CROW RELATIVES 



excitedly overhead or scolding from perches near by. 

 There are so many pairs to the average boggy swamp 

 that it is no hard matter to find nests, either built in 

 the grass on top of tussocks, or suspended among reeds 

 or rushes. It is said to be hard to photograph the 

 female on the nest, but if one have a reflecting camera 

 and wade near their homes, he is reasonably sure of 

 good camera shooting, taking the birds both in flight 

 and after they alight. They are a hardy species and 

 now and then appear even in midwinter as far north as 

 southern New England. 



The Crow Blackbird is another common and widely 

 known blackbird, though scientists have surrounded 

 our old friend with some mystery by carving him up 

 into Bronzed and Purple Grackle. If the specimen 

 has the purple color of the neck and head extend down 

 into the bronze color of the back, it is a Purple Grackle, 

 but if the bronze is without purplish streaks, it is the 

 Bronzed Grackle. One cannot, however, tell these 

 races apart without shooting the birds, and for all but 

 technical purpose the plain Crow Blackbird is good 

 enough for most of us. With us it generally nests in 

 gardens in towns, especially in evergreen trees, such as 

 the Norway spruce. By the middle of May they have 

 built their nests, which are much like those of the 

 Robin, being lined with mud. There is quite a colony 

 on the street where I live and every year the handsome 

 birds are seen on our trees and lawns. Unfortunately 

 they sometimes pull up sprouting corn, and this season 



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