I20 SINGING BIRDS. 



October to the middle of November, they are seen m flocks 

 through the Eastern States. During their stay in this vicinity 

 they assemble towards night to roost in or round the reed- 

 marshes of Fresh Pond, near Cambridge. Sometimes they 

 select the willows by the water for their lodging, in preference 

 to the reeds, which they give up to their companions the 

 Crow Blackbirds. Early in October they feed chiefly on 

 grasshoppers and berries, and at a later period pay a transient 

 visit to the corn-fields. They pass the winter in the Soudiern 

 States, and, like their darker relatives, make familiar visits to 

 the barn-yard and corn-cribs. Wilson remarks that they are 

 easily domesticated, and in a few days become quite familiar, 

 being reconciled to any quarters while supplied with plenty of 

 food. 



The Rusty Blackbird breeds from about the 45th parallel to the 

 lower fur countries. It is fairly common near the Atlantic, but is 

 more abundant in the interior, and Mr. Thompson reports it com- 

 monly abundant in Manitoba. In this region it does not always 

 select an alder swamp for a nesting site, as some authors have 

 stated. A nest discovered by my friend Banks was amid the upper 

 branches of a good sized spruce on a dry hillside in Mr. William 

 Jack's park, near St. John. 



NORTHERN RAVEN. 



COR\TJS CORAX PRINCIPALIS. 



Char. Black with bluish purple gloss. Length 22 to 26>^ inches. 



Nc-st. On a cliff or in a tree ; made of sticks carefully and compactly 

 arranged, lined with grass or wool, — repaired year after year, and thus 

 increased to considerable bulk. 



Ei^^i^s. 2-7 ; pale olive, marked with olive-brown blotches and streaks ; 

 2.00 X 1.40. 



The sable Raven has been observed and described from the 

 earliest times, and is a resident of almost every country in the 

 world ; but is more particularly abundant in the western than 

 the eastern parts of the United States, where it extends along 

 the Oresxon to the shores of the Pacific. This ominous bird 



