RUSTY BLACKBIRD. 287 



and other foreign substances, usually siispended from the outer branches of 

 a tree, most frequently an elm, at a height of ten to fifty feet from the ground. 

 Eggs, four to six, white, faintly tinged with blue, when blown, spotted, 

 scrawled and streaked with lilac and brown mostly toward the larger end. 



The gay, dashing, flashing Baltimore Oriole seems to court the 

 admiration so generally bestowed on him, and is much more fre- 

 quently seen among the ornamental trees in our parks and pleasure 

 grounds than in the more retired parts of the country. He arrives 

 from, the south with wonderful regularity about the end of the first 

 week in May, after which his clear flute-like notes are heard at all 

 hours of the day till the early part of July, when with his wife 

 and family he retires, probably to some shady region to avoid the 

 extreme heat of summer. At all events they are not seen in 

 Southern Ontario again till the beginning of September, when they 

 pay us a passing visit while on their way to winter-quarters. The 

 species seems to be well distributed in Ontario, for in the report of 

 the "Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club," it is said to be common in 

 that district, arriving about the 10th of May. It is also included 

 in the list of birds observed at Moose Mountain in the North-West 

 by Prof. Macoun. 



Dr. Bell has a specimen which was taken at York Factory, but 

 it prefers the west, being abundant throughout Manitoba, and Dr. 

 Coues found it breeding at Pembina on the boundary south of 

 Winnipeg. 



Genus SCOLECOPHAGUS Swainson. 

 SCOLECOPHAGUS CAROLINUS (Mull.). 



208. Rusty Blackbird. (509) 



Male. : — In summer, lustrous black, the reflections greenish, and not notice- 

 ably different on the head ; but not ordinarily found in this condition in the 

 United States ; in general glossy black, nearly all the feathers skirted with 

 warm brown above and brownish-yellow below, frequently continuous on 

 the fore parts ; the male of the first season, like the female, is entirely rusty- 

 brown above, the inner quills edged with the same ; a pale superciliary stripe ; 

 below, mixed rusty and grayish-black, the primaries and tail above, black ; bill 

 and feet, black at all times. Length, male, about 9 ; wmg, 4^ ; tail, 3i ; bill, | ; 

 femAxle, smaller. 



Hab. — Eastern North America, west to Alaska and the Plains. Breeds 

 from Northern New England northward. 



