PURPLE GRACKLE. 



Quiscalus quiscula Jordan. 



Plate XVII. Fig. 6.* 



MOiJG the Blackbirds the Gra(Skles are the most abundant and conspicuous. 

 '^^^ They are eminently gregarious, exceedingly noisy, and always in a happy and 

 cheerful mood. Wherever they occur they soon attract attention by their beautiful 

 glossy black color, by their long, boat-shaped tail, and by their noisy disposition. We 

 rarely see one alone. They migrate in large flocks, and the swarms visiting the corn- 

 fields look like black clouds as they move on in an undulating course. Even during 

 the breeding season they are gregarious. Being exceedingly tame and breeding frequently 

 in gardens, even in villages and towns, the Grackles are well-known and familiar birds. 

 There are three different forms or varieties of Grackles scouring our country. The 

 typical form, inhabiting the country east of the AUeghanies, from Georgia northward 

 to Massachusetts, is the Purple Grackle. The Florida Gracklb, Q. quiscula aglseus 

 Stejn., is a little smaller thap the type and has a rather restricted range of distribu- 

 tion, being only found in Florida and in the southern part of the Gulf States west to 

 Texas. The most abundant and best known of the three varieties is the Bronzed 

 Grackle, Quiscalus quiscula anseus Stejneger, of the Mississippi valjey. Its range is 

 very extensive, breeding from Louisiana and Texas northward to Great Slave Lake, 

 east to the AUeghanies, southern New England, and New Foundland, west to the 

 eastern h^se of the Rocky Mountains. West of the Rocky Mountains the Grackles are 

 entirely absent from the landscape. All these forms are so alike in their habits, that 

 it will suffice to treat more i\>\\j of the most common variety, the Bronzed Grackle, 

 also known as the Crow Blackbird, Boat-tailed Blackbird, Common Grackle, Corn-thief, 

 and Com Blackbird. 



When in Wisconsin the harbingers of spring, the Robins, Bluebirds, Song Sparrows, 

 and Meadowlarks, arrive, we may also look for the Grackles. They are first seen in the 

 last week of March or early in April. Moving in large, noisy swarms, their arrival 

 cannot be overlooked in the rural districts by all those who have open eyes and ears. 

 The males appear first, the females follow a few days later. Shortly after their arrival 

 the large swarms dissolve into smaller ones which remain together, until after the breed- 

 ing season old and young again congregate into immense swarms. They then move 

 about in large hordes like lilack clouds, creating great havoc in the corn-fields. By 

 the middle of April till nesting time begins, they follow the furrows of the plough, picking 

 up all kinds of insects. During the evening hours they fly in scattered flocks to their 

 roosts in the woods of the lowlands and swamps. In the prairie regions they often 

 roost in large numbers in the ornamental evergreens near farm-houses, and they even 

 enter villages and towns, where they spend the night in the willows and orchard trees. 



Their flight is rather heavy, and the long boat-like tail appeap to be of dis- 

 advantage as they proceed onward. Having reached a certain height they fly easily 



* The bird figured is the Bronzed Grackle. 



39 



