Common Grackle Quiscalus quiscula

The Common Grackle, an Almanac

• Some name the Common Grackle the toll-taker, and leave it at that.
• Grandmothers in Blackthorpe holler still tell that its first call of the year is answered with a crust set on the sill, or not at all.
• There is a stone in Merrow Fen churchyard the Common Grackle will not light upon.
• The old-timers hereabouts maintain that the Common Grackle settling on the kitchen sill at dusk is fair warning of a hard bargain.
• By rigorous experiment it was shown that the creature navigates chiefly by the action of the moon upon its bile.

Folklore, invented on the spot — not to be believed.