168 PURPLE GRACKLE. 



blue eggs, so singularly scrawled with black. He perches 

 on the topmost branch of a neighboring tree, and doubt- 

 less supposes he is guarding his home below, when in 

 truth he is advertising his treasure to every passer-by. 



The Redwing's liquid kong-quer-ree is pleasantly 

 suggestive of marshy pjaces, but it is his early spring 

 music for which we should chiefly value him. The first 

 Robins or Bluebirds are somewhat unreliable signs of 

 spring. They are such hardy birds that it requires very 

 little encouragement from a February sun to send a few 

 skirmishers northward. We can not be sure whether 

 they represent the advance guard or are individuals who 

 have had the courage to winter with us. But when early 

 in March the Redwings come, then we know that the tide 

 of the year has turned. With perennial faith in the sea- 

 son they come in flocks of hundreds, singing their spring- 

 time chorus with a spirit that March winds can not sub- 

 due. 



About the time the Redwings come, late in February 



or early in March, we may expect the Purple Grackles 



Purple Grackle, or Crow Blackbirds. They migrate in 



Quiscaius quiscuia. large flocks, and their chorus singing 



Plate xxxvii. | g q u jte as inspiring as the springtime 



concerts of the Redwing. There are two kinds of Crow 



Blackbirds, known as the Purple Grackle and the Bronzed 



Grackle. The former has iridescent bars on the back 



and in the Northern States is found only east of the 



Alleghanies and south of Massachusetts; the latter has 



the back shining, brassy, bronze, without iridescence, and 



in the nesting season inhabits the country west of the 



Alleghanies and north of Connecticut. The females of 



both species are smaller and duller than the males. 



Grackles are among the few of our land birds who 

 live in flocks all the year. They pass the winter and mi- 

 grate in larger companies, but when nesting are in smaller 



