Il6 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [Bull. 



Spring migration. Earliest record. New Haven, March 25. 

 1898, Feb. 27, March 10, 1906 (E. S. W.) ; Portland, March 21, 

 1 89 1. Latest record. New Haven, April 24, 1907. 



Fall migration. Earliest record. New Haven, Oct. 6, 1903. 

 Latest record. New Haven, Dec. 12, 1889; Portland, Nov. 3, 

 1908. 



Winter records. Jan. 23, 1884, Hamden (Munson) ; Jan. 17, 

 1895, New Haven (L. B. B.) ; Dec. 15, 1907, Jan. 22, 1908, 

 East Haven (F. F. Burr). 



Summer records. July 8, 1S86, Plymouth, adult female 

 (Webb, in coll. of L. B. B.) ; July 3, 1907, Litchfield, one shot 

 (E. S. W.) 



Roost. In the fall, thousands, probably tens of thousands, 

 of blackbirds roost in the broad beds of cat-tail rushes in the 

 Quinnipiac Marshes, about six miles north of New Haven. Al- 

 though there are hordes of Red-wings, Cowbirds, Rusty Black- 

 birds, and Purple Grackles in late October and early November, 

 the Bronzed Grackles far outnumber any other if not all other 

 species combined. The blackbirds assemble as early as Sept. 26 

 (1904), increasing steadily to a maximum number at the end 

 of October, falling off to the middle of November, with a few 

 lingering into December in an open fall. 



Soon after daylight each morning, the blackbirds leave the 

 rushes, the vast majority flying westward in two or three 

 enormous flocks, each several thousand strong, curving back and 

 forth in long sweeps across the sky, and disappearing over the 

 high ground to the west. Later small scattering flocks fly to all 

 points of the compass. Toward the latter part of the afternoon 

 (4 o'clock) the flocks begin to return from the west, a few from 

 other directions, settling at first in the trees, and then in the 

 rushes, until by 4 130 or 5 o'clock all have settled there for the 

 night. How far these flocks go to feed, L. B. B. has been unable 

 to ascertain ; but it must be many miles, for he has frequently 

 seen flocks flying toward these marshes after 4 p. M. at various 

 places eight or more miles away (e. g., Yale field, Orange; 

 Saltonstall heights, East Haven ; West Rock Ridge, some miles 

 north of Lake Wintergreen). They all go off to feed, so that, 

 during the daytime in the fall, blackbirds of all species are rather 

 rare in the immediate vicinity of New Haven. 



