EARLY-FLOWERING SHRUBS. 39 



color), or, should she build her nest in late April, by 

 the more musical but pathetic voices of the spring 

 peepers (Hyla Piclceringii). The blackbird is a 

 much slandered but interesting character. Wilson 

 says he has a reputation of being a notorious corn 

 thief, a plunderer of honest farmers ; but he proves 

 by careful computation that the farmers are indebted 

 to the birds for destroying an inestimable number of 

 injurious insects. He has calculated that all the black- 

 birds in the United States during one season of the 

 space of four months eat up sixteen billions two hun- 

 dred millions of grubs and larvae ! Now, what more 

 could a farmer ask of one family of birds ? 



If we approach a thicket of alders or button 

 bushes in May (the nesting season) most likely we 

 will see the male bird flirting about in and out among 

 the leaves in evident alarm. He is a handsome crea- 

 ture, nearly ten inches long, dressed in a glossy uni- 

 form of black, with deep-red epaulets bordered with 

 buff ; his bill is black and very sharp. He is by no 

 means a singer, but, on the contrary, gives expression 

 to his feelings in a variety of confused, rasping, un- 

 musical tones, resembling those of the blue jay ; his 

 commonest note sounds like quonk-a-ree. If we can 

 recall the shrill squeak of a saw being filed, combined 

 with a turkey -goblerlike sound resembling jeer-a-rup, 

 jeer-a-rup, we will have the exact counterpart of 



