Bulletin No. ij. 55 



Mr. Brewster found the robin roosting from the second week in June 

 (June 11) until the end of the first week in October. Grackles were 

 found at the Oberlin roost from May 16 until the end of the second week 

 in October — a difference of nearly four weeks between the two species. 

 Mr. Brewster describes the woods occupied by the robins as a point 

 toward which the host converged from all directions, singly or in small 

 companies. The grackles approached their roost from one direction only, 

 and arrived in larger or smaller flocks. The feeding habits of the robin 

 are therefore different from those of the grackle. Sometimes the robins 

 were almost equalled in numbers by other species which shared the roost 

 with them. But the grackles far outnumbered all the other species seek- 

 ing the protection of their roost. The fact that many robins rear two 

 broods in a season and that the grackles rarely if ever rear more than one 

 in this locality, would of necessity make some difference in the roosting 

 habits of the two species. So wide a range in the time of nesting among 

 the different grackle individuals — April 20 to June 10 — prolongs the molt- 

 ing season and occupancy of the roost beyond that of the robin, even 

 with his two broods to rear. If the molted feathers, which were carefully 

 gathered daily, can give accurate information, it is certain that the period 

 of molting is at least a week shorter with the robin than with the grackle. 

 The period of incubation is a day or two shorter, and the young leave the 

 nest earlier, how much I have been unable to determine accurately. In 

 a few isolated cases the young robins have remained in the nest fifteen 

 days after hatching, and the young grackles twenty days. But there is 

 considerable variation with both species. The first robin's nest is com- 

 pleted about a week before the first grackle's nest. Thus the robin is 

 more expeditious in all respects. Mr. Brewster does not mention the 

 molting of the robin while it occupies the roost, but from the number of 

 first primaries found under the trees I am strongly inclined to think that 

 all of the robins which occupied this roost in 1896 performed the entire 

 molt during the roosting season. 



After the roost was deserted small companies of grackles were seen in 

 the country about Oberlin almost every day until their departure for the 

 south — November 7, 1895, October 31, 1896. During the interval no 

 evidence of a roost could be detected, and it seems probable that none of 

 a general nature existed in this region. On more than one occasion a 

 small flock was seen to enter a convenient small woods in the evening and 

 passed the night there. Lines of flight would certainly have been dis- 

 covered if any had existed. It is not impossible that the desertion of the 

 roost on September 22, 1896, was the signal of departure southward for 

 those birds, but it is improbable. The ragged condition of the majority 



