264 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



violet-bluish on head and neck; under tail-coverts, 

 margined with whitish ; bill, black ; iris, pale yellow or 

 yellowish-white. Adult Male in Winter: Similar to 

 the summer plumage, but the black obscured by rusty 

 brown on crown, hindneck, back, and shoulders, and 

 by cinnamon-bufify over eye and on cheeks, chin, throat, 

 chest, and sides. Adult Female in Summer: Uniform 

 dull slate color, dark and faintly glossed with bluish- 

 green on upper parts; bill, black; iris, pale yellow. 

 Adult Female in Winter : Similar to the summer 

 plumage but crown, hindneck, back, and shoulders, 

 overlaid by rusty brown, inner wing quills and greater 

 wing-coverts margined with the same, stripe of buff 

 over eye. and feathers of cheeks, chin, throat, chest, 

 and sides tipped with brownish-buff. Young: Above, 

 dark sooty brown, more slate-dusky on wings and tail 

 feathers ; inner wing quills and terminal portion of 

 greater and middle wing-coverts margined with rusty; 

 stripe over eye of light rusty ; under parts, brownish- 



gray tinged with light buffy-brown on cheeks, chin, 

 throat, chest. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Located in alders or wil- 

 lows within a foot or two of the water; rather bulky, 

 constructed of layers of leaves, grass, and mud, often 

 lined with fine brii/ht green grass. Eggs: 4 or 5, light 

 bluish-green thickly blotched and spotted with different 

 shades of chestnut, sepia, and drab; pen lines and 

 scrawls characteristic of other blackbirds, nearly always 

 absent. 



Distribution. — Northern and eastern North America ; 

 breeding from Nova Scotia. New Brunswick, northern 

 Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, northern New York 

 and northern Michigan north to Ungava and north- 

 westerly to the Arctic coast and Alaskan shores of 

 Bering Sea; south in winter to the Gulf coast (Florida 

 to Texas) ; west more or less reguarly, to western 

 border of the Great Plains, casually to Lower Califor- 

 nia; accidental in Greenland. 



When the first sharp frosts come, wlien the 

 foliage puts on the red and gold tints of autumn 

 and the corn in the fields turns dry and dead, 

 then the Rusty Blackbird begins to appear in 

 the United States, arriving at first in small flocks 



Fhotu by H. K. Jolj 

 FEMALE RUSTY CRACKLE SCOLDING NEAR NEST 



from the northward. It is well known now over 

 most of eastern North America but it was not 

 always thus. Specimens of the Rusty Black- 

 bird were described nearly a century ago under 

 five different names by a " judicous " British 

 naturalist. Wilson, in referring to this, points 



out the difficulty of judging correctly from dried 

 skins alone, especially when individuals of a 

 species vary much in size and color. The full- 

 pluniaged male Rusty Blackbird is almost pure 

 black with a greenish gloss, while the young bird 

 in autumn is mainly rusty-brown. Nevertheless, 

 no one familiar with the species in life could 

 fail to recognize it in any plumage as its notes 

 are unmistakable. In flight and in the shape of 

 its hill this bird somewhat resembles a Thrush. 

 Bendire and others tell of its song as being 

 " rich, varied, and energetic " and speak of its 

 chuckling, gurgling, wheezing, musical, agreeable 

 notes, " like other Blackbirds," etc. Some of 

 these descriptions may characterize correctly the 

 song in the summer home, but I have heard only 

 a short chack or chuck and a fine whistle or 

 creak, intermingled more or less with gurgling 

 or choking sounds. This song, if song it can be 

 called, is very characteristic, and when a flock 

 is started from its haunt on some oozy margin 

 and flies to the tree-tops the chorus of chucks 

 and weird creaks is inimitable. There is nothing 

 else in the eastern United States that closely 

 resembles it, although the chuck, often given 

 separately, is much like that of other Blackbirds. 



In spring the bird makes its appearance early 

 in the North, often when snow is on the ground 

 and ice still skims the edges of the streams. It 

 is more of a forest frequenter than most Black- 

 Iiirds ; but it is attracted to water, and may be 

 found in its seasons along the swampy borders 

 of many a woodland lake, swamp, or stream. 



As it breeds mainly north of the United States 

 it is seen here principally in migration or in 

 winter. In autumn the flocks are not closely con- 

 fined 1(> their sloughs and watery retreats, hut 

 visit cornfields, stubblefields, and even orchards 



