226 QUISCALUS FERRUGINEUS. 
mitWle of November, when they move oif to the south. 
On the 12th of January I overtook great numbers of 
these birds in the woods near Petersburg!!, Virginia, 
and continued to see occasional paz'ties of them almost 
eveiy day as I advanced southerly, particularly in 
couth Carolina, around the rice plantations, where 
they were numerous, feeding about the hog pens, and 
t-vlierever Indian corn was to he procured. They also 
extend to a considerable distance westward. On the 
5th of March, being- on tlie banks of the Ohio, a few 
miles below the mouth of the Kentucky river, in the 
midst of a heavy snow storm, a flock of these birds 
alighted ncai- the door of the cabin where I had taken 
shelter, several of which I shot, and found their 
stomachs, as usual, crammed with Indian corn. Early 
III April they pass hastily through Pennsylvania, on 
their return to the north to breed. 
From the accounts ol persons who have resided near 
Hudson s Bay, it appears that these birds arrive there 
in the beginning ol June, as soon as the ground i.s 
thawed sufficiently for them to procure their food, 
which is said to he worms and maggots ; sing with a 
hue note till the time of incubation, when they have 
only a chucking noise, till the young take their flight ; 
at which time they resume their song. They build 
their nests in trees, about eight feet from the OTound, 
forming them with moss and grass, and lay five eggs of a 
dark colour, spotted with black. It is added, they Wher 
in great flocks, and retire southerly in Septemher.* 
The male of this species, when in perfect plumage, 
IS nine inches in length, and fourteen in extent; at a 
small distance appears wholly black ; hut on a near ex- 
amination IS of a glossy dark green ; the irides of the 
eye are silvery, as in those of the purple grakle ; the 
bill is black, nearly of the same form with that of the 
last mentioned species; the lower mandible a little 
rounded, with the edges turned inward, and the upper 
one furnished with a sharp bony process on the inside. 
* Arctic Zoology^ p. 259. 
