29
Concord, Mass.
1913.
  Spring and early summer.

67. Rusty Blackbird. - Exceptionally scarce. Heard at the Farm
on March 18 [March 18, 1913], at Ball's Hill on April 3 [April 3, 1913], at Birch Field on the
21st [April 21, 1913], near West Bedford R.R. Station [West Bedford Railroad Station] on May 8 [May 8, 1913]. These observations
were all I made. Mr. Dexter [Smith Owen Dexter] reported seeing a small flock near Concord
village sometime in April.

68. Bronzed Grackle. - For upwards of three weeks late in March and
early in April an immense flock of Crow-blackbirds frequented the fields
near West Bedford R.R. Station occasionally appearing about Concord village
and attracting widespread attention on the part of farmers & others.
Gilbert saw it several times on or near McGrath's farm. While I was 
waiting for a train at West Bedford on the afternoon of March 22 [March 22, 1913] the
dense, widespread cloud of sable birds came swooping low over a ridge
to the eastward and circling once or twice alighted in a ploughed 
field. There must have been at least 500 of them but not all were 
Grackles for I caught the glint of red epaulets here & there in the
flock indicating unmistakably the presence of Red-winged Blackbirds which
may have represented ten or fifteen per cent of the total number to judge
by what I saw. After the breeding season began there were certainly 
more Crow-blackbirds than common, about Concord. A few nested
at Pad Island and I saw others flying back & forth over our Farm.
They were said to be very numerous in & near Concord village.
  On January 26 [January 26, 1913] of this year thirteen Bronzed Grackles were
seen by S.O. Dexter feeding on the ground in a cornfield near
the Concord Hospital not far from Clamshell Hill. This is the
first instance of local occurrence in mid winter of which I
have knowledge. The entire winter was unprecedentedly open & mild.
During it Red-wings were seen twice in Concord by Henry
Richardson & his son.