SONG—BIRDS . Blackbird:
Rusty Blackbird: Scolecoyhagus carolinus.
Thrush Blackbird.
Length: 9-9.50 inches.
Male : In breeding-plumage. Glossy black with metallic glints and a ru w n an umn more decidedly rust-coloured. ‘ and feet black.
Female: Deep rusty brown above, grayish below.
Song: Only a clucking call note.
Season: Common migrant; April, October, and November; may
Winter. Breeds : Frorn northern New England northward. Nest: Bulky, of dried grasses, lined with mud and slung among eeds or bushes over water like that of the Red-wing. Eggs: 4, colouring very variable, greenish blue to grayish white, mottled With brown. Range .- Eastern North America, west to Alaska and the Plains.
You may identify these inconspicuous Blackbirds by their pale, straw-coloured eyes, and the rusty wash that dims their feathers, also from the fact that in spring they arrive in single pairs and not in flocks like the Graekles, while in fall they travel in small flocks and mingle with the Cowbirds in the pastures.
Purple Grackle: Qutscalus quiscula. 070w Blackbird. PLATE 39. Fro. 2.
Length : 12—13450 inches.
Male and Female: Glossy metallic black, iridescent tints on head, tail, and wings. Iris bright yellow, tail longer than Wings, feet black. Female more dull and sma er.
Sang : A crackling, wheezy squeaking; call note a rasping chirp.
Season: Common summer resident I have also seen them in every month but January and February.
Breeds: Through range, most freely in the northern part of it.
Nest : A carefully built nest of rather miscellaneous materials, mud- lined, usually in trees, sometimes in a ho ow tree. In ever- greens in many localities but never here, orchards being their favourite spot.
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