210 THE BIRDS 
apple orchard, and being familiar with the bird and the 
construction of its nest, satisfied myself that it does breed 
within Tidewater, though sparingly. The nest is a 
beautiful basket-shaped affair of plant fibers, hair, string, 
cotton, and other soft materials they chance to find, sus- 
pended from the extreme end of a limb, more often the 
elm, and from twenty to sixty feet from the ground. 
Eges number from four to five, a grayish-white glossy 
ground color, blotched, streaked and lined with black and 
various shades of brown. Size, .90x.60. Fresh eggs May 
15th. Only one brood a season. I consider Northampton 
County their southern breeding range limit in the 
Austroriparian zone. While with us their food consists 
mainly of caterpillars, with a lesser assortment of various 
insects injurious to agriculture, the good they do 
destroying the tent caterpillar in the orchard, and home 
shade trees, should offset many times the harm they do 
by taking sparingly of the smaller fruits and_ berries. 
They arrive on the Eastern Shore about May Ist, and 
depart the latter part of August. The male is a noisy 
fellow until incubation is over, after which one seldom 
hears him sing. Maple and elm trees seem to be their 
favorites for building their nests in. They become more 
abundant as we go northward, and in Accomac County 
they are not rare; and fairly common in central and 
western sections. 
GENUS QUISCALUS. 
[511]. Quiscalus quiscula quiscula (Linneus). Purple 
Grackle. 
[Crow Blackbird]. 
Ranexr.—Middle Atlantic coast region of the United 
States. Breeds in the Carolinian fauna from the north 
