244 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



river June 5, 1878, by C. J. Pennock; by Ralph and Bagg from the 7th to 

 the 2Oth of May 1886, at Wilmurt in Herkimer county; by Merriam at 

 Big Moose on the I5th of June; on Second lake and Moose river, June i6th. 

 This species has been called the Thrush blackbird, I suppose on account 

 of its flight and song which resemble somewhat those of the thrushes. 

 The nest also is usually walled with mud or rotten wood after the manner 

 of thrushes, but this habit is shared also by the Crow blackbird. The bill 

 of this bird is slimmer than that of most blackbirds, and superficially 

 shaped like that of a thrush. Its notes are also more liquid, but it seems 

 to me a true blackbird, its guttural chortlings reminding me more of our 

 redwings and grackles than the thrushes. Its flight, however, is more 

 like that of the Wilson thrush, the longer wings and gliding, wavering 

 motion suggesting the thrushes. In the spring and fall it is a pleasant 

 sound to listen to the gurglings of these birds as they pass through the 

 swamp from field to field and tree to tree in long scattered companies, 

 keeping up a continual bubbling note suggestive of gushing springs and 

 wandering waters. The Rusty blackbird is more aquatic in its habits 

 than even the Crow blackbird, and is frequently seen wading in the water 

 hunting for crayfish and larvae of water insects. Whole flocks of these 

 birds are often seen over the beds of chara or rockweed, wading as long as 

 they are able, and then flying to some partly submerged log or projecting 

 bunch of flags and picking up the larvae of dragon flies, may flies, snails etc. 

 from beneath the surface of the water. The nest is placed in a low alder or 

 willow a few feet above the water, sometimes within 1 8 inches of its surface. 

 It is constructed of leaves and straws, then a layer of mud, and lined with 

 fine grasses; a rather bulky affair thickly lined with bright green grass. 

 The outside dimensions according to Merriam are about 7 inches in 

 diameter, by about 5.5 in depth, the inner cup 3.5 by 2.5. The eggs are 

 4 to 5 in number, ovate in shape, the ground color light bluish green 

 blotched and spotted rather profusely, especially about the larger end with 

 various shades of chestnut brown, chocolate and drab; but rarely exhibit 

 the pen lines and scrawls so common in other blackbirds. They average 

 about I inch in length by .73 in diameter. 



