ICTERin.E — THE ORIOLES. 



227 



branches, tlie grass lieiug intwined around each twig, to siqiport the struc- 

 ture. The eggs in that region were sehloni found to exceed three in number. 



]\Ir. Dresser found tlie Long-tailed (Jrakles very coninioii at JMatamora.s, 

 where they ft-equented the streets and yards with no signs of fear. Tliey 

 were breeding there iu gTeat quantities, building a heavy nest of sticks, 

 lined with roots and grass. They were fond of building iu company, and in 

 the yard of the hotel he counted seven nests iu one tree. At Eagle Pass, 

 and as far east as the Nueces Eiver, he found them not uncommon, but 

 noticed none farther in the interior of Texas. Their usual note is a loud 

 and not unmelodious whistle. They have also a very peculiar guttural note, 

 which he compares to the sound caused by drawing a stick sharply across 

 the quills of a dried goose-wing. 



Captain ^IcC'own states that he observed these Blackbirds building in 

 large communities at Fort Brown, Texas. Upon a tree standing near the 

 centre of tlie parade-ground at that fort, a pair of the birds had built their 

 nest. Just liefore the young were able to Hy, one of them fell to the gTound. 

 A boy about ten years old discovered and seized the bird, which resisted 

 stoutly, and uttered loud cries. These soon brought to its rescue a legion of 

 old birds, which vigorously attacked the boy, till he was glad to drop the bird 

 and take to flight. Captain ]\IcCown then went and picked up the young 

 bird, when they turned their fury upon him, passing close to his head and 

 uttering their shar]3 caw. He jilaced it upon a tree, and there leit it, to the 

 evident satisfaction of his assailants. These birds, he adds, .have a peculiar 

 cry, something like tearing tlie dry husk from an ear of corn. From this 

 the soldiers called them corn-liuskers. He often saw other and smaller birds 

 building in the same tree. They were very familiar, and would frequently 

 approach to within ten feet of a person. 



The eggs measure 1.32 inches in length by .92 of an inch in breadth, and 

 exhilrit great variations both in ground-color and in the style and character 

 of their marking. In some the ground-color is of a light grayish-white with 

 a slight tinge of green or blue ; iu others it is of a light drab, and again many 

 have a deep brownish-drab. The markings are principally of a dark brown, 

 hardly distinguishable from black, distrilnited in the shape of drops, or 

 liroail irregular narrow plashes, or iu ^^•aving zigzag lines and markings. In- 

 termingled with these deeper and bolder markings are suffused cloud-like 

 colorations of purplish-brown. 



