306 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



around country farmhouses or in villages and towns, constructing 

 its nest of strings, thread, hairs, bits of cloth, or anything fibrous 

 that can be woven into a compact fabric. The eggs are four to 

 six m number, dull white, commonly blotched, clouded and 

 scrawled with black, brown and purplish markings. The eggs 

 are generally laid by the first of June. 



Subfamily QUISCALIN.E. American Grackles. 

 Genus Euphagus Cassin. 



22 1. (509). Euphagus carolitms {MuWer). Rusty Blackbird. 



The Rusty Blackbird is a common migrant in all parts of the 

 state, appearing in small flocks, often in company with Red- 

 winged Blackbirds, from the middle of March until the latter part 

 of April and from the middle of September until the early part of 

 December. B. H. Wilson reports a pair wintering at Rock Island 

 Arsenal in 1899- 1900, becoming very tame and coming to the 

 guard-house every da)' for crumbs. Fall .specimens are much 

 more rusty-plumaged. They feed on the ground in fields or in 

 open swamp}' woods on and along the borders of streams. Fre- 

 quently, in spring, a flock will be seen densel}^ massed in a tree, 

 all singing at once, in a confusing medley. The uniform color 

 of plumage and pale eyes distinguish the species from other 

 Blackbirds at this season. 



222. (510). Enp/iagus cyanocep/ialus {'Wo.^l.). Brewer Blackbird. 

 The Brewer Blackbird is a western species, distinguished from 

 E. carolinus by its violet-purple head and comparative absence of 

 rusty tips to the feathers. It is a rather rare straggler in Iowa 

 during the migrations, occasionally reaching even to Illinois and 

 Wisconsin. It is recorded from the whole of Nebraska, "Omaha, 

 etc., — migratory, passing in October and latter part of March and 

 April" (Rev. Bds. Neb., 1904, p. 75). Cooke (Bird Migr. in Miss. 

 Val., 1884-85, pp. 173-74) records their appearance at La Porte 

 City, Iowa, March 26, 1885. W. H. Bingaman writes that "the 

 Brewer Blackbird is a rare migrant in Kossuth county; not un- 

 usual during the fall migration. I am well acquinted with the 

 species and secured many sets in Canada." Ridgway, Coues, 

 Bendire, and other authorities also give the species as occurring 

 in Iowa. 



