186 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



male utters his song, he spreads his wings slightly and 

 puffs out his feathers. When the young are in the nest, the 

 female, a little smaller and duller than the male, may be 

 seen walking over lawns or open places in the neighbor- 

 hood, hunting for grubs or bits of refuse, and then flying to 

 the nests. From all the surrounding country, lines of such 

 foragers converge in the chosen grove in midsummer. 

 After the young are able to fly, the breeding-places are 

 deserted, and either no Grackles are to be seen or else 

 very large flocks are met with, blackening the fields or 

 trees. Sometimes these flocks, or migrants from the north, 

 are seen late in October, and occasionally in November. 



The absence of red on the shoulder distinguishes the 

 Crow Blackbird from the Red-wing, and the long, wedge- 

 shaped tail, conspicuous in flight, from the Rusty Black- 

 bird. This tail is often held keel-shaped, the middle 

 feathers being depressed. On the ground the bird some- 

 what suggests a Crow ; the gait, as in the case of all the 

 blackbirds, is a walk. When Crow Blackbirds fly, their 

 line of flight is level, not undulating, so that the members 

 of a flock do not rise and fall as the other blackbirds do. 

 Like several of the other blackbirds, it often jerks its tail 

 upward when perched. 



Note. — The Crow Blackbird, in the neighborhood of New York 

 city, is the Purple Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) ; about Boston and 

 northward it is the Bronzed Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula adieus). In 

 the former the colors of the head and neck are not sharply defined from 

 those of the body, as they are in the latter. In Connecticut intermediate 

 races occur. The habits and notes of the two are practically the same. 



Rusty Blackbird. Scolecopliagus carolinus 



9.55 



Ad. $ in spring. — Entire plumage glossy bluish-black; eye pale 

 yellow or white. Ad. 9 *w spring. — Slate-gray; eye as in $. Ad. 

 in autumn. — Feathers of head, neck, and back tipped with rusty- 

 brown; under parts buffy. 



