THE BRONZED CRACKLE. 



33 



gling to get free ! His love-making antics, too, are all the more ridiculous for 

 being earnest. Perched upon the tip-top of an evergreen tree he thrusts his 

 wings out, spreads his tail, ruffles all his feathers, and then throws his head 

 forward like a person about to obtain relief from seasickness. The outcome of 

 all this effort is a sound by no means ravishing, flee-e-k-starr, or simply 

 fwe-e-e-t. When the female has been sufficiently impressed by the accom- 

 plishments of this vocal contortionist the pair converse in jtips of much modi- 

 fied insolence, and in a series of pro- 

 longed squeaks of uncjuestionable 

 affection. 



The tops of evergreen trees have 

 long been favorite nesting places for 

 the Bronzed Crackles, but, in the 

 comparative scarcity of these, apple 

 trees are second choice. While not 

 strictly gregarious during nesting 

 season, the birds often occupy neigh- 

 boring trees, and a good sized or- 

 chard may contain twenty or thirty 

 nests. They are placed without much 

 regard to concealment, at first, since 

 the nesting is often under way by the 

 20th of April, but the advancing season is more lavish of its foliage. The 

 nest is quite a bulky affair of dried-weed stalks and grasses, with a deep cup- 

 shaped matrix of mud and a bountiful lining of grasses and horsehair. As to 

 manner of attachment it combines all known characters, being saddled and 

 settled, as well as anchored by the edges or half swung. The eggs are quaintly 

 spotted and stained or scrawled with 

 umber and purplish IMack on a dull 

 green or vitreous blue 

 ground. 



During the nesting sea- 

 son the Crow Blackbird be- 

 trays its affinity with the 

 Crows and Jays by helping 

 . itself occasionally to the 



Photo by the Author. 

 AN EARLY NEST. 



"THEY ARE PLACED WITHOUT MUCH REGARD TO 

 CONCEALMENT, AT FIRST, 



eggs and 



young 



Fhoto 

 by the 

 Author. 



FOLIvOWING THE PLOW. 



BRONZED CRACKLES ARE FEEDING UPON 



THE GRUBS UPTURNED WITH THE 



LAST FURROW. 



