190 NATURE STUDY 



spring birds mentioned, measuring from twelve to thir- 

 teen inches in length. 



The color is iridescent black ; their eyes, conspicu- 

 ously yellow. They journey in immense flocks, their dis- 

 cordant cry and peculiar manner of flying making them 

 a very prominent feature of the landscape. 



Their nests are well built, and their eggs, which 

 vary greatly, are peculiarly marked and streaked, brown 

 on a light-colored groundwork. They are universally 

 hated by the farmer, who unjustly accuses them of 

 destroying his cornfield. They help him, however, 

 by destroying great quantities of insects. They are 

 sometimes called Keel birds, from the use which they 

 make of the tail in flying, and sometimes the Purple 

 Grackle. 



Bird Migrations : 



To this most interesting siibject, allusion has been 

 already made, but it seems worth while again to state 

 some of the facts. It is a subject much discussed and 

 not even yet thoroughly investigated. 



There are, popularly speaking, three classes of bjrds 

 in any given locality, — permanent residents, migrants 

 from the south, migrants from the north. These terms 

 are only relative, since the so-called permanent residents 

 travel about more or less extensively during the cold 

 season, and even the truly migratory birds of one local- 

 ity may be residents in another. 



The great cause of migration is probably failure in 

 the food-supply. Therefore, in many families, it is the 

 young who initiate the southward migration ; but it is 

 the male, urged on by his nest-building, family-founding 

 instinct, who is the first to return to the north. In most 



