ORIOLES. 265 



bility towards one another, observable in the South, where 

 they are abundant. 



d. They whistle more rapidly than the Golden "Robins"; 

 but their notes are very generally considered inferior and less 

 mellow. 



VI. SCOLECOPHAGUS. 



A. CAROLINUS. Rusty Blackbird. Rusty Grackle. Not 

 known to occur in Massachusetts, except as a migrant.* 



a. (J, about nine inches long. In "high" plumage, 

 black, with chiefly green reflections. Otherwise, black, inter- 

 rupted by brown or " rusty." , smaller and much browner 

 than the male. 



b. Mr. Samuels, in speaking of several nests observed by 

 him on the Magalloway River in Maine, says that they " were 

 all built in low alders overhanging the water : they were con- 

 structed of, first, a layer of twigs and brier-stalks ; on this 

 was built the nest proper, which was composed of stalks and 

 leaves of grass, which were mixed with mud, and moulded 

 into a firm, circular structure, and lined with fine leaves of 

 grass and a few hair-like roots. The whole formed a large 

 structure, easily seen at the distance of a few rods through 

 the foliage." 



The eggs average about 1.00 X .75 of an inch, and are 

 bluish or greenish, much spotted with brown, but apparently 

 rarely marked with scrawls or lines. These characteristic 

 markings are also sometimes wanting in the eggs of the Crow 

 Blackbird. 



(The irrelevancy of the following opening is due to the 

 omission of an introductory paragraph, relative to the Rusty 

 Blackbirds and their distribution.) 



c. As is well known, the animals belonging (or indigenous) 

 to a country constitute its fauna. But, in a large country 

 like North America, it has been found that different districts 



* The Rusty Blackbird breeds spar- most places in New England it is seen 



ingly and locally in the wilder and only during the migrations in spring 



more elevated portions of the northern and autumn, when it is always common 



tier of States, and is said to occasionally and often abundant. W. B. 

 pass the winter in Connecticut, but at 



