BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. «97 



in both flat and mountainous sections. While taking a few 

 berries to mix with the insect diet, hke the orioles found in 

 eastern North America, it is highly beneficial because of 

 insect diet gleaned from foliage and bark of trees. The call 

 note is rather melancholy, a whistle and warble combined. 



The nests, like those of the Baltimore oriole, are pen- 

 sile, and attached to the smaller branches of limbs at an 

 elevation ranging from ten to thirty feet. The nests are 

 constructed of various kinds of material; usually the most 

 available is utilized. This may be string, plant fiber, horse 

 hair, or grass. The inside of the nest is lined with finer 

 substances. The nests, while securely attached to the limbs 

 and stems, frequently swing independently of the branch to 

 which they are attached. 



Four to five eggs are laid usually in May. The back- 

 ground is pale bluish-white and the markings appear in 

 the form of scrawls and pen lines of deep purple and black. 



RUSTY BLACKBIRD 



The Rusty Blackbird, or Grackle, is about the size of 

 our common red-winged blackbird. These hardy birds fre- 

 quently spend the winter in southern Illinois and Indiana. 

 The feathers are edged with brown and this appearance has 

 caused many observers to describe this bird as the thrush 

 blackbird. These birds do not congregate in immense droves 

 like some of our starling family, but usually appear in the 

 Great Lakes region semi-annually in small flocks, in spring 

 singing the musical medleys. They are often mistaken for 

 female redwings; and sometimes mistaken for grackles, 



