bluebird's 

 and a SparroAV IlaAvk's. 



When breeding in yards and parks, in or about cities and toAvns, the smaller birds Avhich frequent 

 such places, seem none the less numerous, or at all discomfited by their presence; neither do they 

 hesitate to place their eggs in the same evergreen in Avhich a pair of Grackles are rearing their young. 



I am therefore constrained to believe that these Grackles do not, at least during the time in Avhich 

 they are occupied in rearing the family, molest either the eggs or nestlings of other species to the 

 extent accredited them. What bad habits they may lapse into later in the season, I am not prepared 

 to say. 



In the early history of the state, the CroAv Blackbird Avas considered one of man's greatest pests, 

 and even to-day they are shot doAvn by hundreds, on account of the bad reputation gained in forme.r 

 times. But the time for such destruction should be considered as past; they no longer pull up the 

 infant blades of corn, cr destroy the ears by picking into them Avhile young and juicy; but, on the 

 contrary, they are the only birds that, early and late, untiringly foUoAv the ploAvman's footsteps along 

 each ncAvlA^-made furroAA^, searching for and devouring the noxious insects Avhich might infest or destroy 

 the coming crop. 



54 



