Cambridge, Mass.
1910.
July 22
[July 22, 1910]

Red-wing Blackbirds breeding(?) in the Botanic Garden.

   On entering the Botanic Garden this afternoon
I was not less surprised than interested to find,
near the lily pond, a family of Red-winged Blackbirds
consisting of an adult [male] and[female] and at least two, if
not three, bob-tailed young which seemed unable to fly
more than a few rods at a time although they kept
well up in the trees. One of the gardeners told
me that he had seen the old birds about the 
ground for three or more weeks. My attention
was first drawn to them by the anxious calling of 
the male who was evidently disturbed by the near 
presence of a Crow. After the Crow had flown away
the Red wing betook himself to the top of a lilac bush
where he sang a dozen times or more. Soon after
this I started the female and young from some
bushes on the further side of the pond. In it are
growing two large clusters of cat-tail flags quite
extensive and dense enough to conceal a Red-wing's
nest. That the young I saw were hatched & reared here
I consider scarce open to reasonable doubt.