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tee 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 287 
At full speed the head is lowered and fixed; in slower progress 
it is held upright bobbing in time with each step. Whena 
flock is feeding they pass over a good deal of ground, without 
seeming to examine it very closely; every one tries to keep 
ahead of the next, and thus they scurry on, taking short flights 
over each other’s head. 
‘‘At the least alarm the timid birds betake themselves to the 
nearest tree, perching in various attitudes. A favorite posture 
so easy as to appear negligent, is with the body held nearly 
upright, the tail hanging loosely straight down, while the head 
turns in various ways, with the whim of the moment. When 
excited, the bird often sits low down, firmly on its legs, with 
elevated and widespread tail, constantly flirted, while its 
watchful eye peers down through the foliage. However com- 
pactly a flock may fly up into a tree, they generally scatter as 
they alight all over its branches, so that it is rarely that more 
than two, or three can be brought down at a shot. On the 
ground the case is quite different; there they huddle together 
so closely that the whole flock may be decimated. Their be- 
haviour in the presence of man is a curious mixture of timidity 
and heedlessness; they come to the very door-step, and yet a 
sudden movement, or a shout, sends them affrighted into the 
nearest trees. The next moment they begin to straggle back 
again, at first singly or in little squads, till the more timid 
ones are reassured and come streaming down together, when 
the busy search for food is resumed. Their hunger satisfied 
for the time, the birds betake themselves to the trees, often 
passing the whole period of digestion snugly ensconsed in the 
thick foliage. Then the concert opens; and if the music is 
neither sweet nor soft, it is sprightly and not disagreeable, for 
itsuggests the careless joviality, and lazy good humor of black- 
birds, with their stomachs full, and satisfactory promise of 
future supply. The notes are energetic, rapid and varied with 
a peculiar delivery which, like the yelping of the prairie 
wolves, gives the hearer a very exaggerated idea of the num- 
ber of the performers.” 
Nearly all the different species of blackbirds are seen in- 
discriminately mingled in the autumnal migrations, but one 
familiar with their individual or rather their specific habits 
will readily discover the speciesin the manner of flight and 
their walk as well as their feeding. This species does not 
linger as late in individual instances as the Crow Blackbird. 
The farmer’s prejudices against the whole ef them is irremoy- 
able, nevertheless they are all his true friends. 
