WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



are round, fat, and blunt at both ends. The ground 

 color may be any shade of dirty white, light blue, 

 greenish, or olive brown; the markings consist of 

 sharply defined spots and confused blotches, 

 scratches, and straggling lines of obscure colors, 

 from blue-black to lilac and rusty brown some- 

 times scantily and prettily marbled upon the sur- 

 face of the egg, and sometimes painted on so thick- 

 ly as wholly to conceal the ground color. 



The crow-blackbirds are in the advance-guard 

 of the returning hosts of northward - bound mi- 

 grants, making their appearance in small scat- 

 tering flocks, and announcing their presence by 

 loud smacks frequently repeated. They obtain 

 most of their food from the ground, and walk about 

 with great liveliness, scratching up the leaves, 

 turning over chips, and poking about the pastures 

 for insects and seeds softened by the spring rains. 

 Their destruction of insects especially during 

 May, when their young are in the nest is enor- 

 mous; yet their forays upon the grain-fields in 

 some parts of the country have made them a pest 

 to be hated. 



" The depredations committed by these birds are 

 almost wholly on Indian corn at different stages. 

 As soon as its blades appear above the ground 



141 



