BULLOCK'S ORIOLE. 489 



only slightly glossy. The ground color is generally of the same subtle grayish- 

 white tint as that seen in the eggs ot" the lialtiniore Oriole, but the proportion 

 of the pale bluisli white eggs is greater than with the latter. Occasionally the 

 ground color is pale vinaceous buflf. The markings are similar in color to those 

 found on the eggs of the preceding species, but as a rule they are not so coarse, 

 and the fine hair lines running in irreg'ulnr tracings around tlm larger axis of 

 the egg- are more prevalent; they are also a tritle larger. 



The average measurement of one hundred and forty-four specimens in the 

 United States National Museum C(dlection is 23.80 by 15.93 millimetres, or 

 about 0.94 b}- 0.(53 inch. The largest egg in the series measures 25.40 by l(i.7(! 

 millimetres, or 1 by 0.6G inch; the smallest, 21.34 by 15.24 millimetres, or 0.84 

 by 0.60 inch. 



Of the type specimens, No. 20208 (PI. 7, Fig. 10), from a set of four, Bendire 

 collection, taken by the writer at Fort Lapwai, Idaho, on June G, 1871, shows 

 the peculiar vinaceous ])ufif ground color referred to aV)ove; No. 20211 (PI. 7, 

 Pig. 11), from a set of three, in which incubation was advanced, from the same 

 collector and place, taken June 15, 1871, rejjresents a pecuharlv shaped and 

 very handsomely marked egg; No. 20218 (PI. 7, Fig. 12), from a set of five, 

 taken by the writer at Camp Harney, Oregon, on June 10, 1877, shows some 

 unusually heavy markings; while No. 25551 (PI. 7, Fig. 13), from a set of four, 

 in the Ralph collection, taken near Brownsville, Texas, May 27, 1891, represents 

 about an average-marked egg and a rather clear ground color. 



igi. Scolecophagus carolinus (Mijller). 



RUSTY BLACKBIRD. 



Tiinlus carolinus MItller, Systema NatiirtB, Supplement, 1776, 140. 

 ticoleeophayus carolinus Eidoway, rroceediugs U. S. National Aluseuni, YllI, 1885. 3o(i. 



(B 417, C 221, R 273, C 331, U 509.) 



Geographical range: Mainly Eastern North America; from Florida and the Gulf 

 coast north through the Eastern United States and the Dominion of Canada to Labrador, 

 Keewatin, the Northwest Territory and northern Alaska to the shores of Bering Sea; 

 west in the United States to Texas and the Great Plains, and occasionally to the ea.stern 

 slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Accidental in Lower California and in Greenland. 



The breeding range of the Rusty Blackbird, also commonly known as 

 the "Rusty Grackle," is a rather limited one within our borders. As fnr as 

 known it breeds only in [)ortions of Vermont, New Ilanipshire, and Maine, and 

 in the Adirondack wilderness, reaching the most southerly point of its breeding- 

 range in Herkimer County, New York, in about latitude 43°, where it Is strictly 

 confined to the mountainous regions and is rather rare. Soniewliat farther 

 north, in the vicinity of Big Moose Lake, Dr. C. Hart Merriam reports it as a 

 common summer resident. It may possibly lireed on the west sliore of L^kt! 

 Superior, in northeastern Minnesota, but there are no records at hand from 

 there. As one advances north into the Dominion of Canada it becomes more 



