CONTINENTAL RUSTY BLACKBIRD 287 



eggs showing the four extremes measure 29.8 by 20.0, 26.7 by 20.1, 

 23.1 by 17.8, and 25.9 by 16.3 millimeters. 



Incubation. — All the information that we have points to an incu- 

 bation period of about 14 days, performed by the female alone. 

 Keunard (1920) says: 



The female usually starts incubation with the laying of the first egg, particularly 

 in early spring, when the weather is cold, and sits pretty close, flying off only upon 

 one's near approach. * * * During incubation the male is very assiduous in his 

 attentions to the female, feeding her frequently, and seldom flies far from the 

 nesting locality. The female at this season is usually seldom in evidence, but by 

 watching the male, one can soon determine by his actions the approximate 

 locality of the nest. He has the very conspicuous habit of sitting on the top of 

 some tall dead stub or tree, often with a nice fat grub in his bill and calling to the 

 female. This call is a two-syllabled "conk-ee," very similar to the three-syllabled 

 "conk-a-ree" of the Redwing, but clearer and more musical, and usually dis- 

 tinguishable from the notes of the other blackbirds. 



If disturbed by the proximity of watchers, he may delay for a while, uttering 

 an occasional "chip" of alarm, but sooner or later he will fly close to the nest or 

 to the top of some nearby stub, when the female will fly out to him, and with low 

 "chucks" and much fluttering of wings, partake of the delicious morsel he has 

 brought her. 



Young. — Kennard (1920) watched a brood of young from the time 

 they hatched until they left the nest; of this brood he writes: 



"The young, when hatched, are covered with a long, thin, fuscous natal down; 

 and fed by both parents, at frequent intervals, develop rapidly, as such young 

 birds do. The nest is kept clean, and I saw the female frequently drop a white 

 fecal sac in the nearby brook, as she flew away from feeding her charges. By the 

 fifth day, the primary quills and other wing feathers are well under way, while 

 the growths along the remaining feather tracts are starting; and slight slits begin 

 to show between their eyelids. By the tenth day the young are well covered 

 with feathers, through which some of their natal down still protrudes, and their 

 eyes are nearly but not quite wide open. 



A tragedy occurred to the only brood I was able to watch, for on the tenth day 

 after hatching, one of the young was found in the water, about ten feet from the 

 nest, dead and partially eaten. Whether he deliberately climbed from the nest, and 

 later fell into the water, or was taken by some animal, will never be known, but 

 the next day the three remaining young all climbed out into the adjoining bushes, 

 it seemed to me, ahead of schedule time, for their eyes were hardly open, and 

 they were still unable to fly. 



They remained in the immediate vicinity of the nest for the next two days, 

 climbing and hopping from bush to bush, with both parents in close attendance, 

 till on the thirteenth day, they had learned the use of their wings; and in the 

 evening the last one was seen to fly across the stream, followed by its mother, 

 and to disappear in the swamp beyond. 



Plumages. — As mentioned above, the young when first hatched 

 are covered with long, thin, fuscous down. The sexes are alike in the 

 juvenal plumage, which Dwight (1900) describes as follows: "Whole 

 plumage slate-color washed on back and throat with sepia-brown. 



