208 BIRDS OF THE PASTURE AND FOREST. 



beneath the surface of the ground, that they probably 

 compensate in this way for all the mischief they perform. 



THE PURPLE GRACKLE. 



High up in the pines or firs that constitute a grove 

 outside of any of our villages, in the latter part of April, 

 small flocks of Purple Grackles may be seen gathered 

 together like Rooks, and making the whole neighborhood 

 resound with their garrulity. They are not very shy 

 birds, seeming hardly conscious of the enmity with which 

 they are regarded by the villagers near whose habitations 

 they congregate. They become every year more numer- 

 ous and familiar, their numbers increasing with the ex- 

 tension of the area of tillage. In no way is the truth of 

 the Malthusian theory more clearly proved or more plainly 

 illustrated than in the habits of certain species of birds. 

 They will increase in spite of our persistent efforts to 

 exterminate them, unless we cut down our woods and 

 thickets to deprive them of a shelter and a home. A 

 single model farmer or landscape-gardener may do more 

 in the way of their extermination, by keeping his grounds 

 nice, and clear of undergrowth, than twenty mischievous 

 boys with guns or a dozen avaricious farmers with their 

 nets. Birds that, like the Eobin and the Grackle, consume 

 all sorts of insects they can find upon the ground, will 

 increase with their supply of insect food. If we wish to 

 stop their multiplication, we must bury every fertilizer six 

 feet deep. 



The Grackles are intelligent birds, and, though ap- 

 parently not very shy, they are wise enough to build 

 their nests in the tops of tall trees which are difficult of 

 access, choosing an evergreen for this purpose, that they 

 may be more safely concealed. These birds have been 

 known to build sometimes in the hollows of trees : like- 



