248 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



early fall, of corn in the milk. In this manner they sometimes do immense 

 damage to fields of com which are situated near the great marshes where 

 they congregate to spend the night, and about which they spend most of 

 their time after the breeding season is over. During the nesting season 

 they are found about the dooryards, both in the country and in villages 

 and cities, building their nests in the evergreen trees, especially spruces 

 in the thickest part near the top. Frequently, however, they place them in 

 Lombardy poplars and in various kinds of deciduous trees when the spruces 

 and pines are not at their disposal. I have often found them also in 

 deserted nest holes of the flicker and in hollow trees. The nest is a rather 

 bulky affair varying from 5 to 8 inches in height and from 7 to 9 inches 

 in diameter. The base and outer portion are mostly composed of weed 

 stalks, small twigs and coarse grasses, the inner cup of finer materials 

 like df}^ grass, strings, rags and a few feathers or any suitable soft substance. 

 The eggs vary from 4 to 6 or even 7 in number, usually 5 in this State, 

 elongated oval or ovate in shape, varying from a bluish white or pale 

 greenish to a grayish brown ground color, more or less thickly blotched, 

 spotted, lined and clouded with blackish, brown and lavender. They 

 vary in dimensions from i to 1.25 inches in length by from .75 to .86 in 

 diameter. The young are ready to leave the nest about one month after 

 the eggs are laid and are rather noisy at this time, and frequent alarm 

 notes and squabblings of the old birds with their neighbors are heard about 

 the orchards and gardens. The young are led away from the nest as rapidly 

 as possible and seem to disappear entirely from the vicinity of our door- 

 yards late in June or sometimes by the middle of the month. They gradually 

 gather into flocks of dozens, sometimes hundreds, and spend the day 

 foraging about the country in various localities wherever food is most 

 abundant. At this season of the year they are found about the orchards, 

 plowed fields, river banks, swamps, and groves, and almost invariably 

 gather at night to roost in the nearest marsh which is covered with a low 

 growth of bushes or dense sedges and cat-tails. They settle close to the 

 surface of the water among the sedges or in bushes at a height of several 



