582 THE BIRDS OF MANITOBA THOMPSON. 



at baud, and also that my presence was most unwelcome. I at once 

 set about seeking the treasure house, and found my ablest assistants in 

 the birds themselves, for, as little chiklren playing at hide and seek, 

 direct each other by crying " hot" or " cold," so these grackles guided 

 me, ceasing their clamor somewhat as I receded, and redoubling their 

 outcries when I approached the site of their nest. In this way I soon 

 found it. It was placed on the ground in the open, sheltered only by 

 a few weeds ; it was a bulky structure, composed chiefly of roots, but 

 lined with hair. It contained three eggs of the graclfles and one of a 

 cowbird. I have never before heard of a cowbird intruding its found- 

 ling on a species larger than itself. 



September 18, 1882: September is going fast now; in the early 

 mornings the sky has a cold steel-blue look along the horizon, and the 

 clouds that come up are white and lumpy looking. We are expecting 

 frost soon, for many signs announce that the fall is here and passing 

 quickly. Already the grackles are gathered in the immense flocks in 

 which they migrate, and are even now moving southward. We 

 thought theni numerous in the spring, but they seem to be ten times as 

 plentiful now. The sound of their wings as they arise or fly overhead 

 is like the noise of rushing breakers ; it is not at all like thunder, as 

 some have described it, but resembles the rattling shr-aaay of surf on 

 the shingly beach. The murmur is so continuous as to suggest the 

 roar of a waterfall, and, as in that, there is a beat in this, thus: 

 shrdrd-rd-rdrd, etc., making the resemblance still more perfect. Their 

 loud crelc-creWs also combine to form a great sound ; it does not unite 

 with noise of the wings, but remains sharp and separate on the vaster 

 volume, just as the black dots and wriggles sometimes seen on their 

 eggs remain separate and contrasting with the purple mottlings, 

 though occupying the same ground. 



This grackle is generally distributed throughout the Assiniboine Val- 

 ley. It arrives and moves so constantly with the Eusty Grackle that 

 it was but lately I learned to distinguish them, and my previous im- 

 pression on the subject of their specific distinction negatived the value 

 of a number of observations. 



The dozen of nests of this species which I have examined were all 

 either on the grouiul or in low forks or saddled on logs, close to some 

 pond, and were more or less composed of mud when elevated. I found 

 half a dozen nests around a single small lake on the Duck Mountain. 

 The eggs are in color between those of the Rusty and Purple Grackles. 



172. Quiscalus quiscula aeneus. Brouzed Grackle. Crow Blackbird. 



Abundant summer resident wherever there is both wood and water. 

 Abundant at Pembina; breeding; Mouse River (Cones). Winnipeg: 

 Summer resident ; abundant (Hine). Red River Settlement (Gunn). 

 Ossowa : Breeding (Wagner). Oak Point: 1884, arrived April 10; 

 1885, first seen, two, on April IC ; next seen on April 18, when large 



