PURPLE GRAKLE, 459 



their ravages among the plantations of Maize. 

 After that grain is carried in, they feed on the 

 seeds of the Water Tare-Grass or Zizania aquatica. 

 Their good qualities in clearing the country from 

 many noxious insects have been before recited in 

 the history of the Red- Winged Oriole. They appear 

 in New Yoik and Philadelphia in February or 

 the beginning of March, and sit perched on trees 

 near the farms, and give a tolerably agreeable note. 

 They also build in trees, usually in retired places, 

 making their nests externally v\^ith coarse stalks, 

 intermixed vy^ith bents and fibres, v^n'th plaister at 

 the bottom. They lay five or six eggs, of a pale 

 blue colour, thinly spotted and striped with black. 

 After the breeding-season they return with their 

 young from their most distant quarters, in flights 

 continuing for miles in length, blackening the very 

 sky, in order to make their depredations on the 

 ripening maize. It is unfortunate that they in- 

 crease in proportion as the country is more culti- 

 vated; following the maize in places where they 

 were before unknown, wheresoever that grain is 

 introduced. They migrate from the northern 

 colonies at the approach of winter; but continue 

 in Carolina the whole year, feeding about the barn 

 door. Their flesh is rank and unpalatable, and is 

 only the food of birds of prey. The small Hawks 

 dash among the flocks, and catch them in the air. 

 They are also found in Mexico, and in the island 

 of Jamaica." 



