RUSTY BLACKBIRD. 119 
RUSTY BLACKBIRD. 
SCOLECOPHAGUS CAROLINUS. 
CuaR. Male in summer. glossy black, generally more or less feathers 
edged with reddish brown. Male in winter: the brown more conspic- 
uous, the lower parts marked with buffy. Female and young: dull rusty 
brown above, rusty and ashy beneath. Length 8% to 934 inches. 
Vest. In a spruce-tree or alder; a large but solid structure of twigs 
and vines, sometimes cemented with mud, lined with grass and leaves. 
£ggs. 4-7; grayish green to pale green, thickly blotched with light and 
dark brown and purple; 1.00 X 0.76. 
This species, less frequent than the preceding, is often 
associated with it or with the Red-winged Troopial or the 
Cowpen Bird; and according to the season, they are found 
throughout America, from Hudson’s Bay to Florida, and west- 
ward to the Pacific Ocean. Early in April, according to 
Wilson, they pass hastily through Pennsylvania, on their 
return to the North to breed. In the month of March he 
observed them on the banks of the Ohio, near Kentucky River, 
during a snow-storm. They arrive in the vicinity of Hudson’s 
Bay about the beginning of May, and feed much in the manner 
of the common Crow Blackbird on insects which they find on 
or near the ground. Dr. Richardson saw them in the winter 
as far as the latitude of 53°, and in summer they range to the 
68th parallel or to the extremity of the wooded region. They 
sing in the pairing season, but become nearly silent while 
rearing their young; though when their brood release them 
from care, they again resume their lay, and may occasionally be 
heard until the approach of winter. Their song is quite as 
agreeable and musical as that of the Starling, and greatly sur- 
passes that of any of the other species. I have heard them 
singing until the middle of October. 
They are said to build in trees and bushes at no great dis- 
tance from the ground, making a nest similar to the other 
species, and lay five eggs, of a pale blue spotted with black. 
The young and old, now assembling in large troops, retire from 
the northern regions in September. From the beginning of 
