102 RUSTY BLACKBIRD 



the nesting season identification is simple, for the 

 female Red-wings are with their gorgeously epau- 

 letted mates in the marshes; the Cowbirds are 



FIG. 42. FIG. 43. 



BiU of Cowbird. Bill of Meadowlark. 



wandering about the pastures with the cows ; and 

 the Rusty Blackbirds have disappeared to their 

 northern homes. 



Major Bendire says that the Rusty Grackle " is 

 much more of a forest-loving species than the 

 other Blackbirds, and during the breeding season 

 it appears to be far less gregarious. Its favorite 

 haunts in the Adirondacks are the swampy and 

 heavily wooded shores of the many little moun- 

 tain lakes and ponds found everywhere in this 

 region, and here it spends the season of repro- 

 duction in comparative solitude." 



In winter, the Major says, the Rusty Blackbirds 

 may be seen occasionally about barns and stock- 

 yards, usually by themselves, but sometimes in 

 company with other Blackbirds. He observes 

 that their mode of flight resembles that of the 

 Red-wing, and that " when feeding, while moving 

 along, the rearmost fly over the others and alight 

 again in the front ranks. Their notes are much 



