416 Kennard, Breeding Habits of Rusty Blackbird. [j^y 



branched small spruce, back on dry land about seventy-five yards 

 from the shore of a large lake. The nest was normal in construc- 

 tion and position, but the eggs closely resembled, except in size, 

 those of the Bronzed Grackle, — so much so, that had I not found 

 the nest myself, and had a close view of the very distressed old 

 birds, I should have had grave doubts as to their identity. 



The spring of 1919, found me again in Penobscot County, where 

 I succeeded in finding the following nests: 



On May 19, I again discovered the nest of the trout brook 

 birds, placed about five feet up, in a thin clump of slim spruces, 

 close beside a logging road that leads through the swamp there. 

 I took the eggs, evidently slightly incubated, supposing that they 

 would build another nest, as they had done last year, and which I 

 could watch from start to finish. My intentions, however, seem 

 not to have been appreciated, for they promptly disappeared and 

 were not seen there again during the summer, discouraged no 

 doubt, and who could blame them. 



On May 25, in Washington County, Maine, I took a nest with 

 five perfectly fresh eggs, the first I had ever seen, as in all sets 

 taken previously, incubation had apparently begun with the lay- 

 ing of the first egg. This nest was built about two feet up in a 

 little, low black spruce, one of a clump on a floating island, in 

 a swamp caused by raising the waters of the large lake on which 

 it was situated. 



A nest discovered on May 27, in Penobscot County, contained 

 five recently hatched young. This nest, near the shore of a large 

 stream, bordered by miles of dead wood, was placed about eight 

 feet up, and absolutely hidden in a matted tangle of dead limbs 

 and usnea moss, where a big spruce had fallen across a smaller 

 one. 



On June 5, also in Penobscot County, I found still another nest 

 with four unincuba+ed and slightly addled eggs, built about five feet 

 and a half above the ground, in a small thick spruce, in a clump of 

 evergreens a few feet from the shore of a large lake. This nest 

 had evidently been deserted. 



Arriving in southern New England usually in the latter part of 

 March, or early in April, these birds loiter along on their leisure- 

 ly migration, and arrive on their breeding ground along our 



