OP NEW ENGLAND. 



259 



u General appearance glossy black ; whole plumage, however, 

 brightly glossed with reddish-violet, bronzed purple, steel-blue, 

 and greeen ; * * * wings and tail black, with violet reflec- 

 tions, more bluish on the latter ; the wing-coverts frequently 

 tipped with steel-blue or violet. Bill, tarsi, and toes pure 

 black ; iris sulphur-yellow." About 12 \ inches long. Female 

 considerably smaller, and less lustrous. 



Fig. 14. Crow Blackbird (&). 



(6). The nest is placed from six to sixty feet above the 

 ground, most often in an evergreen, or perhaps occasionally in 

 the hollow of a tree. It is a rather coarse structure, often 

 cemented with mud. Its chief materials are small sticks, dry 

 grasses, and other vegetable matter. In Eastern Massachu- 

 setts, it is finished about the middle of May, after which four 

 or five eggs are laid. These average about 1*25 X '90 of an 

 inch, and exhibit great variation. The following descriptions 

 are taken* from several eggs before me. (1) Strongly bluish, 

 with almost imperceptible lilac markings, and a few spots and 

 thick scrawls of blackish-brown. (2) Strongly greenish, marked 

 abundantly with dull, faint brown, and a few blackish scrawls. 

 (3) Light cream}'' gray, with some scrawls much subdued, as if 

 washed out, or washed over with the ground-color, and others 

 heavy and prominent, suggesting a tremulous hand-writing 

 made with a very broad-nibbed pen. (4) Of an indefinite light 

 shade, with numerous small blotches of a subdued, dull brown. 

 (5) Dirty white, minutely marked with light purplish brown, 



