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The Family /cteridae 
By ANNA C. AMES 
PECULIAR TO THE AMERICAS are the members of the family Jcteridae — the 
grackles, the blackbirds, the cowbird, the bobolink, the much-loved meadow- 
lark, and the orioles. The Old World has no birds like these. 
The members of this family are nine-primaried, have sharp, conical 
bills, and, generally speaking, are highly insectivorous. In spring migration 
the males arrive first, sometimes as much as two weeks before the females. 
“In this group the bill differs greatly as to relative length and thickness, 
but is never conspicuously longer than the head. The wing is extremely 
variable, but usually the tip is moderately extended and terminates abruptly. 
The tail varies in length, form of tip, and shape of feathers; it is never 
forked or notched, and is usually rounded, sometimes double rounded, and 
occasionally graduated and folded like a fan. The tail feathers number 
twelve and vary in width at the tips in different species. In one species, 
the bobolink, they abruptly taper to a point and are rigid at the tips.” 
The name icteridae is from the Latin ictericus meaning jaundiced or 
yellow. Most of the species of this group are garbed largely or in some 
small part in yellow, orange, or buff. The sexes differ in coloration except 
the meadowlarks. The females are more plainly colored and generally 
smaller than the males. Aside from the meadowlarks and cowbirds, the 
males of the various species are either plain black (sometimes with bluish 
or greenish metallic gloss) or black with gorgeous. colors. 
The different species of icteridae have strongly contrasting character- 
istics. Some nest in colonies and are very gregarious; others, as the 
meadowlarks, live in couples. All are strong walkers except the orioles, 
who hop. Some are musical; others sing not at all. The notes of the 
singers have a somewhat metallic quality. The bobolink has a rollicking 
song; the grackles are solemn. Some are migratory; others are local. 
Generally they are devoted to their families, but this is not true of the 
cowbirds. All but the orioles may be considered largely ground birds; the 
orioles live almost entirely in trees. The orioles build exquisite nests; the 
cowbirds never build nests. Some are birds of the grassy plains; others 
nest chiefly in swamps and marshes; still others are birds of the trees. 
The nests of most of these birds are fairly inaccessible, as those of the 
orioles and most of the blackbirds. However, meadowlarks and bobolinks 
and Brewer’s blackbirds nest on the ground. Grackles’ nests are not so 
high in trees that one cannot climb to them. 
“If the nest or eggs of birds of this family are interfered with before 
incubation begins, the birds usually desert and choose another site. Their 
incubation periods are in general shorter than those of other birds which 
lay eggs of similar size. The young are fed by the parent bird’s placing 
the food far enough down in the mouth so that it touches the base of the 
tongue and so produces the proper reaction. After a feeding, the nest is 
scrupulously cleaned. In this group of birds the feces are enclosed in a 
mucous sac so that they can be carried away. The young birds are ordi- 
