64 PIGEON HAWKS — THE RUSTY BLACKBIRD. 



mast. These birds are quite common here all along the coast, 

 and it is not at all rare to see them accompany a vessel, now 

 lighting upon it and now again making a short flight seaward, for a 

 distance of many miles. I also saw a small owl, but could not tell 

 the species — unless perchance it was our common Scops asio — 

 that acted in much the same way, alighting frequently upon the 

 masthead. About noon a rusty blackbird {Scolecophagus ferru- 

 gineus) alighted upon the deck of the vessel and remained with us 

 some time. As we were very near the land, and somewhat of a 

 fog existed at the time, he might have mistaken us for some portion 

 of land. I found afterwards that this bird had a summer breed- 

 ing range all along the coast here as far as L'Anse au Loup, at which 

 latter place a resident, Mr. Fred. Davis, informed me that the bird 

 occasionally built its nest in his woodpile — the people there are 

 obliged to cut enough wood at one time to last the year around ; 

 thus there is always more or less of a pile about in the summer 

 season — and his boys called it quite common there. This, I 

 believe, is the only species of blackbird that regularly remains so 

 far north to breed ; the cow and red winged blackbird, and the 

 purple grakle, though extending quite far north and east, being 

 hardly more than of occasional occurrence. The rusty blackbird, 

 as you remember, is generally regarded as an unsocial and retiring 

 bird ; here it is the reverse, and its nest is not unlike that of a small 

 robin with many sticks outside, and its eggs about 3 or 4, bluish 

 white with spots and dashes of light brown. It feeds upon seeds 

 of various plants and a few insects. Strange to say, they are here 

 frequently kept as cage birds, and their cunning, and power of 

 mimicry of song, something rather remarkable. I have seen it in 

 confinement, and found it to keep admirably. At evening we 

 anchored in calm water at the mouth of the large rigoulette, not 

 far from St. Augustine, and had the satisfaction of passing the 

 night, at least, in calm water : there was really some satisfaction 

 in sleeping off the confusion of the four previous days of rough 

 weather. 



The coast all about these parts presents the same rocky aspect. 



