THE CROW BLACKBIRD. 353 



Description. 



Bill above, about as long as the head, more than twee as long is high ; the com- 

 missure moderately sinuated and considerably decurved at tip; tail a little shorter 

 than the wing, much graduated, the lateral feathers one and ten one-hundredths 

 inches shorter; third quill longest, first between fourth and fifth; head and neck all 

 well defined steel-blue; the rest of the body with varied reflections of bronze, 

 golden, green, copper, and purple, the latter most conspicuous on the tail, the tail 

 coverts, and wings ; the edges of primaries and of tail greenish. Female similar, 

 but smaller and duller, with perhaps more green on the head. Iris, j'ellow. 



Length, thirteen inches; wings, six; tail, five and eighty one-hundredths ; bill 

 above, one and twenty-five one-hundredths inches. 



This very common and well-known bird is distributed 

 tlironghout New England in the summer season ; arriving 

 about the first week in April. It is a social species ; and, 

 instead of breaking up into scattered pairs, the birds 

 remain in flocks, and breed in communities, sometimes 

 several pairs on one tree. The nest is composed of mud, 

 in which grass, seaweed, fine roots, and other like mate- 

 rials, are mixed and woven into a large, compact structure, 

 which is lined with fine grass, seaweeds, and sometimes 

 a few horsehairs. 



The eggs are four or five in number. They vary in color 

 from light-blue to light-brown, and are marked with obscure 

 spots of light-brown, over which are laid blotches and lines 

 of black and umber-brown. They vary in dimensions from 

 1.30 by .88 to 1.18 by .84 inch. Usually, but one brood is 

 reared in the season ; and in September the birds collect 

 into immense flocks, and do considerable mischief in the 

 cornfields: in other seasons, their food consists of "larva?, 

 caterpillars, moths, and beetles, of which they devour such 

 numbers, that, but for this providential economy, the whole 

 crop of grain in many places would probably be destroyed 

 by the time it began to germinate." 



Wilson, in describing the habits of this species, says, — 



" The trees where these birds build arc often at no great distance 

 from the farm-house, and overlook the plantations. From thence 

 they issue in all directions, and with as much confidence, to make 

 their daily depredations among the surrounding fields, as if the 

 whole were intended for their use alone. Their chief attention, 



23 



