408 HISTORY OF THE 



Scolecophagus carolinus (MULL.). 



RUSTY BLACKBIRD. 

 PLATE XXVI. 



.Winter sojourner; quite common in the eastern part of the 

 State. Arrive the last of October; leave in March. 



B. 417. K. 273. C. 331. G. 138, 198. U. 509. 



HABITAT. Eastern and northern North America; west to 

 Behring' s Sea and the Great Plains; breeding from the northern 

 United States northward; south in winter to the Gulf coast. 



SP. CHAR. "Bill slender; shorter than the head; about equal to the hind 

 toe; its height not quite two-fifths the total length. Wing nearly an inch longer 

 than the tail; second quill longest; first a little shorter than the fourth. Tail 

 slightly graduated; the lateral feathers about a quarter of an inch shortest. 

 General color black, with purple reflections; the wings, under tail coverts, and 

 hinder part of the belly, glossed with green. In autumn the feathers largely 

 edged with ferruginous or brownish, so as to change the appearance entirely. 

 Spring female: Dull opaque plumbeous or ashy black; the wings and tail some- 

 times with a green luster. Young: Like the autumnal birds." 



Stretch of 

 Length. wing. Wing. Tail. Tarsus. Bill. 



Male 9.25 14.50 4.70 4.00 1.24 .80 



Female... 8.60 13.60 4.30 3.50 1.22 .75 



Iris, yellow; bill, legs, feet and claws black. 



This hardy species inhabits the low lands and marshy thickets. 

 They mate early in the spring, and share alike in the duties of 

 hatching and rearing the young. At the close of the breeding 

 season they collect together in flocks. They are largely omniv- 

 orous in their food habits, preferring the various forms of insect 

 life, snails, etc., that abound in the aquatic grasses; but during 

 the winter months, when forced to feed largely upon grains and 

 seeds, they frequent the cattle yards and corn fields, and farther 

 south forage off the rice plantations. Their flights are rather 

 direct, and sustained by regular strokes of the wings. Their 

 call or alarm note sounds much like " Cheek-che-weeck. " Dur- 

 ing the love season and occasionally in autumn the males indulge 

 in a low and somewhat musical song. 



Their nests are usually placed in bushes and low trees, occa- 

 sionally upon the ground, and are composed of twigs, vines, 

 weeds and grass, the latter mixed with mud, and usually lined 

 with leaves and fine grasses. Eggs usually three to five (as high 



