414 Kennard, Breeding Habits of Rusty Blackbird. UuJy 



Later in the day we discovered another nest, about a quarter 

 of a mile away, containing five eggs, too hard set to save, placed 

 about five feet above the ground, between the tops of two stocky 

 little spruces, in a thick second growth of evergreens. This nest 

 was on the bank, well above the level of the lake, and perhaps 

 fifty yards from its shore. 



Disappointed but not discouraged we continued our hunt for 

 a week; and finally on May 27, located another nest over in Coos 

 County, New Hampshire, with four young two to three days old. 

 This nest was in a swamp at the end of a small pond, and was 

 about six feet up in a small dead spruce standing out by itself. 



The top of the tree had been broken, and bent over at an angle 

 of about forty-five degrees, and here just below the break, in a 

 tangle of dead branches and usnea moss, the nest was placed. 

 About this time our enthusiasm began to ooze and we returned 

 home, to resume the hunt in 1916. 



May 19, 1916, found us again in Essex County, and this time 

 we were rewarded by finding a ne^t and two fresh eggs. I took 

 the set of four on the 22d, after visiting the nest twice daily. 

 This probably belonged to the same pair whose nests we had 

 found the two previous seasons, and located perhaps fifty feet 

 from their last year's nest, was built about five and a half feet up, 

 in a little spindling spruce, in an almost impenetrable thicket, 

 close to the shore. The female was sitting on her eggs at each of 

 my several visits, though she flew off silently upon my close ap- 

 proach. 



I did not get over into New Hampshire this year, but on May 

 29, Durfee visited the location of the last year's nest, that we had 

 found in the swamp, and again found young birds three to four 

 days old. This nest was perhaps fifty feet from last year's, and 

 was placed about six feet above the surface of the swamp against 

 the trunk of a small spruce. 



I was unable to do any collecting in 1917, but on May 16, 1918, 

 was again in the field, this time with Mrs. Kennard, in Penobscot 

 County, Maine, about seventy-five miles northeast of Bangor, 

 where I had seen Rustics while on a fishing trip during a previous 

 season. There is a trout brook there, that for the last hundred 

 yards or so, flows through a swamp before joining the waters of a 



