Lilium superbum, Willd. Sp. Pl. vol. ii. p. 88. Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. vol. i. p. 280.—Hexandria Monogynia, Linn.—Liliaceæ, Juss.
This beautiful plant, which grows in swamps and moist copses, in the Northern and Eastern States, as far as Virginia, as well as in the western prairies, attains a height for four or five feet, and makes a splendid appearance with its numerous large drooping flowers, which sometimes amount to twenty or even thirty on a single stem. The leaves are linear-lanceolate, three-nerved, smooth, the lower verticillate, the upper scattered. The flowers are orange-yellow, spotted with black on their upper surface, the petals revolute. I was forced to reduce the stem, in order to introduce it into my drawing, the back ground of which is an attempt to represent our original western meadows.
THE BOAT-TAILED GRAKLE OR GREAT CROW BLACKBIRD.
Quiscalus major, Vieill.
PLATE CLXXXVII. Male and Female.
This elegant bird is an inhabitant of the Southern States, to the maritime portions of which it is more particularly attached. Indeed, it seldom goes farther inland than forty or fifty miles, and even then follows the swampy margins of large rivers, as the Mississippi, the Santee, the St John's, and the Savannah. It is found in Lower Louisiana, but never ascends so far as the city of Natchez, and it abounds in the south-eastern low grounds of the Floridas, and in those of Georgia and South Carolina, as well as in the sea islands of the Atlantic coasts, as far north as Carolina, beyond which none are to be seen.
The Boat-tailed Grakles are gregarious at all seasons of the year, and frequently assemble in very large flocks, which, however, cannot be compared with those of the Purple Grakle, or of the Red-winged Starling. They seek for their food amid the large salt marshes, and along their muddy shores, and throw themselves into the rice plantations as soon as the grain is fit for being eaten by them. In autumn they resort not unfrequently to corn fields, and the ploughed lands of the plantations, interspersed with ponds or marshy places, retiring towards evening to the salt marshes, where they roost in immense flocks amid the tall marsh grass (Spartina glabra), from which their cries are heard until darkness comes on.
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, especially grain. They frequently seize on shrimps, and other aquatic animals of a similar nature, that have been detained at low water on the banks of racoon oysters, a kind of shell-fish so named under the idea that they are eaten by that quadruped. In autumn, while the rice is yet in the stack, they commit 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.
About the beginning of February, the males have already mated, and many begin their nest at this early season. It is then that you ought to see the Boat-tailed Grakle, for at that period its plumage displays the richest gloss, and its tail, which, after the breeding season, is no longer navicular, is deeply incurved towards the centre. Proud of his elegant form and splendid plumage, he alights on the topmost branch of some evergreen oak, droops his wings and tail, swells his breast, and glittering in the bright rays of the sun, which call forth all the variations of tint for which his silken plumes are remarkable, pours forth his loud though not always agreeable song. He watches his rivals as they pass, pursues them with ardent courage, returns to his stand exulting, and again pours forth his song.
No sooner has he made himself sure of the attachment of a female, than his jealous temper is subdued, and he places implicit reliance on the fidelity of his mate, in which he might be advantageously imitated by other beings. Many pairs now resort to a place previously known to them, and in the greatest harmony construct their mansions. Well do they remember the central islet of the lake, among the thickets of which, in security and comfort, their brood was reared in the previous season. Each pair choose their branch of smilax, and if the former tenement has escaped the shock of the winter winds, they repair and augment it, so as to render it fit for the reception of their eggs. If it has been destroyed, they quickly form a new one from the abundant materials around. The long-fibred Spanish moss dangles from every tree; dry twigs, withered grasses, and dead leaves lie strewn around, and the thready roots used for the lining are found in their inaccessible island. Each female now deposits her eggs, on which she sits in patient hope; while in the mean time all the male birds fly off together, and leave their mates to rear their offspring. Far away to the marshes they betake themselves, nor are they seen any more with their young, until the latter are able to join their neglectful fathers. Strange arrangement and singular, when, in other instances, Nature fills the husband and father with so much affection and solicitude! Nay, in the male Grakle has been implanted a desire to destroy the eggs of every bird, while at the same time he has been impelled to leave his mate, that she may hatch her own in security! Other species are governed by laws equally rigorous. The female Wild Turkey shuns her mate, that she may save not her eggs only, but even her young, which he would destroy; and, as I am not the only student of Nature who has witnessed the extraordinary conduct of the present species of Grakle in this respect, I am enabled to present you with some particulars supplied by my generous friend Bachman.
"In the spring of 1832, I went with Mr Logan in a boat to the centre of a very large pond, about four or five feet deep, and partially overgrown with bushes. On a bush of smilax were built about thirty nests of the Boat-tailed Grakles, from three to five feet apart, some of them not more than fifteen inches above the surface of the water. The nests contained mostly three eggs each, and were all quite fresh. The old birds were not near. In about a quarter of an hour afterwards, a flock of females appeared, sailing around us, chattering as if distressed at our intrusion. Some of them were shot, but the remainder still continued in the neighbourhood, unwilling to leave their nests. It was singular to observe that no males made their appearance. I have visited the nests of this species, when placed on live oak-trees, where they also breed in communities, thirty or forty feet above the ground. I watched the manners of the old birds, the way in which they built their nests, and their young, until fully fledged, but never found the males in the vicinity of the nests from the time the eggs were laid. The males always kept at a distance, and in flocks, feeding principally in the marshes, at this season of the year, the females alone taking charge of their nest and young. These latter are excellent eating whilst squabs. They do not leave the nest until fully fledged, although they often stand on the borders of it awaiting the arrival of the mother, squatting back into it at the least appearance of danger."