^88 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



Xest, a coarse stnictuix^, resting on a layer of twigs, composed of grass 

 mixed with mud ; well formed inside and lined with Hne grass and rootlets, 

 iisualh' placed in alder or similar bushes overhanging the water. 



Eggs, four to six, grayish-white .marked with l)rf)wn. 



During the last week in April or the tir.st in ^Fay, according to 

 the weather, the Rusty Grackles are seen in small flocks hurrying on 

 to their breeding places farther iioith. Their stay at that time is 

 verj^ short, and the collectors have but little chance of securing a 

 jnale in adult plumage, spring being the only season when such can 

 be had here, and even then only a few in each flock ha\e actiuired 

 their nuptial dress. They may yet be found breeding in Oiitario, 

 although, owing to the number of observers being small, the fact 

 (so far as T know) has not yet been recordetl. About the end of 

 August, or early in September, they return in flocks of much greater 

 dimensions than those which pas.sed up in the spring, and in com- 

 pany with the Cowl)irds and Redwings continue to tVe<|uent the 

 plowed fields, cornfields and wet places till the weather gets cold in 

 October, when they all move off to the south and are not seen again 

 till spring. 



This species goes farther nortli than any other of the Blackbirds, 

 t'oi- it is found not only throughout Manitoba and the North-West, 

 but is common in Alaska, where Mr. Nelson says : "It arrives in the 

 British fur country, at Great Bear Lake, latitude 65° north, b}' the 

 3rd of May, and breeds throughout the northern extreme of the 

 continental land, i-eaching the farthest limit of the woorled j-egion on 

 the Lower Anderson and Mackenzie Rivers. In Northein Alaska it 

 reaches latitude 70°. On the Behring Sea and Arctic coast of this 

 territor}^, from the mouth of the Kuskocjuim Rivei-, the bird is 

 a regular, but not numerous, summer resident wherever trees and 

 bushes are found reaching the vicinity of the sea coast." It feefls 

 largely on in.sects, but is also said to be fond of corn, though it 

 leaves us too early in the spring and arrives too late in the fall to do 

 much damage in Ontario. 



In the Auk, Volume II., page 107, Mi-. Hanks, of St. .John, N.B., 

 gives an account of a nest of this species, which he found in a 

 diflFerent j)osition from that usually assigned to it. 



It was placed in a large sj)i-uce, about "JS feet tVoni the gi'ound, 

 and was a coarse, l)ulky nest, composed of dried vines of the hone}- 

 suckle, loosely entwined at the sides and fastened together by a solid 

 mass of mud at the bottom. 



There was no attempt at lining of any sort. It contained two 

 ^'ggs and two young birds. 



