*THE # OGLOGIST* 



Vol. V, No. 4. 



ALBION, N. Y., APKIL, 1888. 



Published Monthly, 

 50c Per Yeak. 



Boat-tailed Grackle. 



Qjiiscalns major. 



Among the most noticeable land birds of 

 * Florida are the Boat-tailed Grackles. This 

 is partly due to their large size, but is main- 

 ly owing to the fact that they make them- 

 selves conspicuous by their loud notes and 

 ostenstatious display. As they are gener- 

 ally regarded as harmless birds they are 

 seldom molested and thus have acquired 

 confidence in man, becoming very tame. 

 Indeed they are the most unsuspicious of 

 any birds of such large size that I ever saw, 

 and I have frequently passed within two 

 yards of them as they sat on the low bushes 

 on the bunk of the river. But wherever 

 the tourists go, they are prone to shoot 

 everything that they see, and the Jack- 

 daws, aJHhey are called, soon become aware 

 of this propensity, so that they are very shy 

 about cities or towns. Being remarkable 

 sagacious birds they do not remain long 

 where they are persecuted, but retreat to 

 the wilder sections where they are very 

 abundant, and where I have had many 

 opportunities of observing their habits. 



Like the preceding species, the flight of 

 the B >at-tailed Grackles is somewhat heavy 

 and decidedly marked, for the long, keel- 

 shaped tail gives the bird a peculiar appear- 

 ance and looks as if it were too heavy for 

 the remainder of the body which is often 

 kept at an inclination, with the head 

 highest. I do not think these birds are as 

 agile in aerial evolutions as the other 

 Blackbirds for they seldom wheel in circles, 

 but. fly more in a direct line; in fact this 

 species is characterized by their dignified 

 movements, even when walking. They 

 spend a great portion of their time on the 

 ground, frequenting the neighborhood of 

 streams and other bodies of water into 

 which they wade in search of mollusks, 



crabs, etc. Throughout the winter these 

 Blackbirds assemble in large flocks, some 

 of which are wholly made up of males 

 while others are composed mainly of fe- 

 males, but by the first of March these 

 large assemblies break up into smaller 

 companies and both sexes come together. 

 Then the males begin to sing, but perhaps 

 I am violating the rules of harmony when I 

 call this peculiar lay a song. Yet, although 

 the chirp is much harsher than that of the 

 Crow Blackbird, the remainder of the 

 performance is much different. It consists 

 of a series of sharp, short, though clear, 

 energetic notes uttered somewhat rapidly, 

 and taken in connection with the primeval 

 surroundings, produces an effect which is 

 exceedingly pleasing. 



As I have remarked before, the east side 

 of Indian River is mainly composed of dry 

 prairies through which are interspersed 

 little ponds. The space occupied by the 

 water is small, but it is surrounded by a 

 belt of marshy ground, of a greater or less 

 extent, which has thickly grown to high, 

 coarse saw-grass. This rank herbage 

 which is of ten six feet high, is the chosen 

 resort of the Boat-tailed Grackles, and the 

 nests are fastened to the large stems. 

 Sometimes there will be willows near the 

 water, and on a few occasions I have found 

 the nests in them. The average height of 

 the structures above the surface was four 

 feet, but I took one from a branch of a tree 

 that was placed ten feet from the ground. 



This was quite exceptional, in fact it is 

 rare to find them elsewhere than in the 

 grass. The birds began to breed in the 

 Everglades by the second week in March, 

 and I found them nesting in the rushes in 

 the islands at Salt Lake by the seventeenth 

 of the month, but it was as late as the 

 third of April when I visited the breeding 

 grounds mentioned above. The eggs had 



