BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 287 



At full speed the head is lowered and fixed; in slower progress 

 it is held upright bobbing in time with each step. When a 

 flock is feeding they pass over a good deal of ground, without 

 seeming to examine it very closely; every one tries to keep 

 ahead of the next, and thus they scurry on, taking short flights 

 over each other's head. 



"At the least alarm the timid birds betake themselves to the 

 nearest tree, perching in various attitudes. A favorite posture 

 so easy as to appear negligent, is with the body held nearly 

 upright, the tail hanging loosely straight down, while the head 

 turns in various ways, with the whim of the moment. When 

 excited, the bird often sits low down, firmly on its legs, with 

 elevated and widespread tail, constantly flirted, while its 

 watchful eye peers down through the foliage. However com- 

 pactly a flock may fly up into a tree, they generally scatter as 

 they alight all over its branches, so that it is rarely that more 

 than two, or three can be brought down at a shot. On the 

 ground the case is quite different; there they huddle together 

 so closely that the whole flock may be decimated. Their be- 

 haviour in the presence of man is a curious mixture of timidity 

 and heedlessness; they come to the very door-step, and yet a 

 sudden movement, or a shout, sends them affrighted into the 

 nearest trees. The next moment they begin to straggle back 

 again, at first singly or in little squads, till the more timid 

 ones are reassured and come streaming down together, when 

 the busy search for food is resumed. Their hunger satisfied 

 for the time, the birds betake themselves to the trees, often 

 passing the whole period of digestion snugly ensconsed in the 

 thick foliage. Then the concert opens; and if the music is 

 neither sweet nor soft, it is sprightly and not disagreeable, for 

 it suggests the careless joviality, and lazy good humor of black- 

 birds, with their stomachs full, and satisfactory promise of 

 future supply. The notes are energetic, rapid and varied with 

 a peculiar delivery which, like the yelping of the prairie 

 wolves, gives the hearer a very exaggerated idea of the num- 

 ber of the performers. '" 



Nearly all the different species of blackbirds are seen in- 

 discriminately mingled in the autumnal migrations, but one 

 familiar with their individual or rather their specific habits 

 will readily discover the species in the manner of flight and 

 their walk as well as their feeding. This species does not 

 linger as late in individual instances as the Crow Blackbird. 

 The farmer's prejudices against the whole ef them is irremov- 

 able, nevertheless they are all his true friends. 



