JACKDAW— GRACKLES- BLACKBIRDS. 



77 



at other times conceals itself among the neighboring long grass 

 and rushes. 



Coues says : "The Pectoral Sandpiper is well known to sports- 

 men and others, and is frequently sought after, as its somewhat 

 game-like habits of lying to a dog and flushing correctly from the 

 grass, like a true Snipe, render it an attractive object of pursuit; 

 besides which, in the fall it becomes very fat, and it is then excel- 

 lent eating. Unlike most Sandpipers, it does not flock, at least to 

 any extent, being oftenest found scattered singly or in pairs. In 

 the United States it is chiefly, if not wholly, a bird of passage ; 

 for, though some may winter along our southern border and others 

 breed along the northern tier of States, such probabilities require 

 to be confirmed. As maybe gathered from the quotations (North, 

 Central, and South America, West India, Greenland, and Europe), 

 its winter range is very extensive, yet some individuals may be 

 found in the Middle States as late as November. I found it in July 

 along the forty-ninth parallel, where it probably breeds. It occurred 

 sparingly about pools on Turtle Mountain, in company with the 

 Least Sandpiper. It is a very abundant bird in summer, in Labra- 

 dor, where it frequents low, muddy flats laid bare by the tide, and 

 the salt-marshes adjoining. When they arise from the grass to 

 alight again at a little distance, they fly in silence or with a single 

 tweet, holding the wings deeply incurved ; but when suddenly 

 startled and much alarmed, they spring quickly, with loud, re- 

 peated cries, and make off in a zigzag, much like the common 

 Snipe. Sometimes, gaining a considerable elevation, they circle 

 for several minutes in silence overhead, flying with great velocity, 

 perhaps to pitch down again nearly perpendicularly to the same 

 spot they sprang from. The southward migration begins in Au- 

 gust, and is usually completed by the following month." 



sckdaw— Boat-tailed Grackle— Great Crow Blackbird, {^uiscalus 



ma/or.) 



Fig. 4. 



This bird may be termed a small species of Raven. It is dis- 

 tinguished by its short, strong, straight beak, which is but slightly 

 curved. Its habitat is the South Atlantic and Gulf States, along 

 the coast from the Carolinas to Texas, the West Indies, and Mex- 

 ico. It is also found throughout most of the countries of Europe 

 and in many parts of Asia. It occupies some certain places in 

 great numbers, entirely avoiding other districts. Among the sea- 

 islands, and neighboring marshes on the mainland, they assemble 

 in great numbers, where they feed, at low water, on the oyster- 

 beds. Bushes in the neighborhood of salt marshes are the sit- 

 uations it prefers for building purposes, but it will also make its 

 nest upon high trees or even shrubs. It is extremely rude, being 

 roughly formed of twigs or straw, and lined with hair, feathers, 

 or hay. During these building operations the settlement is a con- 

 stant scene of quarreling, one bird stealing from another with the 

 greatest audacity and cunning, and taking possession, not only of 

 the materials, but of the places selected by their neighbors as snug 

 and desirable localities. 



The disposition of this species is lively, and its habits extremely 

 social. Indeed, it may be said to possess the gifts of the Crow, 

 with but few of its disagreeable qualities. When upon the wing, 

 the flight of the Jackdaw is not unlike that of a Pigeon, and its 

 mode of rising, falling, or performing a variety of evolutions 

 remarkably graceful and easy. Its voice is capable of considera- 

 ble development, according to Audubon, resembling a loud, shrill 

 whistle, often accompanied by a cry like criek criek cree, and, in 

 the breeding season, changing almost to a warble. According to 

 Nuttall, they are only heard to sing in the spring, and their con- 

 cert, though inclining to sadness, is not altogether disagreeable. 



Large quantities of insects, snails, and worms are devoured by 

 these useful birds. They will seek their food in the streets, or fol- 

 low in the wake of the ploughman as he turns up the clods and 



lays the concealed grubs bare to their hungry beaks. They hunt 

 for mice, young birds, and eggs with great dexterity, and will also 

 feed upon roots, leaves, corn, and fruit. 



Crow Blackbird— Purple Grackle. (Quiscalus purpureus.) 

 Fig. 5. 



The Purple Grackle is a very common bird, and is either occa- 

 sionally or constantly to be met with in all parts of North America, 

 north to Labrador, Hudson's Bay, and the Saskatchewan, through- 

 out which range it breeds. It winters in the Southern States and 

 the Antilles, within the tropics. They associate at times in great 

 numbers. Wilson states that, on the 20th of January, a few miles 

 from the banks of the Roanoke, in Virginia, he met with one 

 of these prodigious armies of Blackbirds, which, as he approached, 

 rose from the surrounding fields with a noise like thunder, and, de- 

 scending on the stretch of road before him, covered it and the fences 

 completely with black; rising again, after a few evolutions, they 

 descended on the skirt of a leafless wood, so thick as to give the 

 whole forest, for a considerable extent, the appearance of being 

 shrouded in mourning, the numbers amounting probably to many 

 hundreds of thousands. Their notes and screams resembled the 

 distant sound of a mighty cataract, but strangely attuned into a 

 musical cadence, which rose and fell with the fluctuation of the 

 breeze. 



"Their depredations," says Nuttall, "on the maize crop, or 

 Indian corn, commences almost with the planting. The infant 

 blades no sooner appear than they are hailed by the greedy Black- 

 bird as the signal for a feast ; and, without hesitation, they descend 

 on the fields, and regale themselves with the sweet and sprouted 

 seed, rejecting and scattering the blades, as an evidence of their 

 mischief and audacity. Again, about the beginning of August, 

 while the grain is in the milky state, their attacks are renewed 

 with the most destructive effect, as they now assemble, as it were, 

 in clouds, and pillage the fields to such a degree, that, in some 

 low and sheltered situations, in the vicinity of rivers, where they 

 delight to roam, one-fourth of the crop is devoured by these vexa- 

 tious visitors. The gun, also, notwithstanding the havoc it pro- 

 duces, has little more effect than to chase them from one part of 

 the field to the other. In the Southern States, in winter, they 

 hover round the corncribs in swarms, and boldly peck the hard 

 grain from the cob through the air openings of the magazine. In 

 consequence of these reiterated depredations, they are detested by 

 the farmer as a pest to his industry ; though, on their arrival, their 

 food for a long time consists wholly of those insects which are cal- 

 culated to do the most essential injury to the crops. They, at this 

 season, frequent swamps and meadows, and, familiarly following 

 the furrows of the plow, sweep up all the grub-worms, and other 

 noxious animals, as soon as they appear, even scratching up the 

 loose soil, that nothing of this kind may escape them. Up to the 

 time of harvest, I have uniformly, on dissection, found their food 

 to consist of these larvae, caterpillars, moths, and beetles, of which 

 they devour such numbers, that but for this providential economy, 

 the whole crop of grain, in many places, would probably be de- 

 stroyed by the time it began to germinate." 



"This familiar bird," Gentry says, "reaches the latitude of 

 Philadelphia usually about the middle of March. As I write 

 (March 21st), many small flocks may be seen in various directions, 

 fluttering and chattering among the trees. Nest-building has been 

 observed even as early as March 15th, but then only in sheltered 

 situations — such as the south slopes of a hill. Here the nests are 

 built chiefly in the branches of coniferous trees. Usually, but one 

 brood is reared each season ; but I have observed instances of a 

 second brood, when the season has been unusually propitious. In 

 such cases, the first batch of young appeared in April, the other 

 in July. Though sometimes annoying to the agriculturist by its 

 mischief in the cornfields, this bird has nevertheless some good 



