297 



even five days subsequent to the completion cf tlie nest. 

 The complement of eggs is commonly spoken of as six; 

 generally, however, I have found live, and regard this 

 number as the full quota. The eggs are light greenish 

 (sometimes pale rustA- brown), spotted, bloitched and 

 lined with black and dark-brown; they measure about 

 14 inches long and about .90 of an inch wide. The 

 period of incubation is from fourteen to fifteen days. 

 The parent birds evince marked solicitude foi* their 

 nest and its contents. 



SELECT DIFFERENT NESTING SITES. 



It is evident from the writings of various authorities 

 that the nesting sites of tbis species vary considerably. 

 By Nuttall and others we are informed that they some- 

 times build in bushes. From the works of Aubudon it 

 is learned that in the south they build chiefly in hol- 

 low trees. T have found these birds building in com- 

 mon house ivy (Hedera helix) but never in bushes, and 

 only on two occasions have T discovered their nests in 

 hollow trees; both of these nests were built in apple 

 trees. One was constructed in a limb about seven 

 feet from the ground, the other was placed about 

 twenty feet from the earth; neither of these differed 

 materially in their make up from the average nest. 



FOOD. 



To the agriculturist this is a subject worthy of much 

 consideration. It appears to be the prevailing oitinion 

 aiuong many fniiners — the majority in fact — that 

 Crow blackbirds are in many Avays detrimental, and in 

 no particular are they beneficial. Tliis belief, evi- 

 dently handed down from one generation to another, 

 is taken in its full meaning, widely at variance with 

 19*--1I 



