92 



OKmTHOLOGIST 



[Yol. i2-:Kro. 6 



Usually there are one or two small irregular 

 streaks of dark brown on the larger end. The 

 eggs, however, very greatly both in color and 

 markings. 



Red-winged Blackbird, (Agelutus pha'niceus). 

 Very abundant summer resident. Can be found 

 breeding in almost any marshy place where 

 there are a few reeds or sedges ; will often 

 build in a willow tree if near the water. 



Breeds usually in small colonies. Eggs four, 

 rarely live. Collects in immense flocks in the 

 fall. 



Meadow Lark, (Stur)iella mcujna). Abun- 

 dant summer resident. Arrives about the 

 middle of March, sometimes earlier. Breeding 

 wherever there is a small strip of unoccupied 

 ground. 



Orchard Oriole, (Icterus spurius). Common 

 summer resident. Arrives here in the spring 

 shortlj' after the Baltimore. Found breeding 

 in orchards. 



Baltimore Oriole, {Icterus galbula). One of 

 our commonest city birds, breeding abundantly 

 in the maples that line the streets. Arrives 

 the first of May. 



Kusty Blackbird, {Scolocophacjus ferrugxdeus) . 

 Abundant transient visitor. This is the earliest 

 blackbird in the spring and the last in the fall. 

 Passes through in flocks of one, two or three 

 hundred although once or twice have seen them 

 numbering several thousand. This bird is per- 

 haps the noisiest one, with several flocks in the 

 tree tops on a quiet March morning, it is cer- 

 tainly deafening. 



Bronzed Grackle, ( Quiscalus purpureus census) . 

 This is our commonest blackbird. Arrives 

 about the middle of March, leaves about the 

 flrst of November. They breed abundantly in 

 ahnost any suitable place, usually two or more 

 pairs togetlier. A tree covered with wild grape 

 vines is a vavorite place. In several lai'ge pine 

 groves near the city there are large colonies. 

 They begin building about the last of April, 

 and full sets of eggs may be taken about the 

 middle of May. T'he nest is a large and bulky 

 structure, composed of straw, grass, stems or 

 most any suitable material — if a straw stack 

 happens to be near you will probably find them 

 of straw — plastered together with nmd and 

 lined with fibres. 



The usual complement of eggs is five, some- 

 times four oi- six. They vary much in color, 

 usually a light green and from this to a brown- 

 ish green, with large and irregular streaks 

 and blotches of black and dark brown dis- 

 tributed over the surface, mostly at the larger 

 end. 



The Blue Grosbeak. 



((iUIKAOA C^RULEA). 



BY C. S. BRIMLEY, RALEIGH, N. C. 



This beautiful bird is not at all common in 

 this locality, but its habits and color render it 

 much better known than many far commoner 

 birds, so well known in fact, as to gain for it 

 the local name of Big Indigo, by which it is 

 commonly called around Kaleigh. 



It arrives here in the latter .end of April, (Ap- 

 ril 26th to May 4th), and leaves a little before the 

 middle of September (September 11th to 17th). 



While here it usually frequents grain and 

 grass fields, especially in the neighborhood of 

 isolated thickets, and is also found in orchards ; 

 but it never seems to frequent lowland thickets 

 or meadows, and I have never observed it in the 

 woods, though it may sometimes be found on 

 the edges of the latter if the locality is suitable. 



In the beginning of June the Blue Grosbeak 

 builds his nest in some convenient bush or 

 small tree, usually at the height of from four 

 to five feet. In the construction thereof he 

 uses chiefly dead grass and weeds, but usually 

 adds some cotton lint and pieces of newspaper 

 to give tone and dignity to his dwelling, also 

 perhaps to help distinguish it from that of his 

 more plebeian little cousin, the Indigo, who 

 sometimes builds quite as large a nest, but does 

 not seem addicted to the use of cotton and news- 

 paper as building material. When the nest is 

 finished, it gets still further ornamented after 

 a few days by four pale blue delicate looking 

 eggs, which very much resemble those of the 

 Indigo except in size. (The measurement of 

 the only one in my possession just now is .88 

 by .0(5). The color, however, fades on keeping, 

 and they lose the delicate, almost transparent 

 look of the new-blown egg, becoming white 

 and opaque. 



The Blue Grosbeak is a very fair singer; his 

 song somewhat resembling that of the Indigo, 

 but, to my ear, more liquid as well as greater 

 in volume. He does not as a rule, however, 

 put in much time on singing, usually content- 

 ing himself with a clear, metalic "chip,"' which 

 both sexes and the j'oung utter when disturbed, 

 but also as a call note when two or more are 

 together. 



With regard to singing, however, it is greatly 

 a matter of individual birds. Last year I only 

 heard the song once; this year, one has sung 

 daily within hearing of our house for the last 

 two or three weeks, and I shot another while 

 singing about a week ago. 



