144 Sketches of Some Commoyi Birds. 



willows were in their second year, and were then sub- 

 merged for about three feet of their height by the un- 

 usually high water. It was a famous j^lace for the com- 

 munistic blackbirds to congregate after the active duties 

 of the day, and toward sunset they began to resort 

 thither from the surrounding districts. The grackles and 

 red-winged blackbirds were breeding by hundreds in 

 the overflowed regions in the vicinity, and a few had 

 their homes in the willows mentioned. It appeared 

 that this island grove was a regular rendezvous at night- 

 fall. The swaying wands of the willows, all of which had 

 sprung up on the bar in the preceding season, formed a 

 desired roost for these birds, which are naturally gre- 

 garious. Thither they came, all noisy and musical as the 

 blackbirds can be, coming singly and in couples, trios, and 

 troops of various small numbers. The cowbirds, having 

 no, established homes of their own, appeared to be very 

 abundant, and came in low over the water, adding their 

 sharp, squeaking whistles to the mingling notes of the 

 grackles and the twanging calls of the red-winged black- 

 birds. Both sexes of the cowbirds joined the hordes 

 gathering for an hour of sociability and a night of rest; 

 but of the other species the males were largely in the ma- 

 jority, the zealous care of the females holding them in 

 brooding watchfulness over their grass-woven homes in 

 the adjacent swamps. The jargon of a large troop of 

 blackbirds is not unmusical in its combined effect, and 

 from the willowy resort the medley was produced by 

 thousands of throats. At times the clamorous young of 

 the birds resident among the willows manifested their de- 

 sires in loud, harshly-grating notes, not unlike the rapid 

 cackling of the guinea hen. Now and then amid the 

 jingle I could hear the "peabody" song of a departing 

 white-throated sparrow, resting for the night to enjoy the 

 company of its noisy bedfellows. Until an hour after 

 sunset, even after the last belated stragglers had settled 

 into their places, the confused medley saluted the ear. 

 The red-wings were the last to become quiet, though after 

 they ceased as a company the voice of an occasional 

 grackle was heard, perhaps in response to the rapidly- 

 delivered notes of a whip-poor-will sounded from the river 



