Birds of Massachusetts. | 103 
The nest of the rice-bird is always among the 
grass or grain, and composed of coarse grass, lined 
with that which is finer. The eggs are from four 
to six, white, tinged with blue, and spotted with a 
blackish color. As soon as the young are able to fly, 
they all begin to gather in flocks, the males having 
put off their summer uniform, and wearing the qua- 
ker dress of the females and young. This is the 
time for their depredations, and immense foraging 
parties lay waste the fields of the middle and south- 
ern states. For this purpose they fly by day, 
whereas in their migration eastward, in the spring, 
they fly only by night. 
The Crow BrackBIRD, Quiscalus versicolor, is an 
active and sociable bird, who warns us by his loud 
clanking note, late in the spring, that he is once 
more in our fields and gardens, apparently uncon- 
scious that there can be any objection. He is one 
of those creatures, concerning which it is difficult 
to say whether they are friends or foes; sometimes 
they are the one, sometimes the other, and it is 
only by striking a balance between the service and 
the injury, that we can determine how to regard 
them. That the grakle pulls up corn for the sake 
of the seed, is undeniable; but it is also true that it 
devours immense numbers, of insects, grubs, and 
caterpillars ; perhaps it may be possible to secure his 
services and prevent his depredations ; and farmers 
are how trying to accomplish this object by preparing 
the seed before it is sown, in some solution which 
shall make it less tempting to the crow blackbird. 
