THE BOAT-TAILED GEAKLE. 
55 
The flight of this bird exhibits long and decided undulation, repeated at 
intervals of about forty yards, it being performed at a considerable eleva- 
tion, and protracted to a great distance. It flies in loose flocks, when it 
never ceases to utter its peculiar cry of kirrick, crick, crick. In autumn, 
or as soon as the females and their broods associate with the males, their 
movements are regular from south to north, while returning towards their 
roosting places, and the reverse next morning when going out to look for 
food. They seldom rise from the rushes in compact bodies, unless they should 
happen to be surprised. At the report of a gun they fly to a great distance, 
and are always extremely shy and wary. The female does not carry her 
tail so deeply incurved as. the male. During the breeding season they return 
to their stand, after a chase, with a quivering motion of the wings, and the 
tail is more deeply incurved than at any other season. 
The notes of these birds are harsh, resembling loud shrill whistles, fre- 
quently accompanied with their ordinary cry of crick, crick, cree. In the 
love season they are more pleasing, being changed into sounds resembling 
Ur it, tirit, titiri, titiri, titiree, rising from low to high with great regularity 
and emphasis. The young, when first able to fly, emit a note not unlike the 
whistling cry of some of our frogs. 
Some of these Grakles migrate from the Carolinas and Georgia, although 
fully a third remain during the winter. At that season they frequently 
associate with the Pish Crow, and alight on stakes in, the mud flats close to 
the cities, where they remain for a considerable time emitting their cry. 
They are fond of the company of cattle, walking among them in the manner 
of the European Starling and our own Cow Bunting, but they never enter 
the woods. On the ground they walk in a stately and graceful manner, 
with their tail rather elevated, and jetting it at each cluck. 
The males often attack birds of other species, driving them from their 
nest, and sucking their eggs. I have seen seven or eight of them teasing a 
Fish Hawk for nearly an hour, before they gave up the enterprise. When 
brought to the ground wounded, they run off at once, make for the nearest 
tree, assist themselves by the bushes about it, and endeavour to get to the 
top brandies, moving all the while so nimbly, that it is difficult to secure 
them. They bite and scratch severely, often bringing blood from the hand. 
They are courageous birds, and often give chase to Hawks and Turkey 
Buzzards. My friend Dr. Samuel Wilson of Charleston, attempted to 
raise some from the nest, having found four young ones in two nests, and 
for some weeks fed them on fresh meat, but they became so infested with 
insects that notwithstanding all his care they died. 
In the plate are represented a pair in full spring plumage. I have placed 
them on their favourite live-oak tree. 
