BLACKBIRD. 



variety nf its natural notes, the peculiarly 

 affected sibilation of the starling is heard in 

 the wottishee, wottitshee, and whistle, which 

 often accompanies this note. Their intestines 

 and stomach are frequently infested by long, 

 cylindric, tapering worms, which probably in- 

 crease sometimes in such numbers as to de- 

 stroy the bird. 



"The male is twelve inches long, and eight- 

 ten in alar extent. The prevailing black 

 colour of the body is relieved by glossy reflec- 

 tions of steel blue, dark violet, and green ; the 

 violet is most conspicuous on the head and 

 breast, and the green on the hind part of the 

 neck. The back, rump, and whole lower parts, 

 with the exception of the breast, reflect a cu- 

 preous gloss. The wing-coverts, secondaries, 

 and coverts of the tail, are light violet, with 

 much of the red ; the rest of the wings and 

 rounded tail are black, with a steel-blue gloss. 

 Iris silvery. The ftmale is rather less, but 

 very similar in colour, and glossy parti- 

 coloured reflections." 



The Rusty Blackbird. "This species," says 

 Mr. Nuttall, " less frequent than the preceding, 

 is oft'Mi associated with it, or with the red- 

 winged imopial or the cow-pen bird, and, ac- 

 cording to the season, they are found throughout 

 America, from Hudson's Hay to Florida and 

 westward to the Pacific ocean. Early in April, 

 according to Wilson, ifc >.-tily through 



Pennsylvania, on their return to the north to 

 breed. In the month of March he observed 

 th-Mii on the banks of the Ohio, near Kentucky 

 river, during a snow-storm. They arrive in 

 the vicinity of Hudson's Hay about the begin- 

 ning of May, and trrd much in the manner of 

 the common crow-blackbird on insects, which 

 th\y rind on or near the ground. Dr. Richard- 

 son saw them in the winter as far as the lati- 

 tude of 53, and in the summer they range to 

 the 68th parallel or to the extremity of the 

 wooded region. They sing in the pairing sea- 

 son, but become nearly silent while rearing 

 their young ; though when their brood release 

 them from care they again resume their lay, 

 and may occasionally be heard until the ap- 

 proach of winter. Their song is quite as 

 agreeable and musical as that of the starling, 

 and m-i'Htly surpasses that of any of the other 

 species. I have heard them singing until the 

 middle of October. 



"They are said to build in trees and bushes, 

 at no great distance from the ground, making 

 a nest similar to the other species, and lay five 

 eggs, of a pale blue spotted with black. The 

 young and old, now assembling in large troops, 

 retire from the northern regions in September. 

 From the beginning of October to the middle 

 of November, they are seen in flocks through 

 the Eastern States. During their stay in this 

 vicinity, they assemble towards night to roost 

 in or round the reed marshes of Fresh Pond, 

 near Cambridge. Sometimes they select the 

 willows by the water for their lodging, in pre- 

 ference to the reeds, which they give up to 

 their companions the crow-blackbirds. Early 

 in October they feed chiefly on grasshoppers 

 and berries, and at a later period pay a tran- 

 sient visit to the corn-field. They pass the 

 winter in the Southern States, and like their 

 24 



BLACK GUM. 



darker relatives, make familiar visits to the 

 barn-yard and corn-cribs. Wilson remarks 

 that they are easily domesticated, and in a few 

 days become quite familiar, being reconciled 

 to any quarters while supplied with plenty of 

 food. 



" The male is about nine inches in length, 

 and fourteen in alar extent; black, glossed 

 with dark green; with the tail somewhat 

 rounded ; iris silvery. The female is of about 

 the same size with the male, and the young of 

 the first season, of both sexes, are nearly of 

 the same colour." 



BLACK CANKER. A disease in turnip 

 and other crops, produced by a species of ca- 

 terpillar. See BOXE DUST. 



BLACK COUCH GRASS, or BLACK 

 TWITCH. Provincial names for the marsh 

 bent grass, or Agrosfis alba. See AGHOSTIS. 



BLACK DOLPHIN. A term applied to a 

 small insect which is frequently very destruc- 

 tive to bean, turnip, and some other green 

 crops. 



BLACK FLY. An insect of the beetle tribe, 

 very injurious to turnips in their early stage. 

 See FLT. 



BLACK GUM (Nyssa sylvutica). This 

 North American tree is variously designated 

 in different parts of the United States by the 

 names of the Black gum, Yellow gum, and Sour 

 gum, the last of which appellation is doubtless 

 derived from the extremely acid taste of its 

 fruit. This consists of deep blue berries of an 

 oval shape. Each stem has twin-berries, and 

 each berry contains a very hard slightly con- 

 vex stone. The leaves are five or six inches 

 long, entire, of an elongated oval shape, with 

 downy stems. The river Schuylkill, in the vi- 

 cinity of Philadelphia, may be assumed as the 

 northern limit of the black gum, which is very 

 common in Delaware, Maryland, and other 

 Middle and Southern States, both east and west 

 of the Alleghany mountains. In Maryland, 

 Virginia, and the Western States, Michaux in- 

 forms us, it grows without any peculiar form, 

 on high and level grounds, with the oaks and 

 walnuts. In the lower parts of the Carolinas 

 and Georgia, where it is found only in wet 

 places, with the small magnolia or white-bay, 

 the red-bay, the loblolly-bay, and the water- 

 oak, it has a pyramidal base resembling a 

 sugar-loaf. 



The black gum frequently attains a height 

 of sixty or seventy feet, with a diameter of 

 eighteen or twenty inches, being larger in the 

 upper part of Virginia, in Kentucky and Ten- 

 nessee, than in the marshy grounds of the 

 maritime parts of the Southern states. 



The bark of the trunk is whitish and similar 



to that of the young white oak. The wood is 



fine-grained but tender, and its fibres are in 



terwoven and collected in bundles ; an arrange 



ment characteristic of the genus. The albur 



num or sap part, as it is commonly designated, 



of stocks growing upon dry and elevated lands 



is yellow. This complexion is considered by 



wheel-wrights as a proof of the superior 



I quality of the wood, and has probably given 



! the tree one of its popular names. It is ex- 



I tensively employed in Richmond, Baltimore, 



! and Philadelphia, for the naves or hubs of 



a 2 185 



