BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
223 
tion of the Crow Blackbird was made on the authority of the late David 
Euen, Esq, of Plioenixville, Pa.: “ A day or two since, while Edward 
Entwisle, and another resident (David Euen), of Phoenixville, were walk¬ 
ing along French creek in that town, they saw a common Crow Black¬ 
bird fly to the water’s edge and take therefrom a minnow which it 
swallowed.” The fish-eating habit of the Crow Blackbird, in Pennsyl¬ 
vania, is of rare occurrence, and beyond the record above given by Mr. 
Euen there are no records, known to me, showing a piscivorous desire 
on the part of the species in this commonwealth. At various times in 
the past eight years, I have examined the stomach contents of some 
seven hundred Crow Blackbirds, captured in Pennsylvania and Delaware, 
yet in this large number nothing was found to lead one to suspect a fish¬ 
eating habit. In Florida, the Grackle, according to my investigations, 
takes most kindly to a fish diet. Since the latter part of February, 1885, 
I have dissected the alimentary tracts of forty-four of this species, seven¬ 
teen of which were secured in Florida, along the St. John’s river. These 
seventeen examples, obtained at various periods from March 1 to May 
7, 1885, showed generally an insect-food preference—beetles, principally. 
Six of the number, however, revealed unmistakable evidences of having 
taken as nourishment fishes, as will be seen by this table: 
NO. 
Date. 
Locality. 
Food-Materials. 
1 
March 3. 1885. . . . 
Volusia county, Fla. 
Five small fishes, beetles and grub. 
2 
April 21. 1885, . . . 
Orange county. Fla. 
Three fishes, beetles and mulberries. 
3 
April 10. 1885, . . . 
Orange county, Fla. 
Remains of fishes, beetles, small seeds, etc. 
4 
March 14. 1885. . . . 
Volusia county, Fla. 
Remains of fishes, beetle, oats and corn. 
5 
April 29, 1885, . . . 
Volusia county, Fla. 
Cray-fish, minnow and different insects. 
6 
May —, 1885, . . . 
Volusia county, Fla. 
Remains of fishes and green-colored beetle. 
Of the forty birds above mentioned, twenty-seven were taken in Ches¬ 
ter county, Pa., during May, June and July, feeding chiefly along the 
fertile banks of the Brandywine creek. In this series, however, not a 
single individual was found to possess a trace which would show in the 
northern birds a fish-food want. A Florida fisherman, during the early 
part of April, 1885, caught a number of “ perch ” which spoiled before a 
market could be found for them. The decaying carcasses were tossed 
into the river, to float away or to be “ gobbled up ” by the voracious 
“catties.” Several of these defunct fishes lodged among the shell rocks 
lining the banks. Probably an hour after the cast-aways had lain along 
the riverside, three Crow Blackbirds were seen—quoting the phraseology 
of a “cracker” who was present at the time—“to jine de fish and feast 
’emselves to plum fulness.” After the departure of the sable visitants, 
an inspection of the feeding-place revealed that the birds had picked out 
the eyes of seven, or all but one, of the fishes, three of which were con¬ 
siderably torn about the abdominal regions. The mutilated condition 
of the belly muscles is mainly attributed to the fact that the fish had 
been eviscerated before having been thrown away, hence these incised 
parts were more accessible to mandibular action than other and unbroken 
