THE RUSTY BLACKBIRD. 351 



feathers about a quarter of an inch shortest; general color black, with purple reflec- 

 tions; the wings, under tail coverts, and hinder part of the belly, glossed with 

 green. Female, dull-brown. Iris, pale-straw color. 



Length, nine and fifty one-hundredths inches; wing, four and seventy-five one- 

 hundredths ; tail, four inches. 



This bird is not uncommon in the New-England States in 

 the spring and fall migrations, but is never plenty, and 

 retires to high latitudes to breed. A few remain in the 

 northern districts of Maine and New Hampshire through 

 the breeding season ; but their nests are seldom found. 

 While in the valley of the Magalloway River, in Maine, in 

 June, 1864, I found several ; and two of them contained 

 three eggs in each. These nests were all built in low alders 

 overhanging the water : they were constructed of, first, a 

 layer of twigs and brier-stalks ; on this was built the nest 

 proper, which was composed of stalks and leaves of grass, 

 which were mixed with mud, and moulded into a firm, cir- 

 cular structure, and lined with fine leaves of grass and a few 

 hair-like roots. The whole formed a large structure, easily 

 seen at the distance of a few rods through the foliage. 



The eggs are of a bluish-white color, of oval form, and 

 covered with fine scratches and spots of light-brown. These 

 markings are almost exactly similar to those on the egg of 

 the Great-crested Flycatcher : they appear as if done with 

 a pen, which, as soon as it is pressed forcibly on the object, 

 is suddenly withdrawn, making a mark wide at one end, 

 and sharply pointed at the other. 



The dimensions of three eggs in my collection are 1.04 

 by .76 inch, 1.05 by .75 inch, 1 by .70 inch. 



The habits of this species are less known than those of 

 any of our other Blackbirds. This is owing as much to • 

 its unsociable, retiring disposition as to the scarcity of its 

 numbers. When it arrives in spring, — sometimes as early 

 as the third week in March, — it frequents the low, swampy 

 thickets, where, in companies of three or four, it employs it- 

 self in searching for seeds of various aquatic grasses, insects, 

 worms, and the small crustacae found in such localities. 



