374 Di"- Coues on the 



zigzag lines ; both are dark brown, sometimes almost black, but 

 with a barely perceptible purplish tint. Other of each of these 

 kinds of markings are obscure, seeming as if below, instead of 

 upon, the surface. The line-tracery is far more abundant than 

 the spotting, and mainly makes up the peculiar pictura of the 

 egg, which singularly resembles some kinds of clouded dark- 

 veined marble. Some of the lines wander vaguely over the 

 surface unbroken for a long distance ; others are tangled in 

 skeins, or tied up in knots, or coiled like cordage in miniature ; 

 and no two eggs are alike in these respects. The earliest young 

 appear late in May; but the coming generation is not generally 

 noticed until the latter part of June. Probably two broods are, 

 as a rule, reared in each season ; and from the common circum- 

 stance of finding newly-fledged birds in September, it is to be 

 inferred that three are not infrequently reared. For a little 

 time before they essay on wing outside their leafy covert the 

 young content themselves with scrambling about the vines near 

 the nest, calling loudly for the food that it must be much labour 

 to bring. Some time in August nearly all of both old and 

 young birds are in flocks foraging over the marshes. 



I am familiar with the general habits of all our well-founded* 

 species of Quiscalus except Q. macrurus, which I have not seen 

 alive ; and brief reference to some of their distinguishing fea- 

 tures may make certain special tracts of the subject of the pre- 

 sent article appear more prominently in the sequel. 



Without exception, all our " Blackbirds " (of the genera Age- 

 IcBUS, Xanthocephalus, Scolecophagus, and Quiscalus) are emi- 

 nently gregarious at most seasons; but the strength of this 

 ''instinct of concentration '' wanes with some during the breed- 

 ing season, while it scarcely abates with others. A.s instances 

 of the first-mentioned condition, we may cite the Agelcei, best 

 represented by the common A. phceniceus, which ranges over 

 the whole United States. This species is a regular migrant ; 

 most individuals pass in spring to breed in or near the northern 

 portions of the Union. At the mating-time the flocks break 



* Q. uglcEus, Bd. ( = Q. varitus, Bd. olinij nee auct. ex Florida) and Q. 

 ceneus, Ridgway, from the Mississippi would be held by some for extremes 

 of form of Q. versicolor {sive purpureus). 



