"'i89o!"'] PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 583 



flocks carae; is common and breeds here (Small). Portage la Prairie : 

 Very common summer resident ; arrives about April 15, departs early in 

 October, the first frost hard enough to form ice driving them out; first 

 seen in 1884, April 10 (I>^asli). Very abundant about ponds in the 

 Northwest (Maconii). Carberry: Common summer resident; breeding; 

 Duck Mountains; common; breeding (Thompson). Dalton : 1889, 

 first seen, four, on April 8; next seen, April 12, when it became com- 

 mon ; breeds here (^oumans). Shell River : 1885, first seen, seventeen, 

 on April 15; next seen, a hundred, on April 22 ; became common on 

 April 24; male and female in flock; common all summer and breeds 

 here (Calcutt). Qu'Appelle: Common summer resident; breeds; 

 arrives April 25 (Guernsey). In September I found the Crow Black- 

 bird sparingly (along Nelson IMver) between Hudson's Bay and Lake 

 Winnipeg ; also westward, except about the little cultivated grouud 

 at Norway House and Cumberland, after which (October 4) are not seen 

 (Blakiston). 



On May 1, 1882, W. Brodie shot into one of the immense flocks of 

 grackles that frequent the stubble tield, and brought down sixteen 

 Ivusties and one Bronze at a single discharge. The Bronze was so 

 little hurt, being slightly grazed on the wing, that his death sentence 

 was commuted to imprisonment in a nail keg under strict surveillance. 

 As he manifested a cheerful and intelligent disposition he was soon 

 allowed the additional privilege of making himself a veritable nuis- 

 ance in every corner and department of the house, and so thoroughly and 

 assiduously did he apply himself to take the fullest advantage of this 

 liberty that every one but myself was thankful when, after a few days 

 of pretended resignation, he took the first opportunity of skipping out 

 of doors for good. My observations on this bird were much as follows : 

 He would eatanything that was eatable, but preferred flesh. A mouse 

 he would hold in his claws and devour exactly in the manner of a 

 hawk, swallowing each morsel as it was torn off by his bill. This 

 sanguinary taste, I fear, points to a nest-pilfering propensity that I 

 am sorry to admit. 



I never before saw a wild bird take so readily to captivity. Within 

 two or three days he became quite at home in the kitchen, and perfectly 

 familiar with the place and purpose of the water pail. He had a curi- 

 ous way of hanging downwards from the rim when the water was low, 

 so as to reach it, and he never failed to search for the pail whenever 

 he desired to drink. I often detected in the croaks and cries he uttered 

 a peculiar, almost human, timbre, that suggested the possibility of his 

 learning to articulate words. From the first he exhibited a magnificent 

 development of impudence and vanity. He would pose in the sun 

 and admire the effect of it on his really splendid plumage, till one 

 would suppose he thought he was the Bird of Paradise itself, instead 

 of merely a very distant relative. Altogether, in spite of his trouble- 

 some disposition, his playful ways and general cuteness made me so 

 fond of him that I was heartily sorry when poor Jack disappeared. 



