THE WILDERNESS IN JUNE 247 



ill temper, they sat so long that my patience 

 was exhausted. Occasionally one would snap 

 at a passing insect, and once a male made a 

 clumsy effort at a dragon fly but was unsuccess- 

 ful. At the end of an hour I left them, but their 

 noise did not cease until after I entered the clear- 

 ing on the return to my cabin. 



There is little about these birds at any time 

 that is attractive, either in the coal-black dress 

 of the male, their yellow eyes, or hateful alarm 

 notes. The fine slate-color of the female, how- 

 ever, is rather handsome and did she display 

 more amiability she would not be wholly objec- 

 tionable as a neighbor. The name arises from 

 the dingy tone their plumage assumes after the 

 breeding season is over. 



Toward the end of June the Rusty Blackbirds 

 developed a novel and interesting habit, that of 

 walking about on the pads of the yellow lilies 

 which cover much of the surface of First Pond. 

 Dry shod they demurely move about on this 

 carpet of glossy green, now and again spreading 

 their wings for a long jump from pad to pad, 

 busily feeding upon the multitude of gnats and 

 flies which infest the blossoms. At a distance 

 they have all the appearance of walking on the 

 water. Judging from the rapidity of their feed- 

 ing here, they have little need to look elsewhere 

 for their daily rations. This no doubt accounts 

 for the recent gathering of the nearly grown 

 young in the alder thickets which border the 

 pond to the southeast, a locality very conven- 

 ient to this bountiful food supply. 



