22 
FARMERS" BULLETIN 755. 
BOAT-TAILED CRACKLE. 1 
The boat-tailed grackle (fig. 11), the largest of the blackbirds in the United States, 
inhabits the South Atlantic and Gulf States from Virginia to Texas but is not found 
at any great distance from the coast. Little has been written concerning its food 
habits, but Audubon, whose account is apparently the best, says: 
The food of this species consists principally of those small crabs called “fiddlers,” 
of which millions are found along the margins of the rivers and mud flats, as well as 
of large insects of all kinds, 
ground-worms, and seeds, 
especiallygrains. * * * In 
autumn, while the rice is 
yet in the stack, they com¬ 
mit considerable mischief 
by feeding on the grain, 
although not so much as 
when it is in a juicy state, 
when the planters are 
obliged to employ persons 
to chase them from the 
fields. 2 
In the investigations 
made by the Biological 
Survey there have been 
examined 247 stomachs 
from Florida, Alabama, 
Mississippi, Georgia, and 
Texas, representing every 
month in the year. The 
food consists of 47.45 per 
cent animal matter and 
52.55 per cent vegetable. 
The former is made up of 
insects and crustaceans, 
with a few lizards, toads, 
frogs, small mammals, etc. 
Crustaceans make up more 
than a third of the animal 
food (16.81 per cent of the 
total) and consist of craw¬ 
fish, crabs, and shrimps, a 
true seashore diet. No in¬ 
sects appear to be specially 
sought. Predacious beetles 
(3.23 per cent) are taken 
mostly in fall, and other 
beetles are found to some 
extent, but no family is 
B 2161-66 conspicuous. Grasshop- 
Fig. 11.—Boat-tailed grackle. Length, about 16 inches. pers are eaten in July and 
August (34.47 and 30 per 
cent, respectively) but very few in any other month. The average for the year is 
7.76 per cent. Six birds taken in Texas in September are worthy of special mention 
from the fact that they had all eaten cotton bollworms in quantities varying from 26 
to 93 per cent of the food. A few other insects and remains of small vertebrates 
are frequently found in the stomachs, but do not form important elements. 
1 Megaquiscalu -s major , 
Omith. Biog., II, 504, 1835 
