THE RUSTY BLACKBIRD. 351 
feathers about a quarter of an inch shortest; general color black, with purple reflec- 
tions; the wings, under tail coverts, and hinder part of the belly, glossed with 
green. Female, dull-brown. Tris, pale-straw color. 
Length, nine and fifty one-hundredths inches; wing, four and seventy-five one- 
hundredths; tail, four inches. 
This bird is not uncommon in the New-England States in 
the spring and fall migrations, but is never plenty, and 
retires to high latitudes to breed. A few remain in the 
northern districts of Maine and New Hampshire through 
the breeding season; but their nests are seldom found. 
While in the valley of the Magalloway River, in Maine, in 
June, 1864, I found several; and two of them contained 
three eggs in each. These nests were all built in low alders 
overhanging the water: they were constructed of, first, a 
layer of twigs and brier-stalks ; on this was built the nest 
proper, which was composed of stalks and leaves of grass, . 
which were mixed with mud, and moulded into a firm, cir- 
cular structure, and lined with fine leaves of grass and a few 
hair-like roots. The whole formed a large structure, easily 
seen at the distance of a few rods through the foliage. 
The eggs are of a bluish-white color, of oval form, and 
covered with fine scratches and spots of light-brown. These 
markings are almost exactly similar to those on the egg of 
the Great-crested Flycatcher: they appear as if done with 
a pen, which, as soon as it is pressed forcibly on the object, 
is suddenly withdrawn, making a mark wide at one end, 
and sharply pointed at the other. 
The dimensions of three eggs in my collection are 1.04 
by .76 inch, 1.05 by .76 inch, 1 by .70 inch. 
The habits of this species are less known than those of 
any of our other Blackbirds. This is owing as much to 
its unsociable, retiring disposition as to the scarcity of its 
numbers. When it arrives in spring, —sometimes as early 
as the third week in March, — it frequents the low, swampy 
thickets, where, in companies of three or four, it employs it- 
self in searching for seeds of various aquatic grasses, insects, 
worms, and the small crustace found in such localities. 
